Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:13:59.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between energy intake, nutritional state and lamb birth weight in Greyface ewes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. J. F. Russel ,
T. J. Maxwell ,
A. R. Sibbald  and
D. McDonald
A. J. F. Russel
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
T. J. Maxwell
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
A. R. Sibbald
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
D. McDonald
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Individual feed intakes of housed mature Greyface (Border Leicester × Scottish Blackface) ewes were adjusted weekly to maintain plasma 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations during the final 6 weeks of pregnancy at the following values: treatment 1 (adequately nourished; 17 ewes) less than 0·7 mmol/1; treatment 2 (moderately undernourished; 15 ewes) at about 1·1 mmol/1; treatment 3 (severely undernourished; 15 ewes) at about 1·6 mmol/1.

The mean energy intakes (MJ metabolizable energy (ME)/day) required to maintain the prescribed nutritional states in single- and twin-bearing ewes were: treatment 1, 14·3 and 16·3; treatment 2, 10·6 and 11·6; treatment 3, 8·1 and 10·0 respectively.

The moderate degree of undernourishment had no significant effect on the birth weight of single lambs, but reduced the birth weight of twins by 8·2%, while the more severe undernourishment reduced the birth weights of singles and twins by 21·5 and 25·8% respectively.

Foetal energy requirements, estimated by regression analysis, appeared to decrease from more than 2 MJ ME/kg/24 h at 35 days prepartum to 1·54 MJ ME/kg/24 h in the week before parturition.

The amounts of energy required to sustain the nutritional states of treatments 1–3 in non-pregnant ewes were calculated to be 348, 271 and 231 kJ ME/kg0.75/24 h, compared with a maintenance requirement, determined in this experiment, of 344 kJ ME/kg0.75/24h.

It is concluded that in individually fed ewes a nutritional state characterized by plasma 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations of 1·1 mmol/1 would constitute an acceptable compromise between an uneconomically high energy input and an excessive reduction in lamb birth weight.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , December 1977 , pp. 667 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1965). The Nutrient Requirements of Farm livestock, no. 2, Ruminants. London: Agricultural Research Council.Google Scholar
Cloete, J. H. L. (1939). Prenatal growth in the Merino sheep. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science 13, 417–558.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M. (1969). The effect of pregnancy and fatness on the volume of rumen contents in the ewe. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 72, 119–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, N. McC. & Williams, A. J. (1962). The effects of pregnancy on the passage of food through the digestive tract of sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 13, 894–900.Google Scholar
Langlands, J. P., Corbett, J. L., McDonald, I. & Pullar, J. D. (1963). Estimates of the energy required for maintenance by adult sheep. 1. Housed sheep. Animal Production 5, 1–9.Google Scholar
Langlands, J. P. & Sutherland, H. A. M. (1968). An estimate of the nutrients utilised for pregnancy by Merino sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 22, 217–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maff, (1975). Energy Allowances and Feeding Systems for Ruminants. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland; Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. Technical Bulletin 33. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Rattray, P. V. (1974). Energy requirements for pregnancy in sheep. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 34, 67–77.Google Scholar
Reid, R. L. & Hinks, N. T. (1962). Studies on carbohydrate metabolism of sheep. XVII. Feed requirements and voluntary feed intake in late pregnancy, with particular reference to prevention of hypoglycaemia and hyperketonaemia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 13, 1092–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J. J. (1977). The influence of maternal nutrition on ovine foetal growth. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 36, 9–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, J. J., Fraser, C. & Bennett, C. (1971). An assessment of the energy requirements of the pregnant ewe using plasma free fatty acid concentrations. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge, 77 141–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, W. I., Brown, W. & Lucas, I. A. M. (1973). Effects of shelter, exposure and level of feeding over winter on the productivity of Welsh Mountain ewes and lambs. Animal Production 17, 21–32.Google Scholar
Russel, A. J. F. (1977). The use of measurements of energy status in pregnant ewes (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Doney, J. M. & Reid, R. L. (1967 a). The use of biochemical parameters in controlling nutritional state in pregnant ewes, and the effect of undernourishment during pregnancy on lamb birthweight. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 68, 361–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Doney, J. M. & Reid, R. L. (1967 b), Energy requirements of the pregnant ewe. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 68, 359–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Maxwell, T. J. & Foot, Janet Z. (1974). Nutrition of the hill ewe during late pregnancy. Hill Farming Research Organisation, Sixth Report, pp. 43–56.Google Scholar
Shevah, Y., Black, W. J. M. & Land, R. B. (1975). Differences in feed intake and the performance of Finn × Dorset ewes during late pregnancy. Animal Production 20, 391–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdez Espinosa, R., Robinson, J. J. & Scott, D. (1977). The effect of different degrees of food restriction in late pregnancy on nitrogen metabolism in ewes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 88, 399–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zivin, J. A. & Snarr, J. F. (1973). An automated colorimetric method for the measurement of 3-hydroxybutyrate concentration. Analytical Biochemistry 52, 456–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed