Ewe litter size and lamb birth weight: Effects on lamb health, performance, and carcass traits.

IF 1 4区农林科学 Q3 VETERINARY SCIENCES

Canadian Veterinary Journal-revue Veterinaire Canadienne Pub Date : 2025-08-01

Joyce Van Donkersgoed

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from a large commercial sheep operation to determine if selection for larger litter sizes affected lamb birth weight, health, and performance.

Animals and procedure: Data on lamb health, performance, and carcass traits were collected during 2 vaccine trials conducted at a large commercial sheep operation. Data from each trial were analyzed for simple associations between ewe litter size, lamb birth weight, and lamb health, growth performance, and carcass traits.

Results: Increased litter size was associated with decreased lamb birth weight, and both were associated with higher mortality rates, including starvation and enteritis, and poorer growth performance and carcass traits.

Conclusion and clinical relevance: Increasing ewe prolificacy can reduce lamb birth weight, growth performance, and carcass traits and increase mortality losses. Veterinarians and sheep producers should consider the negative effects of selecting breeds with very large litter sizes when trying to optimize the production of lamb meat per ewe per year.

本刊更多论文

母羊产仔数和羔羊初生重：对羔羊健康、生产性能和胴体性状的影响。

目的：利用一家大型商业绵羊养殖场的数据进行回顾性分析，以确定选择较大产仔数是否会影响羔羊的出生体重、健康和生产性能。动物和程序：在一家大型商业绵羊养殖场进行的两次疫苗试验中收集了有关羔羊健康、生产性能和胴体性状的数据。对每个试验的数据进行分析，找出母羊窝产仔数、羔羊初生重与羔羊健康、生长性能和胴体性状之间的简单关联。结果：窝产仔数的增加与羔羊出生体重的下降有关，两者都与更高的死亡率相关，包括饥饿和肠炎，以及较差的生长性能和胴体性状。结论及临床意义：提高母羊繁殖能力可降低羔羊初生重、生长性能和胴体性状，增加死亡率损失。兽医和羊生产者在试图优化每年每只母羊的羊肉产量时，应考虑选择产仔量非常大的品种的负面影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Canadian Veterinary Journal-revue Veterinaire Canadienne 农林科学-兽医学

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

10.00%

发文量

177

审稿时长

12-24 weeks

期刊介绍： The Canadian Veterinary Journal (CVJ) provides a forum for the discussion of all matters relevant to the veterinary profession. The mission of the Journal is to educate by informing readers of progress in clinical veterinary medicine, clinical veterinary research, and related fields of endeavor. The key objective of The CVJ is to promote the art and science of veterinary medicine and the betterment of animal health. A report suggesting that animals have been unnecessarily subjected to adverse, stressful, or harsh conditions or treatments will not be processed for publication. Experimental studies using animals will only be considered for publication if the studies have been approved by an institutional animal care committee, or equivalent, and the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care, or equivalent, have been followed by the author(s).