ORIGINAL PAPER
A note on the effect of lamb growth potential, litter
size, and concentrate supplements on performance
of lambs and lactating ewes
consuming low to moderate quality grass hay
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Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center, USDA, ARS,
6883 South State Highway 23, Booneville, Arkansas 72927-9214, USA
Publication date: 1998-01-14
J. Anim. Feed Sci. 1998;7(1):37-44
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Thirty-eight multiparous St. Croix ewes bred to Romanov or Suffolk rams were used in an 8-
week experiment beginning 2.9 ±0.15 days after parturition to determine effects of sire breed (i.e.,
lamb growth potential), litter size (i.e., single vs twins), and different supplemental concentrate
treatments on ewe and lamb performance. Wheat hay (10% crude protein and 71% NDF; DM
basis) consumed ad libitum by ewes and lambs was supplemented for ewes (DM basis) with:
0.25% body weight (BW) of ground maize (control); 1.25% BW of maize, 0.3% BW of a mixture of
fish (38.8%), blood (30.6%), and feather meals (30.6%; MR); or 1.25% BW of maize alone in
weeks 1 to 3 and with high-protein feedstuffs in weeks 4 to 8 (M-MR). Control ewe BW decreased
during the experiment at a rate of 67 g/day, whereas BW change for MR and M-MR treatments was
16 and -8 g/day, respectively (control vs MR and M-MR, P < 0.05; SE 7.8). Lamb BW gain also
was lower for control than for MR (P < 0.05) and M-MR (P = 0.08), 144, 205, and 190 g/day for
control, MR, and M-MR, respectively (SE 12.9). Lamb BW gain was greater (P < 0.05) for Romanov- vs Suffolk-sired lambs (196 vs 163 g/day; SE 8.7) and for single than for twin lambs (198
vs 162 g/day; SE 9.0).
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