IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i6p543-d574062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Herbage Availability, Pregnancy Stage and Rank on the Rate of Liveweight Loss during Fasting in Ewes

Author

Listed:
  • Jimmy Semakula

    (School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand
    National Agricultural Research Organization, Entebbe P.O. Box 295, Uganda)

  • Rene Anne Corner-Thomas

    (School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand)

  • Stephen Todd Morris

    (School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand)

  • Hugh Thomas Blair

    (School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand)

  • Paul Richard Kenyon

    (School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4410, New Zealand)

Abstract

Sheep liveweight and liveweight change are vital tools both for commercial and research farm management. However, they can be unreliable when collection procedures are not standardized or when there are varying time delays between sheep removal from grazing and weighing. This study had two stages with different objectives: (1) A liveweight loss study to determine the effect of herbage availability (Low and High) on the rate of liveweight loss of ewes at different pregnancy stages (approximately 100 days of pregnancy: P100 and 130 days: P130) and ranks (single and twin); (2) A follow-up liveweight loss study to develop and validate correction equations for delayed liveweights by applying them to data sets collected under commercial conditions. Results from each stage showed that the rate of liveweight loss varied by herbage availability and stage of pregnancy ( p < 0.05) but not pregnancy-rank ( p > 0.05). Further, the rate of liveweight loss differed by farm ( p < 0.05). Applying liveweight correction equations increased the accuracy of without delay liveweight estimates in P100 ewes by 56% and 45% for single-bearing and twin-bearing ewes, respectively, when offered the Low-level diet. In ewes offered the High-level diet, accuracies of without delay liveweight estimates were increased by 53% and 67% for single-bearing and twin-bearing ewes, respectively. Among P130 ewes, accuracy was increased by 43% and 37% for single-bearing and twin-bearing ewes, respectively, when offered the Low herbage level and by 60% and 50% for single-bearing and twin-bearing ewes, respectively, when offered the High herbage level. In conclusion, a short-term delay of up to 8 hours prior to weighing, which is commonly associated with practical handling operations, significantly reduced the liveweight recorded for individual sheep. Using delayed liveweights on commercial farms and in research can have consequences for management practices and research results; thus, liveweight data should be collected without delay. However, when this is not feasible, delayed ewe liveweights should be corrected and, in the absence of locally devised correction equations, the ones generated in the current study could be applied on farms with similar management conditions and herbage type.

Suggested Citation

  • Jimmy Semakula & Rene Anne Corner-Thomas & Stephen Todd Morris & Hugh Thomas Blair & Paul Richard Kenyon, 2021. "The Effect of Herbage Availability, Pregnancy Stage and Rank on the Rate of Liveweight Loss during Fasting in Ewes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:6:p:543-:d:574062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/6/543/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/6/543/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rémi Toupet & Alastair T. Gibbons & Sara L. Goodacre & Matt J. Bell, 2020. "Effect of Herbage Density, Height and Age on Nutrient and Invertebrate Generalist Predator Abundance in Permanent and Temporary Pastures," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1979. "A Simple Test for Heteroscedasticity and Random Coefficient Variation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1287-1294, September.
    3. Jimmy Semakula & Rene A. Corner-Thomas & Stephen T. Morris & Hugh T. Blair & Paul R. Kenyon, 2021. "The Effect of Herbage Availability and Season of Year on the Rate of Liveweight Loss during Weighing of Fasting Ewe Lambs," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ionică Nechifor & Marian Alexandru Florea & Răzvan-Mihail Radu-Rusu & Constantin Pascal, 2022. "Influence of Supplemental Feeding on Body Condition Score and Reproductive Performance Dynamics in Botosani Karakul Sheep," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mehzabin Tuli, Farzana & Mitra, Suman & Crews, Mariah B., 2021. "Factors influencing the usage of shared E-scooters in Chicago," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 164-185.
    2. Hideki Murakami & Yukari Matsuse & Koji Mukaigawa & Yushi Tsunoda, 2013. "Product lifecycle and choice of transportation modes: Japan' s evidence of import and export," Discussion Papers 2013-28, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    3. Michele Fratianni & Francesco Marchionne, 2011. "The Limits to Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume I, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Tadashi Kikuchi, 2014. "Vietnamese Inter – regional labor migration: system approach to the modeling 1989, 1999, 2009," EcoMod2014 6998, EcoMod.
    5. Jean-Paul Azam & Catherine Bonjean, 1995. "La formation du prix du riz : théorie et application au cas d'Antananarivo (Madagascar) ," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 46(4), pages 1145-1166.
    6. Nathaniel Geiger & Bryan McLaughlin & John Velez, 2021. "Not all boomers: temporal orientation explains inter- and intra-cultural variability in the link between age and climate engagement," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Vittorio Nicolardi, 2009. "The effects of the new 1995 ESA methodologies of estimation on the structural analysis of Italian consumption," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 18(1), pages 125-149, March.
    8. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    9. Raffaella Santolini, 2017. "Electoral Rules And Public Spending Composition: The Case Of Italian Regions," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 551-577, July.
    10. Desbordes, Rodolphe, 2007. "The sensitivity of U.S. multinational enterprises to political and macroeconomic uncertainty: A sectoral analysis," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 732-750, December.
    11. Zsuzsa Lábiscsák-Erdélyi & Ilona Veres-Balajti & Annamária Somhegyi & Karolina Kósa, 2022. "Self-Esteem Is Independent Factor and Moderator of School-Related Psychosocial Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.
    12. Stern, David I. & Gerlagh, Reyer & Burke, Paul J., 2017. "Modeling the emissions–income relationship using long-run growth rates," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 699-724, December.
    13. Grzegorz Rybak & Edward Kozłowski & Krzysztof Król & Tomasz Rymarczyk & Agnieszka Sulimierska & Artur Dmowski & Piotr Bednarczuk, 2023. "Algorithms for Optimizing Energy Consumption for Fermentation Processes in Biogas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Garcia-Hiernaux, Alfredo & Gonzalez-Perez, Maria T. & Guerrero, David E., 2023. "Eurozone prices: A tale of convergence and divergence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    15. Timothy Tyler Brown & Vishnu Murthy, 2020. "Do public health activities pay for themselves? The effect of county‐level public health expenditures on county‐level public assistance medical care benefits in California," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(10), pages 1220-1230, October.
    16. Tsimpanos, Apostolos & Tsimbos, Cleon & Kalogirou, Stamatis, 2018. "Assessing spatial variation and heterogeneity of fertility in Greece at local authority level," MPRA Paper 100406, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Westley, Glenn D. & Shaffer, Sherrill, 1999. "Credit union policies and performance in Latin America," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1303-1329, September.
    18. Xu, Bin & Lin, Boqiang, 2018. "Do we really understand the development of China's new energy industry?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 733-745.
    19. Vance, Colin & Procher, Vivien, 2013. "Who Does the Shopping? German time-use evidence, 1996-2009," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2357, pages 125-133.
    20. Ahmad, Babor & Rabbani, M. Golam & Shilpa, Nusrat Afrin & Haque, Mohammad Samiul & Rahman, M. Naimur, 2022. "Diversification Of Livelihoods And Its Impact On The Welfare Of Tribal Households In Dinajpur District Of Bangladesh," Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, vol. 43(1), June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:6:p:543-:d:574062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.