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Country: Romania
Dairy or/and meat sheep: Dairy and Meat
Source of information: Knowledge, Industry
Level of solution: Knowledge/Practical
Aim: Increase lamb survival through evaluation and monitoring of lamb birth weight
Description:
- Lambs birth weight influences significantly the survival rates and it is moderately heritable (0.35-0.40), as a result could be used as a selection trait.
- Birth weight of lambs is decidedly influenced by ewe nutrition during pregnancy and breed related factors.
- The optimum birth weight depends on the adult weight of that breeds, with a threshold for birth weight of 3.5-4 kg/lamb.
- Large lambs are problematic, and might cause difficult lambing’s and dystocia. This is frequently when crossing large size meat breeds with smaller sized breeds.
- Lambs born with low body weights should not be kept for reproduction, and their dams should be considered for culling.
- Lambs born as twins and triplets have usually with 20-40% lower body weights, compared to those born as singletons.
- Farmers should register birth weights for 20-30% of the lambs born, in order to assess their late gestation feeding management and take decisions for the following year.
Expected benefits: Reduction in lamb losses caused by low birth weights.
Prerequisites and/or limits (knowledge, training, capabilities, cost, management, facilities, equipment, etc.)
- Lamb birth weight could be used as a selection trait within the farm, given the moderately to high heritability and ease of assessment by farmer.
References:
Fraga et al., 2018; McCoard et al., 2017; Everett-Hincks et al., 2014
Tips & Tricks:
Ewe nutrition for optimum lamb birth weight
Expected impacts:
| Benefit | |||||||
| Benefit expected | Increase productivity less mortality |
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| System | |||||||
| Is the solution suitable for various production systems | Y | ||||||
| If no – for which system | dairy & meat | ||||||
| Cost | |||||||
| What are the asset costs | <100/lamb | ||||||
| What are the maintenance costs | <50/lamb | ||||||
| Any limits to its applicability | No | ||||||
| Work Load | |||||||
| Farmers | Service provider/tech.-vet-others | ||||||
| How much time is required to prepare and implement the solution | >=1week | ||||||
| How many people is needed to implement the solution? | 1 person (the farmer) | ||||||
| Timing | |||||||
| How long it takes to get results? | >=1week | ||||||
| How long it takes to see an effect on sheep productivity? | current production period | ||||||
| Equipment/Facility | |||||||
| Farmers | Service provider/technicians-vet-others | ||||||
| What kind of equipment/tool are necessary? | Weighing scales for lambs | ||||||
| Skill/Knowledge-Training (farmer) | |||||||
| Does the solution need any specific skill/knowledge or training? | Yes | ||||||
| How much time will be required for training | 1 day training | ||||||
| Wider Environment | |||||||
| Is there any particular regulation link to the solution? | NO | ||||||
| Does the solution need any particular structure or organisation? | NO | ||||||
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