a crossbreeding experiment involving four iranian fat-tailed sheep breeds, namely kurdi (k), chaal (c), afshari (a) and sanjabi (s) was carried out to determine the ram breed effects on productivity of kurdi fat-tailed ewes (k) under extensive production system. a total of 475 kurdi ewes were mated to 24 rams from four breeds producing 454 lambs including pure kurdi, kk, (116 lambs), afshari × ...

This study aimed to examine the effects of feeding corn silage inoculated without or with either Lactobacillus buchneri (LB) alone or a combination of LB and Lactobacillus plantarum (LBLP) on the apparent digestibility, ruminal fermentation, microbial protein synthesis, and growth performance of lambs. Thirty Santa Inês×Dorper crossbred intact males lambs weighing 20.4±3.8 kg were blocked by we...

BACKGROUND Selenium is part of the antioxidant defence system in animals and humans. The available selenium concentration in soil is low in many regions of the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of organic versus inorganic selenium supplementation on selenium status of ewes, their lambs, and slaughter lambs. METHODS Ewes on four organic farms were allocated five or si...

Effects of partial docking on feedlot performance and body fat characteristics were studied in a fat-tailed sheep breed. Thirty-eight male lambs with an average weight of 4.44 ± 0.48 were randomly divided into two groups. The lambs in one group were partially docked at 3-4 h after birth, using rubber rings, and the lambs in another group remained intact (control). After weaning, 20 male lambs f...

The South African Dorper is an important terminal meat sire breed in Africa that was recently imported into the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Dorper as a terminal meat sire breed for U.S. production. Semen from purebred Dorper sires was used to artificially inseminate Columbia ewes to produce F1 crossbred lambs. Growth and carcass characteristics of F1 Dorper-Co...

Ruminants eat a variety of foods from different locations in the environment. While water, cover, social interactions, and predators are all likely to influence choice of foraging location, differences in macronutrient content among forages may also cause ruminants to forage in different locations even during a meal. We hypothesized that lambs forage at locations containing foods that complemen...

Research in the area of fetal programming has focused on intrauterine growth restriction. Few studies have attempted to examine programming mechanisms that ultimately lead to lambs with a greater potential for postnatal growth. We previously demonstrated that treatment of ewes with GH at the time of breeding led to an increase in birth weight. Therefore, the objective of this study was to deter...

Two 3 x 2 factorial growth trials and a companion metabolism trial with 13, 15, or 17% dietary CP (DM basis), with or without 3% of the DM replaced with slowly degraded menhaden fish meal, were conducted to determine if level of dietary protein influences whether slowly degraded protein improves lamb growth and protein use. The growth trials included 32 and 34 pens of two weanling lambs initial...

Crossbred ewe and wether lambs were used to evaluate the effects of a normal, nocturnal elevation in the concentration of melatonin in the serum on immunological functions. The nocturnal elevation in melatonin was eliminated by exposing half the lambs to constant light (LL), whereas the remainder received a 12-h light, 12-h dark cycle (LD). Immune function was challenged by treating half the la...