ANFS251 Lecture 27: Sheep - Part 1

• School: University of Delaware
• Department: Animal and Food Sciences
• Course: ANFS251
• Professor: Griffiths Lesa

Document Summary

Challenge for sheep producers is to identify that level of nutritional management which will produce optimum production. Optimum production is not maximum production, nor is it production at minimal cost. Take advantage of compensatory growth during seasonal changes in forage conditions. To maintain energy status from one production cycle to the next. About 5% of all ewes fail to lamb and about 15-20% of all lambs die between birth and weaning. Supplying nutrient needs is the single largest expense in the total cost of raising sheep. Body composition at a given point can influence a ewe"s response to varying levels of nutrition. Most productive sheep is neither too thin nor too fat. Use of both body weight and condition scores helps producers make feed management decisions. Body weight alone is not enough because of differences in mature size between breeds or individuals within a breed. A procedure that helps decisions regarding quality and quantity of feed needed to optimize performance.