Maternal behavior scores and temperament of ewes under intensive and extensive handling systems.

Maternal behavior has been related to ewe's reactivity, as more reactive ewes might have greater risk of presenting worse maternal ability. This study aimed to determine the association between maternal behavior score (MBS) of Corriedale ewes with their physiological and behavioral variables measured at weaning of their offspring within two handling systems. Data from 335 ewes with average (± SE) age of 3.

Influence of tropical upright pasture structural and chemical characteristics on lamb grazing time.

Tropical pasture canopy characteristics can alter lamb ingestive behavior. Our study evaluated the ingestive behavior of young lambs in different tropical pastures to identify which variables interfere in their grazing activity. Two years of study were carried out with 54 weaned lambs distributed in three different pasture canopies: 1) monoculture of an upright grass, guinea grass (Panicum maximum; GG); 2) monoculture of a shrubby legume pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan; PP) and 3) contiguous paddock with half GG and half PP (GP).

The effect of plant bioactive compounds on lamb performance, intake, gastrointestinal parasite burdens, and lipid peroxidation in muscle.

Plant extracts have been widely used in animal production systems due to the benefits promoted by their bioactive components, mainly through their antioxidant effects and positive effects on animal growth, health, and meat quality. We determined whether bioactive compounds (BC) from grape (Vitis vinifera), olive (Olea europaea), and pomegranate (Punica granatum) have beneficial effects on lamb growth while controlling gastrointestinal parasitism and reducing skeletal lipid peroxidation in muscle. Fourteen lambs (4 to 5 mo of age) were housed in individual pens and assigned to two treatment groups (seven animals/group), where they received: 1) a basal diet of beet pulp:soybean meal (90:10) (CONTROL) and 2) the same diet, but containing 0.

Management Strategies for Lamb Production on Pasture-Based Systems in Subtropical Regions: A Review.

Sheep production on pasture plays an important role in subtropical climates around the world, with great economic and environmental relevance to those regions. However, this production is much lower than its true potential in subtropical regions, largely due to lack of knowledge of how to feed grazing lambs, and mitigate gastrointestinal parasite infections. Due to weather instability and the high growth rate of tropical grasses, it is difficult to adjust the quality and quantity of feed consumed by lambs.

Ingestive Behavior of Young Lambs on Contrasting Tropical Grass Sward Heights.

The efficiency of grazing ruminant production systems is directly associated to the animals' ingestive behavior, and to structural characteristics of the pastures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ingestive behavior of young lambs grazing three different heights of Capim Aruana (). The experiment was carried out in two consecutive years, in which 30 tester lambs (4-5 months old) were equally divided into three paddocks (treatments) corresponding to different average sward heights of Aruana grass: (1) Tall-75 cm; (2) Medium-50 cm; and (3) Short-25 cm in a randomized block design.

Self-selection of plant bioactive compounds by sheep in response to challenge infection with Haemonchus contortus.

Plant bioactives can potentially benefit herbivores through their effects on health and nutrition. The objective of this study was to determine the importance of polyphenols and terpenes on the ability of lambs to self-select these compounds when challenged by a parasitic infection and the subsequent impact on their health and productivity. Thirty-five lambs were housed in individual pens and assigned to five treatment groups (7 animals/group), where they received: 1) A basal diet of beet pulp:soybean meal (90:10) (CONTROL); 2) The same diet, but containing 0.

Distribution of infective gastrointestinal helminth larvae in tropical erect grass under different feeding systems for lambs.

This study examined tropical pasture contamination dynamics under different feeding systems for finishing lambs. The experiment aimed to evaluate the vertical distribution of gastrointestinal helminth infective larvae (L3) in erect grass subjected to grazing and to assess the parasite load and its impact on lamb performance in three production systems. Three treatments based on Aruana grass (Panicum maximum cv.