Relationship between body temperature measured by infrared thermography and performance, feed efficiency and enteric gas emission of hair lambs.

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive method that is one of the main indirect tools to optimize livestock measurements, as most changes in physiological conditions affect body temperature. This study aimed to evaluate the use of IRT to estimate residual feed intake (RFI) and residual intake and gain (RIG) of hair lambs, in addition to variations in performance, feed efficiency estimates, and gas emissions. Forty lambs were monitored during two feed efficiency tests to assess performance, feed efficiency estimates, and enteric gas emissions.

Visual ELISA for detection of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) in ewe serum.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of visual ELISA-PAG for early pregnancy diagnosis based on the presence of PAG (pregnancy-associated glycoprotein) using sheep blood serum. Experiment 1: 140 ewes were divided into three groups with different stages of pregnancy. In the first group, 41 pregnant ewes were sampled at 26, 28, 30, and 32 days of pregnancy; in the second group, 65 ewes (49 pregnant with 30 days and 16 non-pregnant) were sampled; in the third group, 34 non-pregnant ewes were sampled.