Browsing by Subject "lamb"
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Item Impacts of Castration and Docking Method on Lamb Stress and PerformanceBodenchuk, Leigh Ann .; Salisbury, Michael W; Scott, Cody B; Runyan, Chase A; Osterhout, John JThe objectives of this study were to determine which method of castration and docking causes more stress to lambs and subsequent effects on performance. For this study 60 crossbred lambs, 31 females and 29 males, were assigned to one of two treatment groups. Female lambs were docked while male lambs were castrated. Lambs were docked or castrated with either an All-in-One tool or by elastrator rubber band. Ewe lambs docked with an elastrator band were more restless than lambs docked with an All-in-One (p < 0.01). There were no differences in mean 93 day weight between ewe treatments (p = 0.93). Male lambs castrated with an elastrator band vocalized more (p = 0.03) and were more restless than lambs castrated with an All-in-One (p = 0.05). Mean 93 day weight was affected by treatment with banded males weighing more than All-in-One castrated males (p = 0.03). Results suggest that castration method can affect performance while docking method does not.Item The effects of Bio-Mos on lamb growth and immune function(2009-05-15) Thayne, Jeffrey ThomasThe objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of inclusion of Bio-Mos in the growing ration for weaned lambs on growth rate, feed efficiency, and clinical measures of health of the lambs. Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS), when included as a supplement to the diet, have been shown to have a positive effect on immune response in several species and in turn, positively affect the growth of the animal. MOS are commercially available as BioMos?, which is a nutritional supplement manufactured by Alltech, Inc. out of Nicholasville, KY. Forty-seven weaned Suffolk ? Hampshire (n=47) lambs were used in this trial. Of the group, twenty (n=20) were ewe lambs and twentyseven (n=27) were wether lambs. The lambs were placed on their assigned diets and remained on the trial for a four week period (d+28). All responses evaluated in this study were influenced by time (p < 0.05) over the 28-d trial. A GENDER ? WEEK interaction was observed for ADG and feed conversion (p < 0.05). Control lambs tended (p = 0.10) to have a higher intake over the 28-d period in comparison to Bio-Mos fed lambs. There were no statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between control and Bio-Mos fed lambs for any of the growth parameters that were measured. There was a tendency (p = 0.10) for GENDER ? WEEK to influence intake. Gender also tended to interacted with diet (GENDER ? DIET, p = 0.09) to influence intake over the trial period. A GENDER ? WEEK interaction was observed (p < 0.05) for feed conversion. Diet influenced fecal pH (p < 0.05). This study indicates Bio-Mos had minimal influence on growth and health.