Arch. Anim. Breed.

, 59, 107–112, 2016

Open Access
[Link]/59/107/2016/
doi:10.5194/aab-59-107-2016
© Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

The effect of ewe body condition at lambing on growth of

lambs and colostral specific gravity
Ferda Karakuş1 and Metin Atmaca2
1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Yuzuncu Yıl University, 65080 Van, Turkey
2 Van Directorate of Provincial Food Agriculture and Livestock, 65100 Van, Turkey
Correspondence to: Ferda Karakuş (fkarakus@[Link])
Received: 28 August 2015 – Revised: 16 January 2016 – Accepted: 19 February 2016 – Published: 24 February 2016

Abstract. This study was carried out on 60 Norduz ewes to determine the effect of ewe body condition at
lambing on growth of lambs and colostral specific gravity. Body condition score (BCS), ranging from 2.5 to 3.5,
had no effect on lamb live weight at birth, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days of age (P > 0.05). The average colostral
specific gravity determined as 1.049 was not affected by body condition of ewes. A moderate positive correlation
(r = 0.436) was observed between condition score and live weight of ewes (P < 0.001). The results of this study
suggest that BCS is not a reliable estimator of live weight for Norduz ewes.

1 Introduction In late pregnancy and during the lambing period, good

body condition of ewes is crucial for producing good-quality
Feeding programs in sheep herd management should be colostrum. Early detection of colostrum quality in post-
based on the animals’ physiological status in order to pre- lambing is also extremely important for lamb health and per-
vent the use of the animal’s own body reserves. Although formance. Colostrum quality depends on the level of anti-
live weight, which is a combination of body size and condi- bodies (IgG) it contains. Radial immunodiffusion analysis
tion, has been used to estimate the nutritional status of ewes, (Higaki et al., 2013), refractometers (Chigerwe and Hagey,
increased nutrient requirements may vary among individuals 2014), estimation of enzyme activity levels (Zarrilli et al.,
of the same weight due to differences in body size. There- 2003), precipitation of globulins by zinc sulfate (Tabatabaei
fore, body condition scoring involving subjective assessment et al., 2013), assessment of total protein by Biuret method
of the muscling and subcutaneous fat stores in the loin re- (Tabatabaei et al., 2013), and colostrometers (Pritchett et al.,
gion is a better and useful indicator to evaluate changes in 1994) have been reported as methods used for estimation of
nutritional status over time in sheep (Khan, 1993). Since the immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations in colostrum.
wool coat may affect the interpretation of the condition, the The colostrometer measures the specific gravity (SG) of
body condition score (BCS) of ewes is assessed by accurate the colostrum. Fleenor and Stott (1980) reported the re-
and careful palpation of the lumbar region over and around lationship of SG with colostral total solids (r 2 = 0.763,
the backbone (spinous and transverse processes) in the loin P < 0.01), total protein (r 2 = 0.900, P < 0.01) and Ig con-
region, immediately behind the last rib (13th–14th) (Gaias, centration (r 2 = 0.699, P < 0.01). Since protein accounts for
2012). a high proportion (64 %) of total solids, and gamma globu-
Body condition at the time of breeding and lambing can lins represents approximately 47 % of the total protein, SG
affect the performance of ewes and lambs, as well as produc- of colostrum is significantly correlated with Ig concentration
tivity. Studies have reported direct impacts of ewe BCS on (Fleenor and Stott, 1980; El-Loly and Mansour, 2013). How-
reproductive performance (Yılmaz et al., 2011), colostrum ever, colostral SG (CSG) is affected by temperature of the
production (Jalilian and Moeini, 2013), survival and growth colostrum (Mechor et al., 1992) as well as breed, lactation
rates of lambs (Sarı et al., 2013; Corner-Thomas et al., number, and month and year of calving (Morin et al., 2001).
2015a, b). Despite some of its deficiencies, the colostrometer is conve-

Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology.
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