A study of food intake and production in grazing ewes II. The interrelationships between food intake and productive output

Abstract

1. Observations were made during the autumn and spring of 1959–60, 1960–61, and 1961–62 on pregnant and lactating Clun ewes of mixed ages grazing under natural conditions. The pattern of food intake during pregnancy and lactation, the output achieved in the form of weight of lambs produced at parturition, milk yield, and bodyweight change of the ewes themselves was investigated. The interrelationships between these factors, as influenced by the feeding of supplementary concentrate, either for 7 weeks before or 7 weeks after lambing, or during both periods, was elucidated.2. Daily dry-matter intake was found to be of the order of 1·5–2·0 kg. for this type of ewe, but there was considerable individual variation (coefficient of variation about 20%). Intake did not increase concurrently with the demands of the foetus during the later stages of pregnancy, and even became depressed as parturition approached. Immediately after lambing there was a spectacular increase in intake, which, after rising to a peak, was maintained at a high level during the lactation. Ewes receiving supplementary concentrates showed an increase in food intake over those unsupplemented, but this increase was less than the amount of dry matter fed in the supplement, even on rather bare pasture.3. During the early stages of pregnancy there was no apparent difference in the weight gains of singleand twin-bearing ewes, but during the last 8 weeks prior to lambing twin-bearing ewes made greater weight gains. In relation to weights taken just after parturition ewes producing twins had lost most weight. Unsupplemented ewes lost more weight than those receiving supplements. Lack of supplementation prior to lambing only limited production in the case of twin-bearing ewes.