A note on the effect of autumn shearing on performance of fattening lambs

Abstract

ABSTRACTForty-eight castrate male and female Suffolk cross Mule lambs were used in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment to investigate the effect of autumn shearing and sex on growth performance over 46 days before slaughter. Lambs were penned individually outdoors and given pelleted lucerne ad libitum.Shearing increased average food intake by 0·072 (P<0·05), live-weight gain by 0·149 (P<0·01) and carcass weight by 0·058 (P<0·05). It is concluded that shearing is financially worthwhile in climatic conditions such as the present experiment.