The effect of daylength on the growth of lambs. 1. Comparisons of sex, level of feeding, shearing and breed of sire

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwo experiments were carried out with crossbred lambs which had been weaned in July when 16 weeks old. From early September they were kept in a light-proof building with 12 h artificial light per day for 3 weeks and then half were exposed to 16 h and half to 8 h light per day for a further 16 weeks.Experiment 1 included 72 lambs (48 castrated males and 24 females) and half in each daylength were fed on a concentrated ration ad libitum; the other half were restricted to 70 g/kg live weight0·75 per day. Half of each group were shorn. Lambs kept in 16 h light per day grew significantly faster than those in short daylength at both levels of feeding. Food conversion ratio was best in the 16 h restricted sheep. Unshorn lambs had heavier carcasses than shorn lambs. Long daylength stimulated general growth of the animal without markedly affecting carcass composition, irrespective of level of feeding, whereas ad libitum feeding resulted in much fatter carcasses than did restricted feeding. Gut fill was significantly greater in long-daylength sheep.Experiment 2 included 24 individually penned castrated male lambs, 12 of which were sired by Suffolk rams and 12 by Oxford rams; all were fed at the restricted level. Long daylength significantly stimulated weight gain, especially in the Oxford-cross lambs, but the increase in carcass weight was not significant in this experiment due to the large effect on gut fill.It was concluded that long daylength stimulated growth and gut fill by some central control mechanism and not merely by encouraging more eating.