B19: Sheep and goat breeding technologies, production and management systems (extensive, intensive)

Question 1

x3 levels of reproductive management systems

Answer 1

• Extensive: Lambing once per year in spring, mating in Autumn, large non-productive interval. (an animal farming system characterized by a low productivity per animal and per service)
  ‣ It uses small amounts of inputs, capital, and labor compared to the farmed land area.
  ‣ Usually have a low stocking rate and are essentially based on grazing (permanent grasslands, natural pastures, etc).
• Semi—Intensive:
  ◦ Lambing 3x in 2 years
  ◦ Shortening inactive and transitional period
  ◦ Flushing
  ◦ Estrous induction & synchronization
  ◦ Biostimulation
  ◦ Heat & Pregnancy detectio
• Intensive: Continuous oestrous activity & lambing. Breeding out of season. Regulated reproduction, intensive care, oestrous & pregnacy detection, intensive feeding, high quality management.

Question 2

What is extensive Reproductive Management Systems

Answer 2

• Extensive: Lambing once per year in spring, mating in Autumn, large non-productive interval. (an animal farming system characterized by a low productivity per animal and per service)
  ‣ It uses small amounts of inputs, capital, and labor compared to the farmed land area.
  ‣ Usually have a low stocking rate and are essentially based on grazing (permanent grasslands, natural pastures, etc).

Question 2

what is semi-intensive Reproductive Management Systems

Answer 2

• Semi—Intensive
  ◦ Lambing 3x in 2 years
  ◦ Shortening inactive and transitional period
  ◦ Flushing
  ◦ Estrous induction & synchronization
  ◦ Biostimulation
  ◦ Heat & Pregnancy detecti

Question 3

What is intensive Reproductive Management Systems

Answer 3

• Intensive:
  (land used for animal production where all the animals’ food is imported from outside the
  immediate building, enclosure, pen or paddock and animals do not obtain food directly from grazing,
  browsing or foraging plants growing on the land on a daily basis)

-> Continuous oestrous activity & lambing.
-> Breeding out of season.
-> Regulated reproduction, intensive care, oestrous & pregnacy detection,
-> intensive feeding,
-> high quality management.

Question 4

what is traditional sheep farming?

Answer 4

wool
one lambing per season

number of sheep in ireland as of 2021: 4.02m
number of regidtered herds in ireland: 42012
avg. number of sheep per flock: 95.6

Question 5

see life career diagrams for all types of sheep farming

Question 6

sheep housing of merino sheep

Answer 6

Merino Sheep:
-free stall keeping during winter with deep litter and hay racks
- well designed and portable sheds
-plastic slat flooring

Question 7

housing of tsigai sheep

Answer 7

-Ewes in winter corral, year-round outdoor keeping ( also present are mothering-on pens)
-Mothering-on pens (for ewe and her lamb(s))
-Indoor lambing and raising of lambs in individual pens

🡪 also have adopter pens(ewes head is placed between 2 bars to stop her from preventing adopted lamb from suckling—she eventually accepts the lamb as her own after a few days)
-Group pen for suckler ewes and lambs
- older sheds had thatched roofing

Question 8

housing of hungarian racka sheep

Answer 8

-portable hurdles(like a little steel gate), water, licking salt in stable keeping
-Persian fur production with lambs that are a carpet wool type sheep

Question 9

what is creep feeding

Answer 9

ffering a different feed to young animals who are still nursing. E.g giving a lamb some silage although it’s still receiving milk from its mother

Question 10

What must be done to lambs once born?

Answer 10

numbering
docking
castration

Question 11

what are the steps of lamb fattening

Answer 11

• Self-feeder for fattened lambs in the feed-lot
  -Weighing of lams to check progress
  -Post mortem qualification for trade categories: checks conformation and weight of lamb
  -Extensive fattening completed in the field/pasture
• Slaughtering of older lambs

Question 12

what are typical tasks related to rearing sheep?

Answer 12

-Weaning
-Treatment against parasites
-Fleece evaluation
-Bonitation of wool
- Weight measuring
-Shearing
-pregnancy control
- Condition scoring
-Sorting/culling
-Claw trimming(cutting of their hooves)
-Treatment against parasites

Question 13

how to care for sheep hooves?

Answer 13

importance for prevention of lameness

frequency is depending on:
– activity – soil quality – climate – pathologic infections – predisposition – omission.

A sheep turn-over crate, installed as part of a handling system, is extremely useful to thoroughly examine sheep’s feet and carry out any necessary trimming.
Sheep should be slowly walked through a corridor which contains a footbath with an appropriate solution to a depth of 5cm.

place zinc sulphate in the bath.

prevent foot rot

Question 14

what parasites effect sheep and do we control them?

Answer 14

• Endo–
  -Helminths :
  * nematodes, trematodes, tape worms * often seen in small ruminants.
• Ecto: – ticks – mites – lice – fleas – blowfly

liver fluke

Preventative measures:
-Dipping
-Spraying
-Oral drench & injectable products

Question 15

poisonous plants for sheep

Answer 15

Solanum nigrum (black nightshade)
Atropa belladona(atropine)-(belladonna or deadly nightshade)

Question 16

what breed of ewe is used for dairy production?

Answer 16

Transsylvanian Racka East Friesian
Lacuane: year-round housing of milk-type ewes

Question 17

how can a ram be prepared for the breeding season?

Answer 17

-Flushing: Flushing is a practice wherein the amount of feed energy is increased to beginning 3-6 weeks prior to the breeding season. As a result of the increasing plane of nutrition, rams will gain weight and better sustain mating season, A ram can lose up to 15% of its body condition during a six-week mating season. Therefore, it’s critical that rams are in good condition —Flushing is also done with ewes for the same reason but also to increase her fertility in the hope of twin lambs or triplets.

Question 18

What disease requires prion genotyping to ensure its fatal effects are not carried by sheep in a herd?

Answer 18

To check for the presence of Scrapie (a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the nervous systems of sheep and goats. characterized by a lack of coordination causing affected animals to rub against trees and other objects for support, and thought to be caused by a virus-like agent such as a prion.
The scrapie-causing prion can be spread from sheep to sheep, goat to goat. The primary route of transmission is through the ingestion of placenta or allantoic fluids from, an infected female. Hence, newborns are at high risk of infection.

Each sheep inherits a PrP gene from each parent. Genotype combinations can be: QQ, QH, HH, QR, HR, KK, QK, KR, and RR, with QQ, QR, and RR being the most common. These combinations are an indication of the animal’s likelihood of developing clinical signs of scrapie if exposed to the scrapie agent.

Question 19

what is raddling?

Answer 19

a device placed on the chest of the ram that holds a colour-when a ram mates with a ewe the colour is marked on her back—shows the farmer which ewes have mated

Question 20

what type of farming is expected in intesive farming?

Answer 20

(see diagram on intensive farming in photo album)

Mutton Sheep Farming: Accelerated lambing

Usually a ewe only has 1 lamb a year however here is different;
Cikta: Hungarian breed of sheep
Accelerated lambing:
- twice a year lambing
- opportunistic lambing (as many lambs as possible)
- three lamb crops in two years

STAR system: 5 lambing periods in 3 years (7.2 months intervals)

Necessary to keep indoor:
🡪lighting program, cyclus synchronization, AI, ram effect, flushing. Twinning, aseasonality, body condition, heterosis, location