5th Weighing

The lambs were weighed for the 5th time today. Gain was significantly higher, as compared to the previous two weigh periods.  The oat pasture has been depleted and the lambs have been grazing cool season perennials in the silvopasture area. Now, the lambs are grazing a paddock of dwarf pearl millet. Supplemental feeding is 2 lbs. per head per day. The ration, a mixture of whole barley, soybean meal, and minerals, is split into two equal feedings.

The lambs are getting BIG!

For the two week period of June 21-July 5, gain ranged from 4.2 to 18.7 lbs. and averaged 11.9 ± 3.5 lbs. The median gain was 11.9 lbs. One of the ram lambs lost weight, due to an injury. With the injured ram lamb removed from the data set, ADG ranged from 0.300 to 1.34 lb/d and averaged 0.872 ± 0.203. The median ADG was 0.852 lb/d. All of the lambs had FAMACHA© scores of 1 or 2; none required deworming.

For the 5th weigh period, the short scrotum rams (n=17) had the highest ADG: 1.002 ± 0.178 lb/d. The ram lambs (n=19) had the lowest ADG: 0.726 ± 0.328 lb/d. If the injured ram lamb is removed from the data set, the ram lambs' ADG improves to 0.783 ± 0.221. The ADG of the wether lambs (n=24) was intermediate at 0.846 ± 0.163 lb/d.

For the entire 70 days of the project, the lambs have gained an average of 42.0 ± 6.5 lbs. Gain has ranged from 21.2 to 57.7 lbs. per lamb. ADG has ranged from 0.303 to 0.824 lb/d and averaged 0.601
± 0.093 lb/d. So far, the highest ADG belongs to the short scrotum ram lambs: 0.645
± 0.067 lb/d. 

The ram lambs and wethers are gaining similarly: 0.586 ± 0.105 lb/d and 0.584 ± 0.092 lb/d. The intact ram and short scrotum rams are now similar in size (101.6 ± 16.2 and 101.4 lbs ± 9 lbs), while the wethers are almost 6 lbs. lighter at 95.9 ± 10.9 lbs.

Sex	No.	ADG -5th period	70 d ADG
Ram	19	0.726 ± 0.328	0.582 ± 0.104
Wether	24	0.846 ± 0.163	0.584  ± 0.092
Short scrotum	17	1.002 ± 0.178	0.645  ± 0.067
ALL	60	0.852 ± 0.252	0.601 ± 0.093