Katahdin Day in Western Maryland

 

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Experiment Starts

On June 25, after being sorted for weight, age, birth type, and fecal egg count, the lambs were randomly allocated to two treatment groups: PASTURE and SUPPLEMENTED. They were re-weighed and scored to get starting data.

The PASTURE (n=50) group will be rotationally-grazed on 5 acres of mixed pasture. They will be moved to a new paddock every 7 days. Forage samples will be collected at the beginning of each grazing period. The SUPPLEMENTED (n=49) group will receive a daily supplement of energy (whole barlely). The goal is to feed them 1 lb. per head per day. So far, they have been slow to eat the barley. The supplemented lambs will similarly graze 5 acres of mixed pasture.

Starting weights range from 30.4 to 107 lbs. and average 62.4 ± 13.3 lbs. The median weight is 62.6 lbs. During the 10 day acclimation period, the lambs gained an average of 0.265 ± 0.236 lbs. per day. The median gain was 0.240 lbs. per day. Body condition scores ranged from 2.0 to 3.2 and averaged 2.6 ± 0.2. FAMACHA© scores ranged from 1 to 3 and averaged 2.2 ± 0.7. No lambs had positive dag scores or diarrhea (scours). Fecal samples were collected from each lamb on June 15. Fecal egg counts ranged from 0 to 1050 and averaged 112 ± 162 EPG (very low).

Group	Number	Birth type	Age	Weight	BCS	FAMACHA©	FEC
Pasture	50	2.2	88.5	62.8	2.7	2.1	99
Suppl.	49	2.3	87.3	62.0	2.6	2.2	126
All	99	2.3	87.9	62.4	2.6	2.2	112