ISSN:
1365-2494
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Forage diets were prepared from ryegrass (non oestrogenic control) and from red clover as pellets or as unwilted silage. Each diet was fed to separate groups of 20 Border Leicester × Cheviot ewes for three weeks prior to the introduction of the ram, and for two cycles after mating. Subsequently, all three groups of ewes were fed in a similar manner until lambing and the reproductive performance of the ewes was measured. The control diet was prepared by barn drying a primary growth crop of perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne cv S23. Tetraploid red clover, Trifolium pratense cv. Hungarpoly, was harvested as a first regrowth crop and the pelleted diet prepared by high temperature drying, grinding (2 mm screen) and pelleting. The silage was prepared without wilting. The level of formononetin in the red-clover silage was three times that in the dried red-clover pellets.Compared with the control grass diet, the feeding of red clover in either form significantly reduced (P〈0·001) the number of lambs born. The incidence of barrenness was higher (P〈0·001) for ewes fed red-clover silage compared with red-clover pellets and the control diet. The rate of twinning was significantly (P〈0·001) higher for the ewes fed the control grass diet than for either of the red-clover diets. The resultant lambing percentages were 190,165, and 100% for the control grass, red-clover pellet and red-clover silage treatments. In flock management, both the grazing of red clover and the feeding of red-clover pellets or silage, prior to and during mating, should be avoided.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2494.1975.tb01367.x
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