WEANING AGE/TIME BASED MODEL INFLUENCING PERFORMANCE IN GOATS AND SHEEP
MEAT PRODUCTION

WEANING AGE/TIME BASED MODEL INFLUENCING PERFORMANCE IN GOATS AND SHEEP
MEAT PRODUCTION

NEVER ASSAN

Weaning is an essential animal husbandry intervention which has
been associated with nutritional stress that interferes with both animal’s
behavioral and physiological responses consequently influencing post
weaning growth performance in goats and sheep production. The timing
of weaning and/or weaning age of kids/lambs becomes critical in
determination of flock performance with the intention of maximizing
meat productivity and improving profitability. There are two possibilities
that exist in deciding on weaning age of kids/lambs, thus early and late
weaning, however, the decision on when to wean is dependent mainly
on the production environment and purpose, as well as the dam
welfare. Age at weaning differ greatly in sheep and goats, therefrom 14
days to natural weaning, and exceeding four months of age. In sheep
production effective early weaning has been practiced untimely at 14
days; in goats’ kids have been weaned early successfully at 28 days. Early
weaning is considered traditionally weaning ahead of the 90 days of age;
60 days is most widely used; age thereafter qualifies for late weaning.
The age at weaning greatly influences post weaning animal
performance, however if not timed properly it would impact negatively
also on weaner survival rates. Weaning itself is a very stressful
procedure and subjecting kids/lambs to further stress which directly
impinge on the kid/lamb’s immunity consequently increasing their
susceptibility to diseases and reduced weight gain. There is need for age
of weaning to balance the potential positive impacts on the ewes/does
to rebreed, with potential negative impacts on the kid/lamb growth
performance and survivability. Early weaning has become an effective husbandry practice especially in advanced goat and sheep production
systems, which focuses on shortened female breeding reproductive
cycle, while enhancing meat productivity through increased frequency of
kidding/lambing. It is important to consider weaning age in relation to
nutritional strategies which provide adequate time for diet transition
which is intended not to compromise feed utilization and feed
conversion efficiency in kids/lambs consequently reducing growth
performance. The effectiveness of weaning age and anticipated live
weight gains post-weaning is dependent on nutritional management
especially concentrate supplementation which may promote
performance and productivity in pastured based systems. Late weaning
is probably convenient for less prolific goat and sheep breeds and
genotypes not selected for their growth potential. It should be
acknowledged that there is interaction between weaning age with other
factors such as nutrition, sex and weight of animal. Some of the goat and
sheep producers worldwide have shifted to use of weight based
weaning model, similar age but with different weights, heavier lambs
have superior development efficiency during lactation. The present
review gives an insight on the consequences of early and late weaning
on animal’s post weaning performance in small ruminants

Agricultural Advances

2020