Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T07:25:22.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A note on the effect of Broken Mouth on the performance of Scottish Blackface hill ewes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. G. Gunn
R. G. Gunn
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organization, 29 Lauder Road, Edinburgh, EH9 2JQ
Get access

Summary

On a hill farm, 376 Scottish Blackface ewes with all permanent incisor teeth present (whole mouth) at 53 months of age were compared with 118 ewes having one or more of these teeth missing (broken mouth). By 46 months, ewes becoming or already broken-mouthed were significantly lighter in weight and although at their third lambing they gave birth to the same number and weights of lambs as whole-mouthed ewes, their twin lambs were significantly lighter in weight from about three weeks of age onward. At their fourth lambing, broken-mouthed ewes produced and reared significantly fewer lambs and of lighter weight than their whole-mouthed contemporaries. Grazing of turnips increased the incidence of ewes with broken mouths.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , August 1970 , pp. 517 - 520
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1970

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Duckworth, J., Hill, R., Benzie, D., Dalgarno, A. C. and Robinson, J. F. 1962. Studies of the dentition of sheep. I. Clinical observations from investigations into the shedding of permanent incisor teeth by hill sheep. Res. vet. Sci. 3: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunn, R. G. 1969. The effects of calcium and phosphorus supplementation on the performance of Scottish Blackface hill ewes, with particular reference to the premature loss of permanent incisor teeth. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 72: 371–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill Farming Research Organization. 1958. Rep. Hill Farm. Res. Org. lst Report, 1954–1958.Google Scholar
Jones, D. N. 1958. Rep. Hill Farm. Res. Org. lst Report, 1954–1958.Google Scholar
Quarterman, J. and Dalgarno, A. C. 1968. Observations on the development of periodontal disease in hill sheep and the effect of selenium injections. Res. vet. Sci. 9: 41–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed