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Lambing Response in Lowland Ewes on Commercial Farms to Active Immunisation Against Androstenedione

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

J. E. Vipond ,
Beverley Keeling  and
E. A. Hunter
J. E. Vipond
Affiliation:
North of Scotland College of Agriculture, 581 King Street, Aberdeen
Beverley Keeling
Affiliation:
North of Scotland College of Agriculture, 581 King Street, Aberdeen
E. A. Hunter
Affiliation:
AFRC Unit of Statistics, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh
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Extract

Field trials were run to evaluate the commercially available preparation Fecundin (Cooper/Glaxo) which is a hormone immunoneutralization technique for boosting lambing percentage. Fecundin is a vaccine produced by linking androstenedione with a protein to form a conjugate which when formulated with an adjuvant stimulates an active immune response within the ewe. Antibodies produced against the vaccine bind with naturally occurring androstenedione present in the blood leading to a moderation of feedback mechanisms which suppress follicular development. The result is higher ovulation rate leading to production of more lambs. Fecundin was developed and widely tested in Australia and New Zealand. The objective of these trials was to evaluate the levels of response obtained in a range of common U.K. sheep breeds under farm conditions, to monitor the effects of weight changes around mating on this response and to make an economic assessment of this technique of increasing lambing percentage.

Type
Sheep Production
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1986 , March 1986 , pp. 30
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1986

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