Survival and mortality of extensive hill ewes are important commercial factors and valuable indicators of welfare, but difficult to study. Body condition scoring is a tried-and-tested management and monitoring tool which has been defined as a good predictor of fitness in ewes and is easily measured under hill farm conditions. This paper presents the results of a study on ewe survival rates in hill conditions in Scotland. Ewe performance and survival rates were measured in two contrasting hill flocks over a five-year period. Statistical analysis showed that mid-pregnancy body condition score was the most reliable indicator of subsequent ewe survival, followed closely by age of the ewe and environmental and management conditions. This study confirms that there are considerable welfare issues related to hill flocks and that improved winter nutritional management is a key component to good welfare and productivity. It also reinforces the view that body condition score is a good quantitative predictor of animal welfare and that poor mid-winter score indicates high risk of mortality, both at the flock and individual ewe level.

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) has been used to assess body composition in dogs and cats in several studies, but studies are difficult to compare for several reasons. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether positioning of dogs or cats in either dorsal or ventral recumbency during DEXA scanning influences results. Dogs and cats that were brought to the University Hospital for Companion Animals for euthanasia during the period 15 September–6 November 2015 were consecutively recruited if owners signed a written consent. Following euthanasia and before rigor mortis, the animals were body condition scored (BCS, nine-point scale) and DEXA scanned. DEXA measurements of total body mass (TBM), bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) and body fat (BF) were performed five times in ventral and two times in dorsal recumbency on each animal. Differences between positioning were analysed using Student's t test or Wilcoxon's test depending on normality of the data. A total of thirteen dogs and seven cats of different breeds, size, sexes and age were included. The CV for DEXA parameters in ventral or dorsal recumbency were, for dogs, TBM ≤ 0·1 %, BMC ≤ 1·63 %, BMD ≤ 1·29 %, LSTM ≤ 0·89 % and BF ≤ 1·52 %; and, for cats, TBM ≤ 0·08 %, BMC ≤ 0·61 %, BMD ≤ 0·49 %, LSTM ≤ 0·45 % and BF ≤ 0·88 %. In both positions, a good correlation was found for dogs (r 0·84–0·85; P < 0·0003) and cats (r 0·89–0·90; P < 0·0081) between the nine-point BCS system and BF percentage measured by DEXA. Ventral and dorsal recumbency provides comparable results, except that BMD measures were higher in dorsal recumbency (P < 0·0004).

Body condition scoring (BCS) systems primarily assess body fat. Both overweight and underweight animals may have loss of lean tissue that may not be noted using standard BCS systems. Catabolism of lean tissue can occur rapidly, may account for a disproportionate amount of body mass loss in sick cats and can have deleterious consequences for outcome. Therefore, along with evaluation of body fat, patients should undergo evaluation of muscle mass. The aims of the present study were first to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of a 4-point feline muscle mass scoring (MMS) system and second to assess the convergent validity of MMS by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). MMS was as follows: 3, normal muscle mass; 2, slight wasting; 1, moderate wasting; 0, severe wasting. For the first aim, forty-four cats were selected for evaluation based on age and BCS, and for the second aim, thirty-three cats were selected based on age, BCS and MMS. Cats were scored by ten different evaluators on three separate occasions. Body composition was determined by DXA. Inter- and intra-rater agreement were assessed using kappa analysis. Correlation between MMS and BCS, age, percentage lean body mass and lean body mass (LBM) was determined using Spearman's rank-order correlation. The MMS showed moderate inter-rater agreement in cats that scored normal or severely wasted (κ = 0·48–0·53). Intra-rater agreement was substantial (κ = 0·71–0·73). The MMS was significantly correlated with BCS (r 0·76, P < 0·0001), age (r − 0·75, P < 0·0001), LBM (g) (r 0·62, P < 0·0001) and percentage LBM (r − 0·49, P < 0·0035). Additional investigation is needed to determine whether the MMS can be refined and to assess its clinical applicability.

Two body condition scoring systems were compared for assessing body condition of cows at the Scottish Agricultural College's Crichton Royal Farm. The weekly body condition scores (BCS) were collected for a period of 12 weeks (5 September–21 November). Scores were obtained using the primary systems utilized within the UK and USA. The USBCS were obtained by the same evaluator each week, while the UKBCS were obtained by two different evaluators alternating between weeks. Paired scores (n=2088) between the two systems within week were moderately correlated (r=0·75, P<0·0001). Regression equations to convert scores between the two systems were created using the GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC, USA). The simple GLM models to convert from UK to US scores and US to UK scores were USBCS=1·182+0·816 * UKBCS (R2=0·56) and UKBCS=0·131+0·681 (R2=0·56), respectively. These equations may be used to interpret scores within the literature obtained using these two BCS systems, although they must be used with caution.

After the war in Kosovo, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank implemented an Emergency Farm Restocking Project, by allocating Simmental, Brown Swiss and Tyrol Grey heifers, 4–7 months pregnant, to farmers at the rate of one per farm. Data was monitored over a period of 14–16 months and the results showed that Brown Swiss had the highest milk production, while Tyrol Grey did worst. However, Tyrol Grey had the shortest service period and also changed the body condition score postpartum less than the other two breeds, making it best fitted of the three, to the extensive environment in Kosovo. Breeds were compared by growth rate, but this comparison was deemed highly inadequate as breeds with a high growth rate normally reach maturity at a high weight, and so need intensive feeding. Considering the extensive production environment in Kosovo, our results suggest that dairy cattle production should be based on a smaller breed, well adapted to the diet offered