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Analysis of liveweight and growth performance in Australian lambs
Conference paper   Peer reviewed

Analysis of liveweight and growth performance in Australian lambs

C.G. Jose, C.F. Hansen, K.L. Pearce, S.I. Mortimer, A.J. Ball, K.G. Geenty and G.E. Gardner
EAAP Scientific Series, Vol.127(1), pp.311-312
Wageningen Academic Publishers
3rd EAAP International Symposium on Energy and Protein Metabolism and Nutrition (Parma, Italy, 06/09/2010–10/09/2010)
2010
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Abstract

The age-weight relationship of growing lambs is of major economic importance to the Australian sheep industry. Birth, weaning and slaughter weights can be used to derive important growth traits such as relative and absolute growth rates by the use of nonlinear growth functions such as Brody (1945). These functions have been used to model liveweight gain, providing a relatively precise description of the growth pattern of animals with a clear biological interpretation. Analysis of animal growth performance is essential to establish precise feeding strategies as well as providing accurate age estimates for animals to reach target slaughter weights. Early estimation of these traits is vital to optimise production and genetic selection. The objectives of this study were to determine environmental and genetic factors affecting post-weaning weight gains in Australian sheep flocks with known genetic potential for growth.

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