Body condition scoring in relationship to the health status of sheep in Samaru, Zaria Nigeria

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International Journal of Development Research

Body condition scoring in relationship to the health status of sheep in Samaru, Zaria Nigeria

Abstract: 

A study was carried out to determine the body condition of sheep brought to the Large Animal Clinic of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with major health complaints and to compare with the evaluations in apparently healthy sheep kept at the University Farm, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria during the same period. The animals were divided into two groups; 40 sheep brought to the Clinic for various health reasons and the second group of 30 apparently healthy sheep. Within the clinically evaluated group, the overall mean (±SD) body length obtained from the 40 animals was 94.2±16.5 cm, the overall mean (±SD) body height was 69.1±11.8 cm, while the overall mean (±SD) chest girth obtained from the same 40 animals was 61.8±13.0 cm. So also, the highest correlation was found between body weight and height (r = 0.899) followed by chest girth (r = 0.863) and lastly body length (r = 0.676).This shows that chest girth and body height have the lowest deviation from their respective mean as well as highest coefficient of correlation and hence are best used to predict live weight. The study also shows that there is a significant decrease in the body condition score of local sheep afflicted by different disease conditions (P < 0.05). Based on the findings of the present study, the body weight has high correlation with the chest girth circumference and height, and may be used by farmers to evaluate live weight of their animals and use as selection criteria to improve meat production and in experimental works.

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