What is it about?

This paper describes three strategies to improve the reproductive performance of small ruminants in ways that lead to “clean, green and ethical” animal production. The first is aimed at control of the timing of reproductive events for which we turn to the socio-sexual inputs of the “male effect” to induce synchronised ovulation in females thatwould otherwise not be ovulating. The second strategy, “focussed feeding”, is based on our knowledge of the responses to nutrition and aims to develop short programs of nutritional supplements that are precisely timed and specifically designed for individual events in the reproductive process, such as egg and sperm production, embryo survival, "fetal programming" and colostrum production. The third strategy aims to maximise offspring survival by a combination of management, nutrition and genetic selection for behavior (temperament).

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Why is it important?

All of the proposed approaches involve non-pharmacological manipulation of the endogenous control systems of the animals and complement the detailed information from ultrasound that is now becoming available. The use of such clean, green and ethical tools in the management of our animals can be cost-effective, increase productivity and, at the same time, greatly improve the image of meat and milk industries in society and the marketplace.

Perspectives

This paper follows on from my 1995 treatise on the future of research in livestock, where I proposed a focus on low-tech solutions that would suit the vast majority of farmers around the world.

Professor Graeme Bruce Martin
University of Western Australia

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Natural methods for increasing reproductive efficiency in small ruminants, Animal Reproduction Science, July 2004, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2004.05.014.
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