Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

2017

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Animal Science

First Advisor

Jeffrey E. Held

Keywords

lamb, marketing, overnight stand, shrink loss

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of three common lamb pre-marketing management practices on live weight shrink loss. Additionally a producer survey was conducted to assess current marketing practices in the North Central region of the US. In these experiments, Exp. 1 (feeder lambs) and 2 (finished lambs), 60 commercial Polypay lambs (Exp. 1: 37.65 ± 0.30 kg of BW; Exp. 2: 52.56 ± 0.14 kg of BW) were allocated for each experiment to 3 treatment groups (n=20 lambs) in a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Treatments were the pre-marketing practices: original pen (ORG), transition pen (TRANS), and overnight stand pen (ONS). During the study, lambs had ad libitum access to a lamb diet (ORG and TRANS) or hay (ONS) and fresh water. Overnight stand lambs experienced greater overall shrink loss for both feeder (P ≤ 0.05) and finished (P ≤ 0.05) lambs compared to the other treatments, ORG and TRANS. During the management phase in both experiments, dietary intake for ONS was lower (P ≤ 0.05) than both ORG and TRANS treatment lambs. Water intake was lower for ONS (Exp. 1 = 0.70 L, P ≤ 0.05; Exp. 2 = 1.42 L, P = 0.154) while TRANS lambs recorded the numerical greater water intake for both experiments (Exp. 1 = 1.36 L, P ≤ 0.05; Exp. 2 = 2.18 L, P = 0.154). A 16 question sheep producer survey was conducted electronically to gain knowledge of the demographics associated with pre-marketing practices in lambs from a 12-state area in the North Central Region of the US. The survey yielded responses from 165 producers. Only 50% of producers indicated that a public auction was their primary marketing choice with the balance of the producers using other available marketing options such as a buying station, direct to packer, or direct to consumer. Over 80% of producers indicated they had no data or knowledge of the degree of lamb shrink loss through the marketing phase. The survey results show that 45% of producers utilize pre-marketing practices including sorting and change of diet.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Lambs -- Weight.
Lambs -- Marketing.

Description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-68)

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

81

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Download

Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright