Beaver Small Ruminant Production Systems Stephan Wildeus Virginia State University

Beaver Breed Resource Evaluation at Virginia State University  Species comparison of meat goat and hair sheep breeds  Evaluation of breed types within species Goats: Nubian, Spanish, Myotonic, Pygmy, Boer x Spanish, and Boer and Kiko terminal sire kids Sheep: Barbados Blackbelly, Katadhin, St. Croix

Beaver Program history  Initiated as Meat Goat Program in 1992  Changed to Small Ruminant Program 1997 introduced breeding flocks of Katahdin in 1997 Barbados Blackbelly in 1998 St. Croix hair sheep in 1999  Emphasis on breed evaluation and forage- based, low-input production systems

Beaver Animal resources : hair sheep Katahdin Barbados Blackbelly St. Croix

Beaver Animal resources : goats Boer cross Myotonic Pygmy Spanish

Reproductive performance in goats

Beaver Kidding performance of goat breeds under a forage- based, accelerated mating system ( ) MyotonicNubianSpanish Pregnancy rate, % Kids born/doe kidding Kids weaned/doe kidding

Beaver Effect of breeding season on pregnancy rate in meat goat breeds

Beaver Effect of breeding season on prolificacy in meat goats during two breeding cycles Cycle 1 Cycle 2

Beaver Effect of breeding season on pregnancy rate in meat goat breeds

Beaver Effect of breeding season on prolificacy in meat goats during two breeding cycles Cycle 1 Cycle 2

Reproductive performance in hair sheep

Beaver Effect of breeding season on pregnancy rate in hair sheep breeds

Beaver Effect of season and breed on pregnancy, lambing and weaning rate in hair sheep breeds Blackbelly Katahdin St. Croix

Beaver Effect of breeding season on prolificacy in hair sheep

Beaver Effect of production cycle on pregnancy rates

Beaver Effect of production cycle on lamb weaned as % ewe body weight

Beaver Estimated annualized performance under accelerated mating BBKASC lambs born/ewe lambing/yr lambs weaned/ewe lambing/yr % litter wt. weaned/yr

Beaver Effect of season on pregnancy rate of replacement ewes  Reduced pregnancy rates in 11 mo old replacement ewes in July and March Nov Jul Mar Nov

Beaver Forage-based feeding trials at VSU

Beaver Daily gain (lbs/d) in Spanish and Boer goats fed alfalfa hay diets in two different trials alfalfagrass Spanish, 7 mo, BW, 16.8% CP, 102 days Boer, 10 mo, BW, 15.2% CP, 84 days

Beaver Forage DMI in goats and hair sheep pen-fed fescue hay and 2% BW concentrate

Beaver Body weight and daily gain in goats and hair sheep fed fescue hay and concentrate (2% BW) GoatSheep Starting wt, lb Final wt, lb Daily gain, lb

Beaver Live grade and ultrasonic backfat and rib eye in goats and hair sheep fed high forage diets GoatSheep Live gradeChoice 0Choice 30 Backfat, cm Rib eye area, cm

Beaver Nutritional quality of hay types and forage intake (Trial 2) AlfalfaFescue % protein % NDF % ADF % IVOMD

Beaver Growth rates of hair sheep lambs and meat goats kids fed alfalfa and grass hay (Trial 2)

Beaver Starting and final weights, and daily gain in goats and hair sheep fed forage-based diets (Trial 2) GoatSheep alfalfagrassalfalfagrass Starting wt, lb Final wt, lb Daily gain, lb Live grade Choice 40 Choice 20 Prime 40 Prime 20

Beaver Trial A  36 weaned ewe and wether lambs (12/breed)  Fescue pasture; alfalfa hay  Hay group: 6 pens; 3 animal/pen balanced by breed  0.75% body wt concentrate supplement

Beaver Trial B  72 weaned ewe and wether lambs (24/breed);  Fescue pasture; mixed grass hay  Hay group: 6 pens balanced by breed  Concentrate supplementation at 1.5% body wt  Two levels of protein in concentrate (16.8% vs. 24.3%)

Beaver Nutritional quality of pasture and hay Pasture Alfalfa hay Grass hay % Crude protein % NDF % ADF % IVOMD

Beaver Body weight changes in three hair sheep breeds reared on pasture or in pens (Trial A) BB: 0.12 lb/d KA: 0.19 lb/d STX: 0.17 lb/d

Beaver Carcass characteristics in three hair sheep breeds after forage feeding BlackbellyKatahdinSt. Croix Backfat, cm REA, cm Yield grade Quality grade

Beaver Body weight changes in three hair sheep breeds reared on pasture or in pens (Trial B) BB: 0.16 lb/d KA: 0.24 lb/d STX: 0.19 lb/d

Beaver Body weight, growth and DM intake in lambs fed alfalfa hay (17.6% CP) with no supplement BBKASC Starting wt. (lb) Final wt. (lb) Daily gain (lb/d) Intake (% body wt.) Feed : gain

Beaver Nitrogen use efficiency in lambs fed alfalfa hay BBKASC N intake (g/d) Absorbed N (% N intake) Retained N (% N intake)

Beaver Growth of terminal sire Boer and Kiko crossbred kids

Beaver Performance of terminal sire kids pen-fed grass hay diets supplement levelsire breeddam breed 2%3%BoerKikoMyotonicSpanish Initial wt, kg Final wt, kg 25.0 b 28.4 a ADG, g/d101 b 137 a Live grade Choice 23 Choice 30 Choice 34 d Choice 18 c Choice 34 d Choice 18 c a,b values with unlike superscripts in same row within main category differ (P<.001). c,d values with unlike superscripts in same row within main category differ (P<.05).

Beaver Forage and total DMI of crossbred kids

Beaver Gastrointestinal Parasitism

Beaver Species differences in goats and hair sheep in mean FEC and PCV during the grazing season 1 goatssheepP FEC, eggs/g PCV, % Deworming int., d animals were dewormed at FEC composites of 1000 egp

Beaver Breed differences in goats and hair sheep in mean FEC and PCV during the grazing season 1 MyotonicNubianPygmySpanish FEC, eggs/g412 b 1035 a 359 b 865 a PCV, %26.4 b 28.4 a 25.5 c 25.8 bc Deworming int., d 44 a 26 d 32 b 27 c 1 animals were dewormed at FEC composites of 1000 egp

Beaver Effect of breed and feeding system on changes in fecal egg counts in lambs (2001 data) deworm breed x feeding system P<.05

Beaver Effect of breed and feeding system on changes in packed blood cell volume (2001 data) deworm breed P<.01; feeding system P<.01

Beaver Worm burden in three hair sheep breeds reared in pasture or in pens (2001 data) Abomasum H contortus Small intestine Trichostrongyle spp. Breed Blackbelly Katahdin St. Croix Management Pasture Pen a,b values within main effect with unlike superscripts differ (P<0.05)

Beaver Changes in fecal egg count in three hair sheep breeds reared on pasture or in pens (2003 data)

Beaver Changes in packed cell volume in three hair sheep breeds reared on pasture or in pens (2003 data)

Beaver Worm burden in three hair sheep breeds reared in pasture or in pens (2003 data) Abomasum H contortus Small intestine Trichostrongyle spp. Breed Blackbelly Katahdin St. Croix Management Pasture Pen 310 a 112 b 131 a 74 b a,b values within main effect with unlike superscripts differ (P<0.05)

Beaver