Nchele Kuleile*, Oluwabiyi Oluremi, Motselisi Mahlehla, Makata Ranchobe, Leah Moea, Poloko Mosebi, Setsumi Molapo, Lehlohonolo Mochoa, Mamajalle Lefoka and Manchakha Mantsoe
Farmer participatory research was implemented in the foothills of Machache Lesotho with aim to investigate the influence of supplementary feeding of ewes using forage based diets. The study followed a completely randomized block design with four dietary treatments replicated three times. A total of 216 lactating ewes were contributed by farmers and were randomly distributed into 12 experimental units. Each treatment had a total of 54 animals with 18 animals per replicate. The experiment lasted for 10 weeks. The diet treatment was as follows; control in the form of pasture, T1 forage alone, T2 forage plus concentrate, T3 forage, concentrate and urea molasses mineral block. The treatment diet was offered in the morning before animals go to the pasture or rangeland and it was offered at the rate of 1000 grams per week per head. Control animals on the hand did not have access to supplementary feeds. Data collection on production parameters such as feed intake and live weight change was taken on weekly basis. Data on blood glucose, BHBA, wool growth and milk quality was taken at the beginning and at the end of feeding trial. The findings indicated that the treatment group performed significantly (P<0.05) better than the control group in all tested parameters such as nutritive value of treatment diets, production parameters such as feed intake, live weight change and wool growth, blood parameters such as blood glucose and BHBA and milk quality. The study also revealed that pasture (pasture) and forage supplementation (T1) alone do not meet the nutritional needs of lactating ewes and the animals had to use their body fat reserves to meet their maintenance needs and this was evident by loss of weight and increased blood BHBA from the two treatments.
Published Date: 2024-07-19; Received Date: 2020-06-23
