Growth pattern of autochthonous wether lambs on natural pasture between May and October

Teyssieres, Jeanne and Vásárhelyi, Anna Mária and Lévai, András and Gáspárdy, András (2026) Growth pattern of autochthonous wether lambs on natural pasture between May and October. DANUBIAN ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES, 11 (1). pp. 29-39. ISSN 2498-5910

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Abstract

The year 2026 has been declared the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists by the UNESCO. To understand the exact capabilities, this study examines the growing and fattening ability of sheep under extensive conditions during the primary plant-growing season (between mid-May and mid-October). The investigation included wether lambs of Hungarian native sheep breeds with German Mutton Merino (GM) control individuals (5 per breed). To ensure reliable comparison, the values of live weight and daily gain were corrected for the assigned days of life using a linear model where the breed was considered as a fixed, and the age as a continuous variable. Data preparation and processing were done with the software Statistica (version 14, TIBCO). The effect of the age of the individuals was not significant, which means that lambs of similar age participated in the fattening period. However, differences between breeds were already evident in the initial weight (as a result of the growth during pre-weaning period and the weight at maturity): the Tsigai, Merino, Racka and GM started the study with a significantly higher weight than the Black Racka and the Dairy Tsigai. The lambs gained weight in the first and last fattening months, but lost weight overall during the intervening three months. The extensive, pasture-based fattening showed that the acclimatization and mid-summer weight losses were regained in accordance with the compensatory capacity of the young animals. The initial difference between breeds remained in the final weight, and this is also reflected in the average daily gain during fattening.

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