Behaviour and physiological responses of abou-delik sheep to shearing stress in halaib-shalateen-abouramad triangle

Abstract EN

Shearing has been reported to impinge on the productivity, health and welfare of sheep.

The present study examined the effect of shearing and its time on behavioral, physiological and performance responses of Abou-Delik sheep; a native breed in Shalateen- Halaib-AbouRamad triangle region.

Forty five male of this breed (12- 15 months of age) were assigned to three equal groups (15 each).

Group one (G1), was left unshorn to serve as a control, while the other two groups were hand shorn either in the early morning (G2) or in the afternoon (G3).

The assessed variables were some behavioral activities (ingesting and ruminating frequency, locomotion and rest time) and physiological responses (hematocrit %, glucose level and cortisol concentration) in addition to body weight gain within 2 weeks as a productive aspect.

Results showed that, there was a significant effect of shearing on ingestive and ruminating frequencies, as it reduced these behaviours and consequently decreased (P<0.05) the body weight gain of sheep.

However, there was no significant effect of time of day on body weight gain in this study.

Meanwhile, shearing reduced the resting time and increased the locomotor's activities among the shorn sheep while time of the day was of insignificant effect on these responses.

Regarding physiological responses, there was a significant elevation in plasma cortisol, hematocrit % and glucose level due to shearing procedure.

The elevation was higher in G3; that shorn in the afternoon time; than the other two groups.

It could be concluded that, shearing sheep is an important management practice to take in account for sheep husbandry.

Moreover, shearing must be made less stressful by minimizing physical manipulation and social disruption to sheep.