Significance of Body Condition Scoring System to Optimize Sheep Production

Abstract

Body condition scoring (BCS) is a reliable measure of relative body fatness. Animals are systematically described and categorized into different groups based on the differences in BCS. BCS is a subjective system of scoring the animals. However, it also serves as a reliable tool for assessing body composition. The procedure of BCS is both simple and beneficial and provides an efficient way to make management strategies regarding the feed and nutrient requirements for better animal performance. The nutritional status of sheep at different production phases can be estimated with the BCS system, which allows the farmers to make decisions regarding the time and in what way to supplement the flock to attain a productive goal in an economic way. It is desirable to have ewes with 3.0 or 3.5 BCS at the time of mating to get higher lambing rates as well as higher birth weight of lambs per lambing. Similarly, the rams with BCS between 3.0 and 3.5 BCS also exhibited better reproductive efficiency than those with lower and higher BCS. The additional energy supplementation to obtain a higher BCS did not bring significant improvement in the reproductive performance of ewes and rams. This clearly indicates that maintaining an optimum BCS in sheep by providing optimum nutrition will reduce the feed wastage as well as the additional costs for the supplementary feeding. In this chapter, moderate BCS (3.0–3.5) is established as adequate for optimal performance at both mating and lambing stage of sheep maintained in hot, tropical areas. Hence, this proves that in order to get optimum return from sheep farms, efforts should be made to maintain optimum BCS in sheep rather than attempting to attain higher BCS.