SMALL RUMINANT MEDICINE 2

Advanced Nutrition and Life Cycle Feeding for Small Ruminants

Objectives:

1. Explain how to handle small ruminants and restrain them for examination.

2. Outline the principal points of physical examination of small ruminants.

3. Describe a method of body condition scoring for small ruminants.

4. Compare the physiological data of sheep and goats.

5. Compare and contrast the behavioral and physical differences between sheep and goats.

6. Explain the nutrient requirements for various life stages of small ruminants.

7. Outline a suitable ration for feeding pregnant small ruminants during the last trimester of pregnancy.

Advanced Nutrition and Life Cycle Feeding for Small Ruminants

I highly recommend that you review two papers:

“Veterinary Physical Diagnosis of Sheep and Goats” by Dr. David Sherman of Tufts University.

"Physical Examination of Sheep" by Dr. Simon Kenyon

There is also a web link to physical examination of sheep at University of Pennsylvania here:

Dairy PE

There are several articles available on the internet regarding the advanced nutrition of small ruminants. Here are the links to these articles:

The Basics of Feeding Sheep

An Introduction to Feeding Small Ruminants

Sheep and Goat Nutrition Guideline