Effect of Three Housing Conditions on Osimi Lambs' Behaviour and Performance Under Upper Egypt Climatic Conditions

Abstract

Improvement of sheep production became a global aim because of the good quality and cheap price of lamb meat. One of the most crucial goals for achieving optimum productivity in Upper Egypt is to protect farm animals from unfavorable climate conditions. Hence, the current study was planned to investigate the influence of three different housing constructions (semi-open, closed and semi-closed plus trees) on feeding behaviour, body weight, serum total protein and glucose levels, as well as faecal coliforms of male lambs under Upper Egypt temperate fall climate.  Eighteen lambs were randomly allocated into 3 equal groups (n=6); group I (raised in house 1; semi-shaded (SSB)), group II (raised in house 2; full-shaded (FSB)) and group III (raised in house 3; semi-shaded+ a number of high trees (SSB+T)).  The lambs were reared in these housings for 3 months; body weight and feeding behaviour were recorded bi-weekly.  In addition, blood total protein and glucose levels, as well as neutrophil\ lymphocyte (N\L) ratio were measured. At the 12^th week fecal coliforms count was analyzed, the longest feeding time was associated with highest glucose level in lambs reared in SSB.  In addition, body gain was improved significantly in SSB and FSB that accompanied with the high total protein at the 8^th week.  However, N\L ratio was the lowest in SSB.  Fecal coliform count was not affected by housing system. Thus, data suggested that the SSB house had lowest negative impacts on behaviour and performance of lambs followed by FSB and SSB+T housing conditions.