Effect of liveweight and body condition on work output from draft oxen

A trial was carried out to assess the effect of liveweight and body condition on working capacity of zebu oxen. Over a working period of 9 days, animals which started work with a mean liveweight of 360 kg and body condition score of M+ produced the highest daily work output (3.43 MJ). At an initial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTropical animal health and production Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 58 - 64
Main Authors Bartholomew, P.W, Khibe, T, Little, D.A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.03.1994
Subjects
Animals
body composition
body condition
Body Weight
cattle
Cattle - physiology
draft animals
heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Male
Physical Exertion
Weight Gain - physiology
work capacity
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Summary:A trial was carried out to assess the effect of liveweight and body condition on working capacity of zebu oxen. Over a working period of 9 days, animals which started work with a mean liveweight of 360 kg and body condition score of M+ produced the highest daily work output (3.43 MJ). At an initial liveweight of 360 kg, body condition had relatively little effect on work output, and animals of condition score M- produced a daily work output of 3.19 MJ. In contrast, at a mean liveweight of 310 kg at the start of work, mean daily work output of animals of condition score M+ was significantly lower than that of animals in poorer condition (M-), at 0.81 compared with 2.50 MJ work output per day. It was concluded that body weight as indicated by body size is probably a more useful indicator of likely capacity for work than body condition under the short-season working conditions typical for oxen in the semi-arid zone of central Mali.
ISSN:0049-4747
1573-7438
DOI:10.1007/bf02241135