Effect of supplementary feeding of sheep ration pellets and sprouted Black-Eyed Beans (Vigna unguiculata) on milk intake and weight gain in suckling barbados blackbelly lambs

Eleven Barbados Blackbelly ewes and their 22 lambs were used to study the impact of supplementary feeding of sheep ration pellets and sprouted black-eyed beans on milk intake, and weight gain in suckling lambs during first 6 weeks of dam's lactation. The newborn lambs were separated from the dams 72 h after birth and randomly allotted to one of two groups. Lambs in Gr I were offered commercial sheep ration pellets (CSR), while lambs in Gr II, sprouted black-eyed beans (SBB) separately as creep feed from day 4 to day 42. Milk intake by suckling lambs from day 4 to 42 was obtained using a ‘weigh-suckle-weigh ’method. The average daily milk intake (ADMI), daily gain (ADG) and the ratio of ADMI: ADG for CSR and SBB were similar (P>0.05). The mean ADMI/ADG for CSR week 1–3 and SBB week 1–3 were 8.0±0.10 and 7.9±0.11, respectively and the corresponding values for CSR week 4–6 and SBB week 4–6 were 8.3±0.18 and 8.2±0.53. The ewes weighed 47.9±0.88 kg on day 2 and 45.0±0.93 kg on day 36 of lactation. The average milk yield (g/day/ewe) for the six weeks was 1009±32.1with a peak of 1151±91.8 in week 4. The estimated means for daily gain of lambs in week 1–3 and week 4–6, for the CSR and SBB groups were 62.71±0.80, 61.76±0.80, 63.85±0.80 and 65.15±0.80g, respectively. In conclusion, feeding sprouted black-eyed beans as creep feed during weeks 4 to 6 had advantage in promoting weight gain in milk fed lambs.