A field study on the bacterial etiology of abortions among sheep and goats having migratory practices in the northwest hilly states of India was carried out. A total of 203 flocks were investigated. Abortion outbreaks occurred in 51 flocks and sporadic abortions occurred in 114 flocks. Vaginal swabs from aborted sheep and goats were collected and processed for isolation of bacterial agents from...

Animal losses due to abortion and weak offspring during a lambing period amounted up to 25% in a goat flock and up to 18% in a sheep flock kept at an experimental station on the Swabian Alb, Germany. Fifteen out of 23 employees and residents on the farm tested positive for Coxiella burnetii antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence assay. Ninety-fou...

Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiosis is caused by obligatory intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that belong to the genus Rickettsia. Ticks belonging to the family Ixodidae can act as vectors, reservoirs or amplifiers of SFG rickettsiae. This study was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of SFG rickettsioses in cattle, sheep and goats from Khartoum State, Sudan. Blood samples were coll...

  An inactivated agalactia vaccine was prepared with Mycoplasma agalactiae in fermenter. The culture was inactivated and subsequently adjuvanted with aluminum hydroxide gel. Four sheep and four goats were immunized with the experimental vaccine. Two doses of 1ml of vaccine were administered three weeks interval. Monthly, blood samples were taken from the vaccinated animals up to the fifth month...

Binucleate cells of sheep and goat fetal placentae comprise about one-fifth of the trophectodermal layer at the feto-maternal interface. When isolated and incubated in vitro they produce the steroids that are synthesized by the placenta in vivo (progesterone in sheep, 5 beta-pregnane-3 alpha,20 alpha diol in goats). This study demonstrates that progesterone synthesis in binucleate cell preparat...

The objective of these studies was to compare preference for leafy spurge (Euphorbiu es& L.) by sheep and goats. Study 1 was a choice test that paired leafy spurge with either arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata (Pursh)Nutt.) or crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.)Gaertn.) for a 30 minute feeding period. Study 2 consisted of 3 grazing trials on spurgeinfested pastures. Differen...

The total amounts of time spent eating and ruminating per 24 h by goats and sheep were determined. The efficiencies of chewing during eating (mean value of C.EAT) and chewing during ruminating (mean value of C.RUM) on the breakdown of feed particles to below the critical size required to leave the rumen (less than 1.0 mm) were investigated. All studies were done with the animals fed on a chaffe...

The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate slaughter characteristics and carcass composition of indigenous long fat tailed sheep and Small East African goats purchased from the auction markets slaughtered at 1.5 to 2 yrs of age and 20 kg to 25 kg live weight. The animals were slaughtered according to halal standard procedures. The left half carcasses were jointed into eight wholesale joints, an...

BACKGROUND Giardia duodenalis is a widespread intestinal protozoan of both humans and mammals. To date, few epidemiological studies have assessed the potential and importance of zoonotic transmission; and the human giardiasis burden attributable to G. duodenalis of animal origin is unclear. No information about occurrence and genotyping data of sheep and goat giardiasis is available in China. T...

Different systems for calculating energy and protein requirements for goats and sheep are compared and discussed. It is suggested that the Langston University system or the recommendations of Mandal et al. (2004) should be used for goats and the recommendations of Paul et al (2003) for growing sheep. For pregnant and lactating sheep in the tropics there are no recent recommendations, which is w...