Little scientific information is available that has evaluated safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) cake as a substitute to conventional ingredients in small ruminants diet. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of feeding safflower cake in total mixed rations (TMRs) on lamb and kid growth rates, carcass traits and meat fatty acid composition. Two consecutive trials were conducted us...

Babesia ovis plays an important role in causing anemia and kidney dysfunction in affected animals. There are few extensive studies about hematological and biochemical findings of small ruminants' babesiosis caused by B. ovis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of babesiosis on some hematological and biochemical parameters in infected small ruminants with B. ovis. A total of 280 sh...

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of Babesia ovis infection in adult Rhipicephalus bursa and small ruminants in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. Blood samples were collected from 280 sheep and 122 goats of forty randomly selected flocks. Specific B. ovis fragment was detected in 67 animals (16.7%), of which 52 animals (18.6%) were sheep and 15 animals (12.2%) goats (P < 0.05). Of the 848...

To identify native wildlife species possibly susceptible to infection with Schmallenberg virus (SBV), a midge-transmitted orthobunyavirus that predominantly infects domestic ruminants, samples from various free-living ruminants, but also carnivores, small mammals and wild boar were analyzed serologically. Before 2011, no SBV-specific antibodies were detectable in any of the tested species, ther...

The author demonstrates that rinderpest prevailed among the cattle population in the Al-Ain region of the United Arab Emirates from 1987 to 1989. A total of twenty-four outbreaks of rinderpest were recorded during the study period. Similarly, evidence of the peste des petits ruminants (PPR) or a PPR-like disease was regularly encountered in small ruminants in a total of forty-one outbreaks.

Parasitic gastro-enteritis leads to a serious health threat with a limitation to the productivity of small ruminants due to the associated morbidity, mortality, cost of treatment and prophylaxis (Nwosu et al., 2007). Parasitic infections are of much economic importance because small ruminants' rearing has become a major source of income particularly to the marginal farmers in the country (Patha...

BACKGROUND Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases of several mammalian species, including humans. In Italy, the active surveillance through rapid tests on brain stem from small ruminants started in 2002 on randomly selected samples of healthy slaughtered animals. Sampling number was proportionally related to the regional small ruminant population. O...

Small ruminants are important assets in several regions of the world. They account for more than half of the domesticated ruminants. Despite the growth in goat production in the world (more than 2% per ye.ar), research related to goat production is less than desired. One underused but potentially valuable approach for research on small ruminants is sim­ ulation modelling. Models of the componen...