New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
A body condition score system and its use for farmed
red deer hinds
L. AUDIGé*
P. R. WILSON+
R. S. MORRIS
Institute of Animal, Veterinary and
Biomedical Sciences
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand
*Present address: Institute of Virology and Immunoprophylaxis,
CH-3147, Mittelhäusern, Switzerland.
Abstract A longitudinal observational study of 15 red deer
farms in New Zealand was carried out for a 2-year period. To assess the body
condition of deer, a scoring chart was developed with scores ranging from 1
(lean) to 5 (fat) with half-unit increments. Scores were given after palpating
the tuber coxae, sacrum, and rump area of the deer standing straight and quiet.
Repeatability and reproducibility were evaluated on 39 yearling hinds and 90
adult hinds on four properties which were independently scored twice by two
assessors to investigate assessor bias and consistency.
A body condition score (BCS) was assigned to 1400 and 2100 hinds in
consecutive years in March before mating, in September before calving, and in
March of the next year at weaning. There were wide variations of individual
hind body condition and mean hind body condition between farms. Overall,
yearling hinds lost body condition during winter and subsequently during
lactation up to weaning. Repeatability and reproducibility were above 0.8.
There was variability between assessors confirming the need for training when
more than one assessor is involved. It is proposed that the condition scoring
chart presented here should be adopted industry-wide as a tool for the
management of breeding hinds to achieve optimum reproductive performance, since
BCS was significantly associated with conception rate, conception date,
dystocia, weight of weaned offspring, and ability of the hind to rear a calf to
weaning. A management plan for the use of this body condition scoring system is
proposed.
Keywords body condition score; red deer hinds; reproduction
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1998, Vol. 41: 545-553
0028-8233/98/4104-0545 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1998
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