Antibiotic Supplements in Rations for Growing and Fattening Lambs2

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Abstract
Three feeding trials involving 190 suckling and feeder lambs were conducted to study the influence of rations supplemented with antibiotics on growth rate, feed efficiency, and carcass grade. Rations supplemented with aureomycin HCl gave small but consistently higher average daily gains in all of the trials. When the results of the three trials were pooled, the lambs which received rations containing the aureomycin HCl made average daily gains higher by 0.055 ± 0.014 pound. The average feed efficiencies of the lambs which received the rations supplemented with aureomycin HCl were higher than the average feed efficiencies of the lambs which received the control rations. The average carcass grades of the lambs which received rations that contained the aureomycin HCl were higher than the average grades of their controls. The difference was highly significant in trial I on the basis of equal spacing of the several grades. The average performance of the lambs which received the ration supplemented with aurofac nearly paralleled the average performance of the lambs in the same trial which received the ration supplemented with aureomycin HCl. The average performance of the lambs fed the rations supplemented with TM-5 or P-2 was approximately the same or slightly better than the average performance of their controls, but the differences were not significant. In trial I 7.2 mg. aureomycin HCl per lb. of ration did not eliminate losses from enterotoxemia. These results indicate that antibiotics have a practical use in growing and fattening rations for lambs by improving rate and efficiency of gains and by reducing the number of unthrifty lambs.

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