Body Condition Scoring for Sheep Abigail Johnson, Reganne Briggs, and Chad Page
Livestock producers continually monitor the body composition of their animals due to its impact on production parameters like growth, immune function, or reproduction (Dickinson et al., 2019). If livestock are too skinny or too fat, this can affect performance; however, when livestock animals are in an ideal condition, this benefits production traits. To assess livestock body condition, producers can use their animals’ weights from a scale or muscle and fat measurements via ultrasound, but many producers may not have easy access to these tools. A commonly used method to evaluate condition is body condition scoring (BCS). The BCS system is similar to the body mass index (BMI) often used for humans. BCS estimates an animal’s body fat, muscle cover, and body energy stores. Accurately determining BCS in sheep through visual observation alone may be difficult when wool breeds are in full fleece or have increased staple length. This can make BCS inaccurate. To obtain a more accurate score, you can either use BCS after shearing or use your hands rather than relying on visually inspecting the sheep. When keeping BCS Sheep Body Score records of an individual sheep or the entire flock, be as accurate Quick Reference as possible. Changes in body condition can alert you to health (1) Very thin, emaciated problems in individual sheep or the entire flock. It can also tell you if the flock’s nutritional needs are being met. During (2) Thin different production cycles, nutrition levels will vary, and body conditions will reflect that. (3) Good, average
Body Condition Score System
(4) Fat
For every livestock species, there is a scale and method for assigning body condition scores. The scale used for sheep is from 1 to 5 (Table 1). A score of 1 is emaciated and a condition score of 5 is obese (Thompson & Meyer, 1994). A score of 3 means average condition, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you want sheep to always score 3. Typically, 90% of the flock 1
(5) Very fat, obese Typically, 90% of the flock should have a BCS ranging from 2 to 4.