Alternative methods for control of

reproduction in small ruminants: A

focus on the needs of grazing industries
J. Alberto Delgadillo* and Graeme B. Martin†‡

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* Centro de Investigación en Reproducción Caprina (CIRCA), Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico
†
The UWA Institute of Agriculture and School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
‡
Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK

livestock industries to contribute to the solution of global food supply,

Implications
• 
Extensive grazing systems need simple, low-cost tools for
managing reproduction that improve productivity while nurturing
future markets. To develop such tools, we need to understand the
biology of the grazing animals in their particular environments.
• Nutrition is the primary challenge because it is limited to grazing,
but nutrition also offers opportunities for improving animal health
and carbon emissions.
• N
 utritional inputs must be coordinated with reproductive events. We
use the term “focus feeding” (optimized management of nutrition, a
concept that has much in common with “nutrient synchrony”).
• To coordinate nutritional inputs with reproductive events, we can
control the timing of reproduction by restriction of male access
to females and then add precision with the male effect and, ulti-
mately, ultrasound for pregnancy detection and measurement of
potential litter size.
• Maximum neonatal survival is an imperative, so management of
the birth site should be a high priority.
• T
 he power of genetics must underpin any management strategy, with
breeding goals that take advantage of the strengths of indigenous
genotypes and matching their performance to their environment.
Key words: goats, male effect, nutritional management, sheep, ultrasound
Introduction
Recently, Eisler et al. (2014) outlined the important role of grazing ru-
minant industries in global food production as we strive to cope with pro-
jections of population growth, demand for more animal protein in devel-
oping nations, and losses in production capacity because of urbanization,
biofuel production, climate change, lack of water, and soil degradation.
The authors argued against headlines claiming that ruminant industries
cause, rather than solve, such problems. They pointed out, for example,
that foraging animals can, and should, consume foods that humans can-
not and that crop and livestock systems often complement each other. For
© Delgadillo and Martin.
doi:10.2527/af.2015-0009
several problems need to be addressed, including: i) consumption of hu-
man food by livestock; ii) use of livestock species and genotypes that are
poorly adapted to the local environment; iii) poor animal health and wel-
fare resulting in suboptimal productivity; iv) inadequate animal nutrition;
and v) significant environmental footprint (Eisler et al., 2014).
Reproductive efficiency is obviously an important component of pro-
ductivity in the milk and meat industries, so given the issues outlined above,
we need to optimize reproduction in extensive management systems. More-
over, reproductive efficiency contributes to the environmental footprint of
ruminant industries because methane emissions can be addressed by focus-
ing on “emissions intensity”—the amount of methane produced per unit of
meat or milk. Reproductive waste is major factor in emissions intensity be-
cause females that fail to reproduce are effectively producing only methane.
This magnifies the consequences of delayed puberty, low fecundity, delayed
postpartum conception, and high postnatal mortality.
At a superficial level, questions about the management of reproduction
usually lead to a discussion of modern, “high-tech” reproductive technolo-
gies. However, even the simplest high-tech tools (e.g., cycle synchronization
and artificial insemination) are relevant only to the intensive livestock indus-
tries or to specialist elite breeders (if they exist) in the grazing industries. The
frontier technologies, such as embryo manipulation or cloning, are not even
on the horizon for almost all managers of extensively grazed ruminants who
see it as irrelevant because of economics, physical geography, and practical-
ity. In the long term, the grazing industries should benefit from genetic im-
provements that flow down to them as a result of advanced technology, but
the breeding goals have often not been planned with extensive management in
mind, and in any case, the time delay can be measured in decades. In the short
to medium term, managers of extensively grazed ruminants need tools that
are simple, effective, low cost, and applicable on a large scale (Martin, 2014).
In addition, livestock industries need to plan with an eye on the future
markets of their products, as expressed in the concept of “clean, green,
and ethical” (CGE) management (review: Martin, 2014). In brief: “clean”
means reduced usage, if not elimination, of practices that depend on drugs,
chemicals, and exogenous hormones (e.g., for controlling reproduction);
“green” means minimal damage to the environment (e.g., reducing methane
production); and “ethical” primarily means consideration of animal welfare
(e.g., surgical castration). Therefore, the development and implementation
of alternative methods for managing reproduction need to take into account
predictable changes in markets and in the regulatory environment.

Jan. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 57

 progresses and yet need to be coordinated with seasonal changes in the
Table 1. The characteristics of the extensive grazing
feed supply. The farmers might decide to try to coordinate the period of
industries for small ruminants in southern Australia and
highest demand (lactation) with the period of maximum pasture supply
northern Mexico.
but might then be frustrated by the seasonal breeding patterns of their
Southern Northern
animals. As illustrated in Figure 1, the outcome is often a very large quan-
Australia Mexico
titative mismatch between the availability of feed, particularly energy, to
Production system Sheep Goat
grazing animals and their physiological requirements for energy (Martin
Dominant genotype Merino Indigenous
et al., 2008). Moreover, the cost of supplements is often prohibitive, so
Meat production – local consumption  
even if they are feasible, they must be used with maximum efficiency.

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Meat production – international export  
Milk production  
Fleece production   CGE Management
Extensive grazing, natural forage   of Reproduction—A Possible System
Extensive grazing, improved forage  
Industry problems Over the years, our research teams have turned to basic knowledge of
Wide seasonal variation in quality/quantity of feed   the reproductive physiology and behavior of our animals, particularly the
Reproductive seasonality   processes that the animals developed to cope with changes in their envi-
Males and females together all the year round   ronment over the millions of years of evolution before domestication. In
Technical control of reproduction Ultrasound  reviewing this knowledge base, we searched for ways to manipulate the
only environmental factors that affect the reproductive axis rather than using
High neonatal mortality   hormones, drugs, or complex technology. Given the importance of nutri-
Animal health problems GI nematodes* Brucellosis GI tion in the context of grazing animals, it was no surprise that it became
Blowfly† nematodes* the core management tool (Figure 2). We use the operational term “focus
CAEV‡ feeding” for optimized management of nutrition, a concept that has much
Pressure from community in common with the “nutrient synchrony” described by Hersom (2008) in
Pollution, urbanization, ethics, product health and   the context of intensively fed animals.
safety
The framework in Figure 2 is best viewed as an ideal because full imple-
* 
Resistance to anthelminthic drugs.
mentation of all aspects awaits more research and development, and in some
External parasite (flystrike) – prevention dependent on surgery without anaesthesia.
† 
cases, requires major changes in management. Some of the tools require
‡ 
Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus.
a new level of precision in management, and for others, we would need
to convince farmers to abandon “traditional” practices and, instead, adopt
As we shall see, the need for simple, low-cost tools can complement practices such as separation of males and females and the early mating of
the need for CGE management. In this paper, we will consider this situa- pubertal females. To ensure change of practice, we would need “fourth gen-
tion from the perspectives of goat herds in the sub-tropical north of Mexi- eration” adoption strategies because the traditional top-down approaches to
co and sheep flocks in the southern regions of Australia. There are obvious extension have largely failed livestock industries based on extensive man-
similarities in the physical geography of the two regions, an important agement (for an example, see Sneddon, 2009). Given that it not feasible
consideration because the CGE concept depends on understanding and to expect producers in either country to adopt the whole CGE package in
controlling the responses of the animals to their environment (Table 1). one step, a staged approach with progressive levels of difficulty seems logi-
On the other hand, the socio–economic environment and human geog- cal (Martin, 2014). For individual managers, the optimum series of stages
raphy differ markedly. This need not be a problem because the scientific would depend on the economic, geographical and societal environment.
basis of the CGE concept is relevant to all socio–economic environments, On the other hand, it is important to note that almost all of the interven-
from large rangeland systems in developed economies to smallholders in tions in Figure 2 are simple, “low tech,” and applicable on a large scale.
developing economies. They all need simple and inexpensive manage- Moreover, some of the tools will be familiar to many farmers because they
ment options and to target consumers with discretionary spending power have been known, perhaps even part of normal practice, for many years. A
if they are to get higher prices (Martin, 2014). Therefore, we expect this possible exception is the ultrasound for which the investment in equipment
discussion to be applicable to livestock industries in a wide variety of and skills would be beyond most farmers, and a service industry would be
socio–economic and geographical contexts. required similar to that which has developed rapidly in Australia.
In the next section of this article, we will describe each aspect of the
CGE package in relation to the Australian and Mexican systems. As can
Key Reproductive Problems
be seen from Figure 2, an essential goal is the accurate coordination of
As can be deduced from Table 1, insufficient nutrition is the domi- nutritional inputs with events in the reproductive process because it would
nant problem for both environments. This is to be expected because it is ensure that costly supplements are kept to a minimum while appropriate
the major limiting resource in all animal production systems and it exerts metabolic signals are used to manage the reproductive outcome. At the
strong and specific effects on most events in the reproductive process. Un- simplest level, farmers control timing by managing the presence of the
der extensive management, where nearly all feed comes from pasture and male among females and thus the time of fertile mating. More refined
other forages, a solution to this problem can be difficult to find because the options allow more precise control and offer more opportunities to use
nutritional requirements of the animals change as the reproductive process aspects of male reproductive biology other than gamete supply.

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Figure 1. Upper panel: The annual cycle of pasture availability and its relationship with two common alternative reproductive scenarios for sheep in southern Australia.
In Scenario 1, late pregnancy and early lactation coincide with maximum energy availability, the normal situation for temperate genotypes that are strict “short-day breed-
ers.” Scenario 2: Milk production begins when energy availability is at its lowest, a situation that reflects the relationship for temperate genotypes trying to reproduce in
a “mediterranean region” such as southern Australia. Lower panel: The annual cycle of pasture availability during natural grazing and its relationship with alternative
reproductive scenarios for goats in northern Mexico. Scenario 3 is the most common—conception coincides with high food availability, but birth, nursing, and milking
occur when food availability is lowest. In addition, in this scenario, bucks and does remain together all year round. In Scenario 4, the time of conception is modified by
the male effect so that birth, nursing, and milking coincide with the period of high food availability. Scenario 5 is similar to Scenario 1, with the breeding season starting
in September. Modified after Martin et al. (2008) and Sáenz-Escárcega et al. (1991; cited by Delgadillo, 2011).

Jan. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 59

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Figure 2. A “Clean-Green-Ethical Package” for managing reproduction in sheep and goats: Periods of “focus feeding” to supply energy and protein are used to control the
reproductive process and improve reproductive success (modified after Martin, 2014). With the advent of “nutritional pharmacology,” forages can also be used to supply
bioactive secondary compounds that improve health and reduce emissions. To accurately synchronize the periods of feeding with specific reproductive events, mating must
be controlled and brief, or ultrasound must be used to classify the mothers based on the age of their fetuses. Finally, the survival of the newborn must be maximized by a
combination of good genetics and good management. Several issues, such as peri-conceptual programming, organ development, and carcase finishing have been covered
by Martin (2014) but not in the present paper where the focus was on control of reproduction.

Restrict the Duration of Births
In extensive production systems in Mexico, it is common for the males
to be with the females throughout the year, so there is no control over the
timing of mating, births, and lactation. About 70% of pregnancies occur
spontaneously over 4 mo of June through September, and most kids are
born between the end of autumn and the end of winter, the worst season
for availability of feed (Figure 1). Most young animals are sold when they
are only 4 wk old, but young females retained for herd renewal are always
with the males, and many of them become pregnant at a young age when
they are not physiologically mature.
Why do the Mexican farmers leave the males continuously with the fe-
males? Their reasoning seems to be that they cannot feed the males in con-
finement so must graze them with the rest of the herd. It is difficult to know
how much of this practice is due to tradition. Some farmers try to control
reproduction by fitting the bucks with aprons that prevent copulation, but
this method is prone to failure. Clearly, this problem needs to be addressed
by exploring, for example, the possibility of a cooperative that retains all
the males for all farmers in a community (it could also incorporate a system
for genetic improvement). Challenges that need to be considered include
i) the need for a system of animal identification; ii) a facility and a process
for separation of animals and control of service; and iii) ways to measure
milk production and the growth of kids to generate data for genetic selec-
tion. The science is long established, so as mentioned above, the real need
is probably a “fourth generation” process to ensure adoption.
In southern Australia, the situation is less extreme because very few
sheep farmers would leave rams and ewes together year-round. Neverthe-
less, many farmers like to offer the ewes the “maximum opportunity to
conceive” and so will leave the rams in the ewe flock for up to 12 wk.
However, this apparently self-evident principle does not survive scrutiny
because the actual gains are much smaller than most appreciate (Figure 3).
A short mating period is the better option for several reasons:
i) Selection pressure on female fertility—failure to conceive in a
short mating period should lead to culling;
ii) Avoiding the effects of the seasonal declines in feed supply during
mating—small ruminants mate naturally in autumn and, in many
environments, pasture quality and quantity decline rapidly as au-
tumn progresses; females that fail to conceive early will inevitably
be attempting to conceive when they have lost body mass, leading
to lower conception rates and fecundity;
iii) Increased value from ultrasound scanning—if conceptions are lim-
ited to one or two cycles, ultrasound scanning also becomes more

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Figure 3. Theoretical
aspects of mating out-
comes over a series of
three estrous cycles
for a sheep flock. Top:
even assuming a low
value for conception
rate at 70%, it is clear
that that gains for a
third cycle, in par-
ticular, are negligible.
Bottom: cumulative
flock conceptions
comparing 60% ewe
fertility (left) with
90% ewe fertility
(right). Modified after
Martin (2014).

cost-effective because it will allow segregation of females into groups
carrying zero, one, or two fetuses; non-pregnant females can be culled
for profit and to improve female fertility; segregation of mothers car-
rying single and multiple fetuses is also the first step toward precision
management of the birth environment and “focus feeding” for colos-
trum production (see “Maximize Neonatal Survival” below);
iv) Reduced neonatal mortality—a short, concentrated period of births
allows intensive management of the birth environment to reduce
neonatal mortality, including focus feeding to maximize the pro-
duction of colostrum (see below);
v) Avoiding the “tail”—a cohort of offspring of an even age and size is
easier to manage and to market.
To overcome the insecurity of restricted duration of mating, fertility
can be detected in individual females. The simplest way is to use a har-
ness with marking crayons on the males and then change the color to
determine whether the mated (marked) females come back into estrus.
This low-cost technique works well for sheep and goats. Alternatively, as
we will discuss below, an ultrasound can be used to identify pregnant and
non-pregnant females. Both marking crayons and ultrasounds offer data
on fertility that can be used for genetic improvement.

Jan. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 61

 Control the Time of Births
Three fundamental aspects of reproduction limit the time of year for
natural mating: Puberty, seasonal breeding, and postpartum anestrus. One
of the major causes is the evolution in sheep and goats of brain processes
that link their reproduction control systems to changes in the length of the
night. Despite 10,000 yr or more of domestication, these processes remain.
Science has been working for many decades on ways to use exogenous hor-
mones to overcome this block, and great progress has been made, but these
treatments are not compatible with CGE management. In any case, they are
too expensive for extensive management systems. Here we describe two
non-pharmacological methods that have proven to be efficient alternatives:
Changing the night length
Controlling the night length for about 6 wk can be used to “switch on”
the reproductive centers of the brain in goats and sheep. This is attractive
for farmers with flocks or herds of seasonal genotypes but is probably
limited to the males because they are fewer in number, so implementation
would be more practical than for females. In goats, this technique allows a
reduction in the duration of contact between the sexes without decreasing
fertility (Bedos et al., 2010). The treatment can be used to ensure that the
male reproductive axis is working at maximum efficiency when mating
is restricted to a brief period, as described above, or for “male effect” is
used, as described below (Delgadillo, 2011).
The ‘male effect’
In sheep and goats of many genotypes, the sudden introduction of
novel males can induce ovulation in females that are reproductively qui-
escent because they are pre-pubertal, out of season, or lactating (reviews:
Ungerfeld, 2007; Delgadillo, 2011; Jorre de St Jorre et al., 2014). This
“male effect” offers control at two levels: i) the timing of births is no
longer determined by the natural breeding season of the females; and ii)
the induced ovulations are synchronized among the females in the flock
or herd. The synchrony can be sufficient for artificial insemination (Mar-
tin and Scaramuzzi, 1983; Lopez-Sebastián et al., 2014) and is certainly
sufficient for implementation of CGE management tools such as an ul-
trasound, focus feeding during pregnancy, and the management of birth.
Equally as important is the simplicity and practicality—putting males in
the field with the females and then knowing with confidence when the
females will ovulate, conceive, and give birth.
However, the male effect is not universally effective—it works best
with moderately seasonal genotypes, and currently, it can only be applied
when the females are not ovulating spontaneously. Even in situations
where the response is reliable, there can be wide variation among females
in delay to the induced ovulation, in the incidence of short cycles follow-
ing the first ovulation, and in the outcomes of mating (reviews: Unger-
feld, 2007; Delgadillo, 2011). The synchrony of ovulation declines over
subsequent weeks, so focus feeding for fecundity still cannot be refined
to the theoretical minimum of 4 to 6 d (see below): 7-d supplementation
is needed in goats (Fitz-Rodríguez et al., 2009) and at least 11 d in sheep
because ovulations are dispersed by the short-cycle phenomenon (Martin
and Scaramuzzi, 1983; Nedelkov et al., 2013). Despite these limitations,
there is a significant saving in feed costs over the requirements for mating
over a full cycle.
Some of the problems with the male effect will not be resolved without
significantly more research and development (review: Martin, 2014), so
62 Animal Frontiers
practical solutions for extensive management can be difficult to imagine at
present. However, one area that could be resolved relatively quickly is the
quality of male stimulus, as recently summarized in reviews by Fabre-Nys
(2014) and Jorre de St Jorre et al. (2014):
i) The intensity of male behavior—sexually active males improve the
response (Delgadillo, 2011);
ii) The age and experience of the males (Ungerfeld et al., 2007);
iii) Strategies for stimulating male activity: nutritional supplementa-
tion and pre-exposure to estrous females have been tested (Unger-
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feld, 2007), but night-length treatment seems to be the most effec-
tive, at least for goats (Delgadillo, 2011).
These problems and solutions depend on interactions between geno-
type and season, so the genotype of the stimulus male is a major factor
(Jorre de St Jorre et al., 2014). For sheep, but not goats, the first ovulation
is not accompanied by estrus so it might be feasible to use a specific geno-
type of male for the male effect and then change the genotype for mating
after ovulation is induced.
Nutrition
Feed males for fertility
Restricting the duration of mating immediately places pressure on the
males, so they need to be managed correctly—adequate numbers, maxi-
mum mass of testis, anatomically sound, healthy, and fit. To maximize
testis mass and therefore sperm production, rams and bucks need to be fed
well for 8 wk before mating (review: Martin, 2014). This is especially im-
portant if the normal practice is to mate females that have been synchro-
nized by the “male effect” because up to 30% of the females could be in
estrus on some days. In Australia and New Zealand, the number of males
might have to be increased from 1.5 to 4.0 per 100 females.
Feed the females for maximum litter size
Ovulation rate determines the upper limit of prolificacy, and thus pro-
ductivity. Ovulation rate is under primary genetic control, so it can be
improved through selection, but the expression of that genetic potential is
greatly influenced by the nutritional regime before mating (review: Scar-
amuzzi et al., 2011). This is evident from the correlations between body
condition and litter size, but more importantly in the context of focus feed-
ing, there is also an acute effect—in sheep and goats, supplementation
for only 4 to 6 d in the final stages of the estrous cycle can increase the
frequency of twin ovulations by 20 to 30% (Viñoles et al., 2005, 2009;
Fitz-Rodríguez et al., 2009; Zabuli et al., 2010). In the absence of very
precise control over the time of ovulation, supplementation for only 4 to
6 d is not realistic, and it is necessary to offer the supplement for an entire
cycle to ensure that all females have an opportunity to respond. If supple-
ments are not feasible, high quality pasture or even cactus cladodes can be
used (Viñoles et al., 2009; Rekik et al., 2012).
Nutrition—more than energy and protein
Generally, the relationship between nutrition and reproductive perfor-
mance is explained by energy supply (review: Martin et al., 2008), but we
need also to consider benefits that can be derived from other components
of fodder plants, particularly “bioactive” secondary compounds. Interest
in this area was initially stimulated by restrictions on the use of growth-
promoting antibiotics and by the need to combat drug-resistant gastroin-

In northern Mexico, goats are under extensive management conditions, and males and females are usually kept together all year round (left). Animals eat only available
natural vegetation (right).
testinal parasites (review: Durmic and Blache, 2012). In Australia, for ex-
ample, more than 100 Australian native plant species have been assessed
on their potential to improve rumen function, gut health, nutritional value,
and biomass productivity, and many of them can also reduce methane
emissions (Revell et al., 2008; Durmic et al., 2010), so they contribute in
several ways to the CGE credentials of the industry. This concept is obvi-
ously applicable outside Australia (e.g., Akkari et al., 2014) so should be
investigated within local contexts.
This concept can be extended to other environments. In Mexico, for
example, local forage plants are known to contain bioactive compounds
that affect reproduction, as demonstrated by studies on the effects of mes-
quite in rats (Retana-Márquez et al., 2012). There are many possibilities
for research of this type that would be relevant for the extensively man-
aged goat industry in this part of the world, and the concept needs to be
investigated for other environments.
Ultrasound Scanning
Ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis is now a routine procedure in small
ruminants, even for the large flocks and herds that are typical in Australia
and New Zealand, with numerous commercial operators offering reason-
able rates and accurate results. The rate of adoption in Australia was the
subject of a survey of 1,000 sheep farmers by Jones et al. (2014) who
found that pregnancy scanning was used by more than 40% of farmers, of
which 18% scan for litter size.
Even at the simplest level, the identification of pregnant and non-pregnant
females, the information is valuable because it offers: i) an opportunity for re-
mating if there has been a disaster; ii) culling for improvement of fertility; and
iii) planning of conditions for birth. If conceptions are limited to two cycles,
ultrasound scanning becomes more cost-effective because it will provide two
extra levels of information: i) identification of single-bearing and multiple-
bearing females, allowing segregation into separate management groups; and
ii) estimation of age of fetus to increase the precision of management of birth.
Maximize Neonatal Survival
High rates of neonatal mortality have obvious consequences for profit-
ability and also raise questions about the ethical credentials and the emis-
sion intensity of the industry. Neonatal mortality, therefore, goes hand-
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in-hand with any plan to improve fecundity through genetic selection or
focus feeding. In addition, if neonates are lost because of mismanage-
ment, then any investment in genetic improvement has been wasted.
Maximize colostrum production
In addition to the nutritional and immunological benefits, colostrum in
the gut improves the ability of the newborn to recognize its mother and
thus contributes to the establishment of the mother–young bond (Gour-
saud and Nowak, 1999; Ramírez-Vera et al., 2012a). With the imple-
mentation of restricted, brief mating periods and ultrasound assessment
of pregnancy, focus feeding can be used in the last week of gestation to
increase greatly the amount of colostrum available at birth (review: Ban-
chero et al., 2006) and improve neonatal survival (Goodwin and Norton,
2004; Ramirez-Vera et al., 2012b).
Manage the birth environment
The simplest (and often least expensive) strategy for improving neo-
natal survival is to better manage birth. The provision of a calm envi-
ronment, shelter, feed, and water close to the birth site will increase the
amount of time the mother spends at the birth site and therefore improve
the development of the mother–young bond (Nowak, 1996).
Management of Puberty
In Mexico, male and female goats remain together throughout the year,
so young females often mate at 7 to 10 mo of age, with apparent conse-
quences being high rates of abortion and delayed growth and a decrease
in future productivity. In Australia, there is the opposite problem because
the traditional practice is to manage the sexes in separate groups but de-
lay the mating of young females until they are 18 to 24 mo old. This
approach might avoid the issues encountered in Mexico but has broader
consequences for the industry such as high emission intensity, delays in
genetic progress, and reduction of the effective size of the breeding flock.
The ideal solution lies between these two extremes, with young females
mating at the optimum stage of their development. This is a complex
problem, with a mix of sociological and biological causes and solutions:
i) Sociological: Among Australian farmers, there is a widely held belief
that mating young animals impairs their performance in subsequent

In Australia, about 80% of breeding ewes are the Merino genotype, with most man-
aged in improved pastures that are nevertheless very seasonal in productivity. Most
of these ewes only have a single lamb, but focus feeding and genetics can improve
the frequency of twins. This can then precipitate other problems such as poor co-
lostrum production and ewe–lamb bonding. Photo by Dr. Nui Milton, Casalana,
Western Australia.
years, a position supported by the Mexican experience; however, re-
search in New Zealand shows that this is not that case with good
management during the first year of life (Kenyon et al., 2004);
ii) Biological: In young females, the timing of puberty is determined
by body mass, condition score, and season (night length), with body
mass being the primary factor and maximizing weight gain after
birth therefore considered essential. It has long been thought that
the active component of body mass was fat, but recent work with
sheep suggests that genetic selection for accelerated muscle growth
can also advance puberty (Rosales-Nieto et al., 2013), offering dual
advantages for the efficiency of meat production as well as reproduc-
tion. The male effect, ultrasound, and birth-site management are also
obvious targets for managing puberty and the reproductive perfor-
mance of young females, as outlined above for adult females.
Again, there should be positive outcomes for genetic improvement if young
females are under pressure to conceive at a reasonably early opportunity.
The Genetic Frontiers
In the discussion above, most of the focus was on the physiological,
behavioral, and managerial aspects of reproduction. The possibility of
genetic improvement of female fertility has been mentioned, and geno-
type has been acknowledged as a frequent constraint to implementation
of CGE management. In reviewing this situation for Australian Merino
sheep, Martin and Greeff (2011) concluded that genetic selection could be
used to enhance the power of the male effect, increase fecundity, increase
fertility, increase colostrum production, and enhance mother–young bond-
ing. In addition, there needs to be a strong focus on resistance to para-
sites (Karlsson and Greeff, 2012). These traits could be incorporated into
Australia’s industry-wide program for genetic selection that is based on
published breeding values for important traits for both sheep and goats
(http://www.mla.com.au/Livestock-production/Genetics-and-breeding).
By contrast, Mexican goat production does not have this sort of plan and,
in fact, does not even have a simple system for recording basic perfor-
mance measures (e.g., milk production and kid growth rate). It is impor-
tant to move in this direction, perhaps beginning with the introduction of
a simple, inexpensive scheme for animal identification.
64 Animal Frontiers
Importantly, genetic improvement is ideal for extensive grazing indus-
tries because it is a simple, low-cost management tool and the benefits are
cumulative. Moreover, it is becoming feasible for the extensively man-
aged industries because we are on the verge of a technology-led revolu-
tion in the generation of high quality data, such as electronic identifica-
tion, DNA pedigrees, and the automatic recording of body weights and
litter size. It will soon be possible to assess large numbers of animals for
a wide variety of production traits under extensive production systems.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/af/article-abstract/5/1/57/4638705 by IFB - Instituto Federal de Brasília user on 29 May 2019
Conclusions
For industries based on extensively managed, grazing small ruminants,
there is a wide range of simple, effective low-cost tools for managing re-
production, and they can be combined into a CGE scheme that is also re-
sponsive to predicted changes in markets and the regulatory environment.
Many of tools can be implemented now, with specific choices based on lo-
cal geographical and socio–economic constraints. A primary focus must be
maximizing the value of feed inputs from grazing, but there is now the pos-
sibility of an extra dimension in the choice of forages because some plant
species can reduce carbon emissions and improve health. This area deserves
research in many countries because the outcomes will help address the in-
ternational problem of the environmental impact of ruminant industries.
The second major factor is control of the timing of mating, births, and lac-
tation in relation to the seasonal availability of fodder. At the most basic level,
the males and females need to be separated for all except the mating period.
At a second level, the “male effect” offers excellent precision over the timing
and synchrony of births. The most complex modes of implementation of the
“male effect” are still subject to basic research and development.
For some components of the CGE scheme, the priority is to work on
genetic improvement of the process, and for others, the priority is adop-
tion processes rather than the science of reproduction. The extensive graz-
ing industries have a poor record of transformation from traditional prac-
tice to the modern, science-based management that is essential if we are to
feed and clothe the world without destroying the planet.
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About the Authors
Dr. J. Alberto Delgadillo earned his
Ph.D. at the Université des Sciences et
Techniques de Languedoc II at Montpel-
lier, France. He is currently Professor at
the Departamento de Ciencias Médico
Veterinarias and Chair of the Centro de
Investigación en Reproducción Caprina
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/af/article-abstract/5/1/57/4638705 by IFB - Instituto Federal de Brasília user on 29 May 2019
(CIRCA) at the Universidad Autónoma
Agraria Antonio Narro. He teaches the bi-
ology of reproduction and the control of
reproduction in farm animals to graduate
and veterinary students. The main focus of
his research is the physiology of goat re-
production and the development of natural methods to control reproduction
of goats managed under extensive grazing conditions in subtropical latitudes.
Dr. Graeme B. Martin earned his Ph.D. at
the University of Western Australia (UWA)
and then worked in France and the UK for
5 yr. He is now Professor (Chair) at UWA
and a member of the UWA Institute of Ag-
riculture. His research team mostly works
on how environmental factors influence the
reproductive system. He is also committed
to science communication and to the use of
science to transform industry. Since 2004,
he has pioneered the concept of “clean,
green, and ethical management of live-
stock” and promoted it nationally and inter-
nationally. He also chairs the UWA Future Farm 2050 project.
Correspondence: graeme.martin@uwa.edu.au
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