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Effect of a Low Zinc Diet on the Ewe during Pregnancy and Lactation¹

SEA-AR, U. S. Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory and U. S. Sheep and Fur Animal Station, Ithaca, NY 14853

Abstract

Nineteen ewes were fed a low zinc (<1 ppm) diet with a hay supplement starting week 12 of pregnancy and continuing through week 6 of lactation. Nine of the ewes were given 100 ppm zinc in the drinking water starting week 17. Two unsupplemented and one supplemented ewe died before or during lambing. Two more unsupplemented ewes died 3 and 4 weeks after lambing. Birth weight of the lambs was not affected by zinc treatment. Lambs were maintained with the ewes for 6 to 7 weeks following parturition and ewes continued to be fed the diet with and without zinc. Unsupplemented ewes lost weight continuously during lactation and developed frothy saliva and skin lesions during weeks 3 and 4 of lactation. One supplemented ewe also developed skin lesions. Since unsupplemented ewes produced more twins than supplemented ewes, it is difficult to separate the effect of twinning and the effects of zinc deficiency. Nonetheless, the rapid deterioration in the ewes' condition after lambing suggests that their zinc stores were depleted at the end of pregnancy and that marginal zinc status may have contributed to the observed mortality. The lactating ewe is clearly susceptible to zinc deficiency, but whether zinc is necessary for normal parturition in the ewe as it is in the rat requires further study.

¹ The authors thank Douglas E. Hogue and the Cornell University Animal Science Department for their assistance, and William F. Gardner, Patrick Burke and Elma Rice for technical assistance and care of the animal.