Influence of late castration at the age of 12 months on the fattening performance of Pulfuli rams in North Cameroon

Abstract

The authors describe a trial on late castration of 12-month old rams of the Pulfuli breed (related with the Djallonke sheep). They compare their results with data from the literature and from a former experiment on long-term fattening after castration of 6 1/2-month old animals of the same breed. The reduced growth and less favourable feed conversion ratio are confirmed at this later age of castration. The influence of the duration of fattening was also confirmed. However, in the specific conditions of this experiment, difference as compared with non-castrated animals was already well marked after 90 days. Delaying the castration of fattening rams has no positive influence on the studied parameters, especially as the intervention appears to be more traumatic later in life.