Prediction of body weight using body measurements in some sheep and goats in Qatar

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study aimed to identify the relationship between body measurements and the weight of sheep and goats. A total of 324 heads of sheep and 261 heads of goats were used. Measuring of body weight (BWt) and body measurements as heart girth (HG), height at wither (HW) and body length (BL) were taken on both types of animals for 3 successive months. Correlations between body weight and measurements were tested. Linear and non-linear regressions of body weight on the most correlated body measurements were calculated. HG, HW and BL were significantly related to BWt. HG had the largest correlation coefficient. Power regression had the highest coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.91) and lowest error of estimate (SE = 7.42). The power regression model (BWt = 0.0006*HG2.5608) was tested against the actual weight of another animal’s population of 119 heads of goats and 171 heads of sheep using paired t-test analysis. No significant variation was observed between the actual and estimated body weights. The model overestimated weight by 1.5%. It was concluded that body weight could be estimated with a high accuracy using the corrected model BWt (kg) = (0.0006*(HG2.5608))–(1.5*(0.0006*(HG2.5608)/100)).

Keywords

• Girth
• length
• model
• non-linear
• relationship