The Effect of Some Environmental Factors on the Distribution of Births during a day in Anatolian Merino Sheep

Abstract

Time of birth in sheep were investigated. A day (24 hours) was divided into four timeframes as 22: 01-04: 00, 04: 01-10: 00, 10: 01-16: 00 and 16: 01-22: 00 in order to determine the time period in which births take place. Chi-square (χ2) test was used to determine whether the age, sex, and type of birth were effective on the distribution of births to the time periods during the day. In 2016, 78.09% of births were single and 21.91% were twins. The sex ratio was 48.24% male and 51.76% female. The most frequent birth times are 10: 01-16: 00 (26.95%) and 04: 01-10: 00 (25.57%), the lowest birth times are 16: 01-22: 00 (23.93%) and 22: 01- 04:00 (23.55%). The effect of maternal age and lamb sex on delivery time was significant (P <0.05), but the effect of birth type was not significant.