Body measurements of west African dwarf sheep as parameters for estimation of live weight

The relationships between live weight and eight body measurements of West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep were studied using 210 animals under on farm condition. Data obtained on height at withers (HW), heart girth (HG), body length (BL), head length (HL), head width (HDW), loin girth (LG), length of hindquarter (LHQ) and width of hindquarter (WHQ) were fitted into linear, allometric and multiple regression models to predict live weight from the body measurements. Results revealed that body measurements of WAD sheep were generally higher in the rams than in the ewes. Coefficient of determination (R(2)) values computed for the body measurements were generally higher (0.87-0.99) using allometric regression model than linear regression model (0.44-0.94). Heart girth (HG) and WHQ depicted the highest relationship to live weight in linear and allometric models compared to other body measurements. Based on stepwise elimination procedure, HG, HL and WHQ were better in predicting live weight in multiple linear regression models. The magnitude of correlation coefficient (r) indicate that WHQ shows the highest correlation with live weight (r = 0.96) compared to HG (r = 0.94).