The South African Journal of Animal Science is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. The journal publishes reports of research dealing with the production of farmed animal species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, poultry and ostriches), as well as pertinent aspects of research on companion animals and aquatic and wildlife species. All submitted articles are subjected to a single-blind peer review process that is managed by a section editor under the supervision of the editor-in-chief. Copyright of a published article resides with the authors. Such articles will be published as open access content and be covered by the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 South African Licence. Users may copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work, but must recognise the authors and the South African Journal of Animal Science.
Originally supported by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the South African Journal of Animal Science moved online in the early 2000s using a custom-built manuscript submission and editorial management system. In August 2025, the journal transitioned to the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems (PKP OJS), hosted by Khulisa Journals at the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
In line with international best practices, the journal integrates key components of digital research infrastructure, including DOIs (digital object identifiers), ORCID iDs (researcher identifiers), ROR IDs (research organisation identifiers), and CCLs (Creative Commons Licences), ensuring transparency, traceability, and global interoperability.
As of August 2025, the South African Journal of Animal Science makes use of the Crossref 10.17159 DOI prefix. View the journal metadata health and the Crossref DOI Conflict Report here.
If you experience any problems with the journal’s online platform, please contact the editor-in-chief at [email protected].
Clarivate Journal Impact Factor (2025): 0.8 (Q4 of subject category)
Scimago (SJR) (2025): 0.231 (Q3)
Scopus CiteScore (2025): 1.4
Production parameters of the impala, Aepyceros melampus
From a game farming point of view, the impala is quantitatively the most important animal in the Bushveld areas of South Africa. However very little published data are available on the productive capacity of this animal. In a long-term study…
The histology of the pre-natal follicle and hair fibre in four curl types of the Karakul sheep
In the Karakul sheep of Southern Africa four major pelt types can be identified, namely pipe curl, developed shallow curl, shallow curl and watersilk types. A study of the foetal skin was undertaken to determine whether histological differences do exist…
Ovine wet carcass syndrome of unknown aetiology
A condition of unknown aetiology, known as 'the wet sheep carcass syndrome' has led to the loss of about R500 000 as a result of the condemnation and trimming of carcasses, during the past 2 years. An affected carcass has…
Estimating phosphorus intake by grazing sheep
Estimating phosphorus intake in grazing sheep is difficult since hand-picked samples of forage do not represent actual intake. Results showed that faecal P did reflect dietary P levels. A minimum of 30 sheep should be sampled to obtain an error…
Effects of hot environments on bone growth in rats
The physio-chemistry and endocrinology of bone growth was studied in rats housed under different temperature conditions. Bone lengths did not change significantly but bone widths and densities became significantly smaller in rats kept at 34 °C.The depression of bone alkaline…
The effect of temperature on the ammoniation of wheat straw by urea
The aqueous ammoniation of wheat straw by urea, as affected by temperature and moisture level, was studied in a 4 x 2 x 6 factorial experiment. Treatments included temperatures of 4, 14, 24 and 35 °C, moisture levels of 250…
Urea-ensiled rice straw as a feed for cattle in Thailand
Rice-straw was ensiled with a 5-6% urea solution for 3 weeks before being fed. Cattle fed with urea-ensiled rice straw alone can maintain weight. However, to obtain a daily weight gain of 300-450 g in Holstein Friesian heifers (8-12 months…
In vitro digestibility of plants normally consumed by the kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros
Leaves of 10 different plant species utilized by the kudu were collected, dried and ground. This material was used to determine DM digestibility, gas production and VFA production during in vitro fermentation with rumen fluid obtained from kudu. Plants preferred…
The influence of inoculum source on in vitro digestibility
A series of in vitro incubations were performed in which a constant substrate (antelope cube) was used and only the inoculum source was varied. With an inoculum obtained from 7 different wild ruminants, gas production rate varied considerably and was…
A comparison of rumen function in four Kalahari ungulates
The ratio's of reticulo-rumen volume to body mass were determined for all four species in addition to rumen pH, fermentation rate and VFA concentration. Information on rumen and faeces dry-matter percentage is also reported. Only the blue wildebeest exhibited a…
Digestibility of the same diet in cattle and sheep
The question is posed of the applicability to cattle feeding, of digestibility data obtained with sheep. An experiment is described where the same high concentrate diet was fed at three levels, equalised per kg body mass between species. In energy…
Rumen fermentative activity in the goat and sheep
Measurements of rumen function were made on sheep and goats fed the same range of diets. Differences between sheep and goats with respect to gas production rate, glucose fermentation, nitrate reduction capacity, total VFA production and individual VFA concentration were…
Rumen bacteria in sheep fed supplemented teff hay
Low-protein teff hay was supplemented with 3% urea and 6% starch to promote growth of the amylolytic bacteria, which liberate branched chain amino acids in the rumen upon lysis. These serve as a source of branched chain volatile fatty acids…
Kinetic measurements on bacterial cultures growing on fibres
The culture outflow-rate from a specially designed pH-auxostat continuous culture system can be used to calculate the specific growth rates of different bacterial species on suspensions of cellulose or other insoluble substrates. Provided a constant concentration of substrate is maintained…
Microbiology of feed samples incubated in nylon bags in the rumen of sheep
Nylon bags of different mesh size (5-53 μm), containing ground lucerne, were incubated in the rumen of sheep fed lucerne hay. Counts of total culturable, proteolytic and cellulolytic bacteria were performed on the bag contents after 16 h of incubation…
Forage evaluation by analysis after fermentation in vitro
Different forages were analyzed after in vitro fermentation for amino acid and metabolizable energy content, in order to evaluate their potential as ruminant feeds. Least-cost formulations of supplemental by-pass proteins provide the balance of amino acids required for duodenal amino…
Protein degradability of several South African feedstuffs by the artificial fibre bag technique
The protein degradability of 13 South African ruminant feed protein sources were determined by the artificial fibre bag technique. Three sheep fed ad lib. on a basal diet of lucerne hay were used. Estimates obtained by two methods of calculation…
Nutrient selection by cattle, goats and sheep on natural Karoo pasture. 1. Digestibility of organic matter
The digestibility of organic matter (DOM) of material selected by cattle, Boer goats, Dorper and Merino sheep on natural Karoo pasture was investigated. A highly significant difference (P ≤ 0,01) in DOM selected between years, with an interclass (animal types)…
