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 (2024): 0.6 (Q4 of subject category)
Clarivate Journal Citation Indicator (2024): 0.26
Scopus CiteScore (2024): 1.4
Stepwise adaptation of sheep fed ad libitum to a high concentrate diet and its effect on ruminal pH and lactic acid concentrati
A stepwise adaptation experiment was performed on 5 adult sheep fed ad libitum on successive diets containing 10; 26,5; 43,5; 54 to a final diet containing 65% maize meal and molasses for ll9 days. All diets contained a mixed buffer…
Ruproteïenbehoeftes van agtien-maand-oud osse gedurende die afrondingsperiode
Eighteen month old Simmentaler steers with an initial body mass of 310 kg were divided into 8 comparable groups of l0 animals each. The performance of steers at crude protein levels of 9,1, 11,9 and 14,7% in a maize silage…
Practical implications of the effect of drying and treatment on nitrogen content and in vitro digestibility of samples collected
Oesophageally fistulated (OF) sheep and cattle were used to collect samples from 7 green herbages used in digestibility trials. These samples were treated and dried in different ways. In the case of sheep the treatment of OF-collected samples (total extrusa…
The influence of dietary energy on a mathematical model for growth, body composition and feed utilization of pigs
A mathematical model together with data analyses were adapted to describe the effect of variation in dietary energy concentration, achieved by the inclusion of different levels of sawdust, on the growing pig. It was found that the autoregression coefficient of…
Endogenous energy, a cause of biased true metabolisable energy values
Generally fasted birds are used for estimating endogenous energy (EE) excretion, this measurement being a critical factor in determining the TME of feeds and ingredients. Evidence is presented that EE is overestimated because the fasted birds lack energy during the…
Retention of trace elements in the livers of sheep fed poultry manure as a ration component
Dried poultry manure from batteries ( DPM) was included at 0,0, 11,6, 23,5 and 35,4% in sheep finishing rations. An increase in the DPM content of rations caused substantial increase in the concentrations of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), sulphur (S),…
Ware metaboliseerbare energiewaardes met stikstofkorreksies om additiwiteit by pluimveediëte te verbeter
When least-cost diets, based on metabolizable energy (ME) values are formulated one assumes that the ME values allocated are additive, so that the sum of the individual ME values will represent the ME value of the diet. An experiment was…
Evaluering van gedifferensieerde energie- en stikstofaanvulling tot mieliekuilvoer vir slaglammers
Evaluation of differential energy and protein supplementation to maize silage for slaughter lambs An investigation was conducted into the effects of dietary protein and energy content as well as protein source in slaughter lamb production on maize silage plus maize…
The amino acid composition of selected South African feed ingredients
The amino acid composition of 14 different feed ingredients used in a local feed mill were determined on replicate samples drawn from the mill at intervals over a period of 18months. For each ingredient the mean and standard error of…
Effect of monensin, sodium bicarbonate and vitamin A on feedlot gain in cattle
Twenty-four Hereford oxen were used in a 2 X 2 factorial arrangement of treatments in order to investigate the response in terms of gain and efficiency of feed conversion to the inclusion of monensin and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) in a…
The effect of formalin treatment on the nutritive value of sorghum grain with a high tannin content (Research note)
Keywords: Sorghum, tannin, formalin, rumen, digestion Â
Die optimum insluitingspeil van sonneblomoliekoekmeel en lisien in varkgroeidiëte
The optimal inclusion rate of sunflower oilcake meal and lysine in pig growth diets: Thirty-five diets (7 inclusion rates of sunflower oilcake meal between 15 and 33 percent, each with 5 lysine levels between 0,68 and 0,85 percent), consisting of…
The effect of various levels of dietary copper and molybdenum on copper and molybdenum metabolism in sheep
A trial was conducted in which the rations of sheep were supplemented with different levels of Cu and Mo. The S intake was kept constant at 2,1 g/sheep/day. Two levels of Mo were fed, viz. 38 mg/sheep/day for 92 days…
The influence of dietary sulphur on copper and molybdenum metabolism in sheep
Different levels of dietary S were supplied to sheep receiving high levels of Cu (55 mg/sheep/day) and Mo (34 mg/sheep/day) in their rations. At S intakes of 2,9,4,0 and 5,3 g/sheep/day the hepatic Cu retentions expressed as percentages of total…
The peripheral plasma progesterone concentration and luteal progesterone content in the post-partum ewe
Post-partum plasma progesterone concentrations and luteal progesterone content were measured in lactating and non-lactating ewes during a normal breeding season in autumn and an abnormal breeding season in spring. The results indicate that silent ovulations during the autumn breeding season…
The synchronisation of oestrus in sheep. 3. The use of intravaginal progestagen and/or prostaglandin
The reproductive efficiencies of ewes treated with the intravaginal progestagen sponge (MAP), an intravaginal progestagen sponge (MAP) followed by an injection of cloprostenol (125 μg), a double injection of 250 μg cloprostenol at a 9-day interval and a control group…
The synchronisation of oestrus in sheep. 4. Insemination at oestrus or on a time basis
In a 2 x 2 factorial experiment fertility has been compared after insemination on observed oestrus, and insemination on a time basis. It was done on 10-day intervals. A group of progestagen sponge (MAP) treated ewes was compared following insemination…
