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
Genetic relationship between growth and carcass traits in Large White pigs
Genetic relationships between growth and carcass traits in South African Large White pigs were estimated. Genetic parameters for growth and carcass traits were generated using a maternal effects model in ASREML. Data analysed were on 13 703 pigs from 28…
Association of polymorphism in Exon 3 of toll-like receptor 4 gene with somatic cell score and milk production traits in Holstein dairy cows of Iran
Mastitis is a complex inflammatory disease of the mammary gland that is caused by the invasion of pathogens. This leads to reduced synthetic capacity, compositional changes and increased somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a…
Assessing the genetic diversity of five Tanzanian chicken ecotypes using molecular tools
The study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of Tanzanian chicken populations through phylogenetic relationship, and to trace the history of Tanzanian indigenous chickens. Five ecotypes of Tanzanian local chickens (Ching’wekwe, Kuchi, Morogoro-medium, Pemba and Unguja) from eight regions were…
Intestinal digestibility of enriched-protein fodders measured by mobile bag incubated with or without pepsin-HCl and three-step techniques
Ruminal, intestinal and total tract digestibility of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), Madras thorn (Pithecellobium dulce) and moringa (Moringa oleifera) fodders were measured in this study, using nylon bag and mobile bag techniques. Three…
The ethics of meat production and quality – a South African perspective. Invited paper
The global livestock industry has recently been inundated with criticisms about the impact of animal production systems on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), animal welfare, environmental sustainability and human health and well-being. Although it is accepted that the estimate of…
Estimates of lactation curve parameters for Bonsmara and Nguni cattle using the weigh-suckle-weigh technique
Milk production accounts for about 60% of the variation in weaning weight and is therefore considered an economically important trait in beef production. However, milk production data is not routinely available in beef improvement programmes and therefore weaning weight is…
Winter and spring variation in daily milk yield and mineral composition of Jersey, Friesian cows and their crosses under a pasture-based dairy system
This study was conducted to determine the effects of genotype and season on daily milk yield (DMY) and mineral composition of pasture-based dairy cows. This was done by collecting data from 20 Friesian, 20 Jersey and 20 Friesian × Jersey…
The effect of dietary lipid saturation and antioxidant source on the nutrient digestibility of lamb finishing diets
The influence of a synthetic or natural antioxidant and lipid saturation on the apparent digestibility of nutrients in a standard lamb finishing diet was investigated. The four dietary treatments consisted of the same basal diet, providing 187 g CP-, 355…
Carcass composition of Namaqua Afrikaner, Dorper and SA Mutton Merino ram lambs reared under extensive conditions
This study evaluated the differences in the muscle-fat-bone yield of Namaqua Afrikaner (NA), Dorper (D) and SA Mutton Merino (SAMM) ram lambs. The breeds constituted an indigenous, hardy and late maturing, fat-tailed breed (NA), an early maturing, commercial meat breed…
Effect of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on the metabolism and reproduction of dairy cows
Rumen-protected conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) reportedly improves fertility in lactating dairy cows by reducing the postpartum interval to first ovulation and enhancing the circulating insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the blood metabolites,…
Quantifying avoidance-related behaviour and bleeding times of sheep of different ages, sex and breeds slaughtered at a municipal and a commercial abattoirs
The effect of abattoir type, age, sheep breed and sex on avoidance-related behaviour and bleeding times at slaughter were determined. Castrates and ewes of different age groups and breeds were used. From the commercial abattoir, 90 castrates and 110 ewes…
Physico-chemical shelf-life indicators of meat from broilers given Moringa oleifera leaf meal
The objective of the study was to determine the effect of using Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) as an additive on physico-chemical shelf life indicators of meat from broilers. A total of 432 1-day-old chicks were randomly allocated to four…
The novel use of “point of care” devices to evaluate transport duration on selected pork quality parameters
Point-of-care (POC) devices were used to measure plasma metabolic substrates in pigs subjected to stressful conditions. These were then related to the meat pH, drip loss and carcass temperature. Forty Large White x Landrace pigs (20 females and 20 males)…
Exogenous fibrolytic enzymes to unlock nutrients: Histological investigation of its effects on fibre degradation in ruminants
There is a need for a better understanding of the mode-of-action of exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) used as additives in ruminant feeds. Four forages, treated with EFE, were evaluated in vitro and histologically, in an attempt to determine the effect…
The effect of geographical region of birth on the reproductive performance of the Nguni in southern Mozambique
The objective of this study was to assess the effect of place of birth on the reproductive performance of two Nguni ecotypes (Nguni and Landim) raised in a sub-tropical environment to enhance strategies for livestock development and restocking programmes within…
Effect of pre-slaughter conditions on physico-chemical characteristics of mutton from three sheep breeds slaughtered at a smallholder rural abattoir
The effects of pre-slaughter conditions and breed on physico-chemical characteristics of mutton were determined. The study was conducted at Adelaide Municipal abattoir in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Records were taken from 84 sheep from the South African Mutton…
Effects of egg weight on hatchability, chick hatch-weight and subsequent productivity of indigenous Venda chickens in Polokwane, South Africa
A study was conducted to determine the effect of egg weight on hatchability, chick hatch-weight, mortality and subsequent productivity of indigenous Venda chickens. Three hundred and sixty indigenous Venda chicken eggs were collected for a period of a week and…
Dietary energy level for optimum productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Venda chickens raised in closed confinement
A study was conducted to determine dietary energy levels for optimum productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Venda chickens raised in closed confinement. Four dietary treatments were considered in the first phase (1 to 7 weeks) on two hundred day-old…
The effect of dietary lipid saturation and monensin-Na on the CLA content of lambs’ meat
A study was conducted to investigate the influence of an ionophore antibiotic and lipid saturation within a standard finishing diet on the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content of lambs’ meat. Two identical sheep grower diets containing 145 g CP, 282…
