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BODY CONDITION SCORE IN CAMEL

Dr Bernard FAYE

Why a body condition score?

The body condition score (BCS) is a method to assess the quantity of available energy stored in an animal under fat storage form to be used for reproduction, milk production or any other effort. This quantity can be assessed by a scoring taking in account different anatomic points of the animal. BCS is a better indicator of the fat storage than the live weight. Indeed, two animals, one being high and emaciated and another being small but fat could have the same live weight, but they will not have the same ability to start reproduction cycle or to produce milk. Elsewhere the weight changes according to the uterine content at pregnancy and overall according to the watering which could be irregular and very important in camel (up to 20% of the total weight). BCS are currently used in cattle, sheep, goat and even donkey.

The monitoring of BCS in camel for several weeks especially around the calving period could allow finding the critical nutritional period (too thin or too fat) and to adjust the diet consequently for reproduction season or for starting lactation period.

The principle of the scoring

The camel is scored at distance (2 to 3 m) on visual criteria. It is not necessary to touch the animal, but sometimes, it could be helpful to confirm the visual judgment. A note is attributed to the flank according to the scale given in figures and table below and taking in account the aspect of the basin, of the vertebra column, the rib and the shoulder. A second note is attributed to the back on the aspect of the hump and on basin around the tail. A mean of the two notes, round up to ½ will give the final score.

The method is reproducible with two well-trained technicians. Usually, the technicians are agreeing in 80% of the cases. The difference between the two scorings could be more than ½ point in less than 5% of the case. But a good training is necessary.

The body condition score in camel

Notes	Back					Flank
	Ischial tuberosity	Sacrotuberal ligament	Ano-genital region	Spinous apophyses	Coxal tuberosity	Hollow of the flank	Transverse apophyses	Rib	Hump
0	Very proeminent	Very concave	Very deep at the base of the tail	All visible	Very proeminent	Highly apparent	All proeminent	All visbles («skin on bones »)	No hump
1	Well visible	concave	Deep, base of the tail still proeminent	Proeminent on the back	Proeminent	Clearly apparent	Clearly proeminent	Clearly visible	Very small hump
2	Well visble	Flat	Visible hollow	Visible on the back	visible	visible	Visible all along the back	Visible in front	Small
3	Visible, low quantity of fat	Flat to convexe	Slight hollow	Slightly apparent	Slightly visible	Very slight	Sligthly visible	Invisible or slighly visble in front of thorax	Medium size hump
4	Hardly visible and covered with fat	convexe	Filled	Well coverd by fat	Almost invisible	Almost invisible	invisible	invisible	Big hump
5	Disapeared in fat	convexe	The base of tai lis covered by fat	Invisible	Invisible	Invisible	Invisible and rounded back	Visible Fat cover	Very big hump covering all the back

Fore more details, see:

FAYE B., BENGOUMI M., MESSAD S., CHILLIARD Y., 2001. Fat storage and adipocyte patterns in camel: a tool for management of reproduction. Advances in Reproduction, 5, issue 3, 10c

FAYE B., BENGOUMI M., VIATEAU E., TOURRET M., CHILLIARD Y., 2001. Adipocyte patterns of adipose tissue in camel hump and kidney. J. Camel Res. Pract., 8, 29-33 KAMILI A., BENGOUMI M., FAYE B., 2006. Assessment of body condition and body composition in camel by barymetric measurements. J. Camel Pract. Res., 13(1), 67-72.

FAYE B., BENGOUMI M., MESSAD S., CHILLIARD Y., 2002. Estimation des réserves corporelles chez le dromadaire. Rev. Elev. Med. Vét. Pays Trop., 55, 69-78.

BENGOUMI M., FAYE B., CHILLIARD Y., 2006. Adaptation of camels to food shortage by controlling fat storage in hump and kidney. . Proc. Of Int. Scientific Conf. on camels (Part 4), Qassim Univ. (Publ.), 10-12 May 2006, Saudi Arabia, 1616-1636.

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Note 5

Note 4

Note 3

Note 2

Note 1

Note 0

Hump measurement'

The hump is the main fat storage in camel and this fact is unique among the domestic mammals. In normal animal, the hump fat could represent up to 80% of the total fat storage. So the assessment of the hump weight is a convenient tool to appreciate the fat condition of the animal.Edit

Assessment of the volume and weight of the hump in living animalEdit

The volume of the hump could be considered as an hemi-ellipsoid (see figure below). The following measurements could be defined:

- The length (L) is the distance between the front (A) and the back (B) of the hump passing by the top of the hump (E) = hemi-circumference seen on side,

- The width (W) is the distance between A and B but passing by the side of the hump (C or D) = hemi-circumference seen from above,

- The height (H) is the distance between C and D passing by the top of the hump (E) = hemi-circumference seen from front (or back)

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The assessment of the volume of an hemi-ellipsoid with different radius rL, rW et rH could be approached by the formula : V = ½ (4/3 * rL * rW * rH)

By considering that the hemi-circumferences were respectively equal to : L = *2 rL /2

l = *2 rl /2

H = *2 rH /2

The volume V is: ½ (4/3 * L/ * W/ *H/

By simplification:

Volume of the hump= 0.07 L *W*H

For evaluating the weight of the hump, the following formula was proposed (obtained after measuring humps in slaughterhouses):

Wh (kg)= (1.59 +0.0836H)²; error =0.571; P <0.0001

where Wh is weight of the hump in kg and H the height (as defined above) in cm. So, the weight of one hump measuring 100 cm (H) is 10 kg.

The hump is a very sensitive indicator of fat storage. In the following figure, two groups of camel were compared: a group “OV” was overfed for 3 month then underfed, and a group “UN” was underfed for 3 months then overfed. Their BCS changed in the same way.

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What is the best score for camel? Usually, the best score for camel as for other ruminants is depending of the physiological stage. For mating, the camel must be in good condition (between 3 and 4), not too thin and not too fat. At the end of pregnancy, the camel must have a good fat storage in order to produce milk for the calf (best note is around 3.5-4). At the beginning of lactation, the food intake is generally not sufficient to satisfy the milk production and the camel can lose weight. At the pick of lactation, the note can go down to 2.

To add supplementation food for dairy animals could improve the milk production but if the camel is not well selected for milk purpose, the adding food could increase the fat storage rather to improve the udder activity.

Notes below 2 could be linked to disease characterized by loss of appetite. With very thin animal, parasitism has to be suspected (especially trypanosomosis).

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Different type of body condition score profiles in 3 camels all along the lactation. The optimal BCS is camel 1.