bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Diet supplementation of growing pigs raised in Coastal Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) pasture lots
Authors: Pond W. G. , Maner J. H. , Gallo J. T. , Henao A. , Portela R. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYSeventy Duroc × Landrace weanling pigs (initial weight 20 kg) were used in a 91-day experiment in a semi-tropical environment, to determine the effects of deletion of the vitamin-antibiotic or mineral supplement to a corn-sucrose-soya bean meal diet on performance of pigs in Coastal Bermuda grass pasture lots. Pigs fed the complete diet in confinement in concrete-floor pens had significantly faster body-weight gain than pigs fed the same diet on pasture. Pigs fed the complete diet on pasture gained weight significantly faster than those given the same diet but without a vitamin-antibiotic premix. Those fed the complete diet without a Ca-P-trace mineral supplement on pasture gained weight significantly more slowly than all other groups, and showed lameness and femur and rib fractures (2 animals) indicative of Ca deficiency rickets.
The metabolic rates of newborn pigs in relation to floor insulation and ambient temperature
Authors: Stephens D. B. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARY1. The metabolic rates of 58 individual piglets kept either on a straw or on a concrete floor at ambient temperatures near to 10°, 20° or 30°C have been measured with ages ranging from newborn to 9 days, and body weight from 1·0 to 3·2 kg. The oxygen consumption was measured on each floor material at the chosen ambient temperature thus allowing paired comparisons for each animal.2. In comparison with the concrete floor, oxygen consumption on straw was reduced by 18% at 10°C, 27% at 20°C and by 12% at 30°C for pigs 2 to 9 days old. The regression coefficients of mean log (oxygen consumption) on log (body weight) were around 0·66 at 10° and 20°C. At 30°C the value was 0·99 ± 0·14. The regression coefficients were not significantly affected by the presence of a straw floor showing that its effect did not vary with body weight. Corresponding values foi piglets below 24 hours of age were 17% at 10°C, 27% at 20°C and 22% at 30°C ambient temperature.3. Moving a piglet on to a straw floor at 10°C had the same thermal effect as raising the ambient temperature to 18°C. Similar treatment at 30°C was equivalent to raising the ambient temperature to 32°C.4. Lowering ambient temperature to increase the temperature gradient between the homeothermic body of the piglet and the environment progressively increased heat loss in all cases. There was a concomitant decrease in the calculated conductance between core and environment which was more pronounced for the piglets lying on the concrete floor.
Control of nutritional muscular dystrophy in lambs by selenium implantation
Authors: Hidiroglou M. , Hoffman I. , Jenkins K. J. , MacKay R. R. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYAn implantation technique utilizing slow-release selenium pellets was evaluated as a means of controlling nutritional muscular dystrophy (NMD) in sheep. Sixty ewes were fed a dystrophy-producing hay and implantations were made at mid-pregnancy (14 animals) and in late pregnancy (15 animals); the remainder were kept as controls. Selenium was determined at intervals on milk and blood samples from the ewes and on blood samples from the lambs. Various muscles were examined histologically for NMD lesions.Selenium levels in the milk of implanted ewes were higher than controls up to the 60th day of lactation and levels in the blood of both ewes and lambs were higher than controls during nursing. Selenium implantation at mid-pregnancy resulted in higher selenium concentrations in lamb's blood at birth than implantation in late pregnancy. However, by 30 days of age and thereafter, this difference was reversed. Large variability was encountered in the blood values for implanted ewes and their lambs. While complete protection against NMD was not achieved, implantation reduced the incidence and severity of the disease. The earlier implantation gave slightly fewer deaths from NMD, but the numbers were too small to make critical comparisons.
A note on the relationship between the rate of machine-milking and milk production of Ayrshire heifers
Authors: Castle M. E. , Henderson R. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYRecords of milking rate, milk yield and milk composition were collected over 12 yr from 123 Ayrshire heifers in their first lactation in one herd. Three direct measures of milking rate, i.e. peak flow rate, machine rate and overall rate were closely correlated and each was also correlated with total lactation yield of milk. Milking rate accounted for only a very small part of the variation in fat and total solids percentages. The mean yield of milk per milking in early lactation was a better predictor of total lactation yield than was milking rate but, among animals giving the same early lactation yield of milk, the faster milkers gave higher lactation yields than the slower milkers.
The production of beef from pre-ruminant Friesian steers
Authors: Roy J. H. B. , Stobo I. J. F. , Ganderton P. , Shotton Susan M. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARY1. Four British Friesian steers were reared to a live weight of 340 kg as pre-ruminant animals, by the use of milk substitutes based on liquid skim milk, spray-dried whey powder and an ultra-high-fat (68%) milk powder.2. Except for one case of hypomagnesaemia, the steers remained healthy. Live-weight gain/day, age at slaughter and feed conversion ratio were 1·23 kg, 253 days and 2·31 kg dry matter/kg weight gain respectively.3. No marked development of the rumen had occurred; gut fill in relation to fasted live weight was 3·4% and killing-out percentage was 61·2.
The relative performance and carcass characteristics of pigs sired by Hampshire and Large White boars
Authors: Smith W. C. , Barkes J. N. , Tonks H. M. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYHampshire and Large White crosses were compared with purebred Large White pigs for litterproduction and post-weaning performance. Crossbreeding did not influence either litter size or total litter weight at birth but crossbred litters had 14 % more pigs at weaning than purebred litters. Total litter weight at weaning was 13 % greater i n crossbred litters. In two post-weaning trials (23 to 90 kg live weight), where feeding was either ad libitum or restricted according to live weight, Hampshire crosses had advantages over Large Whites in rate and efficiency of gain and killing-out percentage. The cross-breds had shorter carcasses but a greater eye-muscle area due primarily to a greater depth of lean in the muscle. All fat depth measurements indicated that the crossbreds were not significantly leaner than the purebreds and this was confirmed in the restricted trial when the carcasses were subjected to physical and chemical dissection. Hampshire carcasses did have a lower bone content than those of the purebreds, but crossbreeding did not influence joint proportions or lean distribution in the carcass.
Growth, food consumption and litter production of female pigs mated at puberty and at low body weights
Authors: Pay M. G. , Davies T. E. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYGilts were allocated at 55 kg live weight to one of three treatments: 1. 1·4 kg of food daily to service, served at puberty, and 1·4 kg of food daily throughout pregnancy.2. 1·4 kg of food daily to service, served at the third heat, and 1·4 kg of food daily during pregnancy.3. 2·3 kg of food daily to service, served at the third heat, and 1·4 kg of food daily during pregnancy.An attempt was made to encourage early puberty by stimulation using the presence of a boar. Natural service with boars was used on all gilts.There were no significant differences between the treatments in time taken to reach puberty and the gilts were mated at 77, 97 and 116 kg live weight on Treatments 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The gilts on Treatment 1 had a significantly lower conception rate and a significantly smaller litter size than those on Treatments 2 and 3. However, the average birth weight did not vary significantly among treatments.
A note on the social behaviour of a flock of Merino and Wiltshire Horn sheep
Authors: Winfield C. G. , Mullaney P. D. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYThe behaviour of 12 Merino and 12 Wiltshire Horn ewes was observed on the day they werefirstintroduced together into a 0·85 ha paddock and over the following 9 days. Neither breed group had associated with sheep of the other group previously. Both groups formed and maintained their own strong social groupings, and despite the small area of pasture and enforced close association each day, no significant integration of the groups was observed.
The nutritive value of cooked potato in liquid and creep diets for early-weaned calves
Authors: Hinks C. E. , Armishaw Alison M. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARY1. In three experiments, 112 7-day-old British Friesian male calves were used in performance and digestibility trials to evaluate dried cooked potato in liquid and creep diets.2. A 15% depression in growth rate for each 10% inclusion of cooked potato flour in liquid diets was recorded from 4 to 21 days and the faeces of potato-fed calves also tended to be less solid. Over the whole feeding period, liquid diets containing up to 20% potato did not significantly depress performance to weaning at 35 days.3. Only when a liquid diet containing potato starch was introduced prior to 4 weeks of age was daily live-weight gain markedly depressed.4. Incorporating potato starch in milk diets did not influence creep intake.5. Calves offered a creep diet containing 40% cooked potato flake ate less, but grew faster than calves given a diet containing 40% flakedmaize. At constant intakes of creep, daily gains were 14 to 18% greater on the diet containing potato flake.6. The apparent digestibility of gross energy and nitrogen was 0·67 and 0·66 for the flaked maize creep and 0·71 and 0·69 for the potato creep. Digestible energy and digestible nitrogen values were 12·7 MJ and 18·2 g/kg dry matter for the maize diet and 13·0 MJ and 19·0 g/kg dry matter for the flaked potato diet.7. The incidence of bloat was higher for calves fed on potato than for those fed on maize.
A note on performance traits of crossbred beef × dairy steers finished on fast- and slow-gaining feeding regimes
Authors: Lalande Gaspard , Fahmy M. H. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYA total of 178 castrated male cattle (steers), the progeny of Charolais, Hereford and Limousin bulls mated to Holstein-Friesian and Ayrshire cows, were raised from 8 months of age to 545 kg (slaughter weight) on fast- or slow-gaining regimes. The steers on the fast gaining regime were fed a grain mixture with little hay, while those on the slow-gaining regime grazed all summer and were wintered on hay supplemented with a little grain.The steers on the fast-gaining regime were more efficient in feed conversion ratio, had 0·42 kg per day higher live-weight gain, reached slaughter weight 306 days earlier, and had 2% higher dressing-out percentage, 5·7 mm thicker fat and 5 mm2 larger area of m.longissimus thoracis than those on the slow-gaining regime.Charolais-sired steers on both regimes had the fastest gain and were the first to reach slaughter weight. Limousin-sired steers raised on the fast-gaining regime had the highest dressing-out percentage, and the largest area of m. longissimus thoracis on both regimes. Hereford-sired steers had the thickest fat cover and the smallest area of m. longissimus thoracis. Little difference was found between the steers from Holstein and Ayrshire cows.
A note on the effect of rearing experience upon the development of sexual behaviour in ram lambs
Authors: Bryant M. J. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYSixteen cross-bred male lambs were assigned to either a group- or a single-rearing treatment up to 150 days of age. After this time the single-housed rams were penned together and all rams were tested weekly for their abilities to successfully mate with ewes for a further 10 weeks. There were no marked differences in the development of sexual behaviour between the two treatments.
Soaking of complete fattening rations high in poor roughage 1. The effect of moisture content and spontaneous fermentation on nutritional value
Authors: Holzer Z. , Levy D. , Tagari H. , Volcani R. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYThe effect of three moisture concentrations (10, 50 and 75%) and of four fermentation conditions (none, 24 hr aerobic, and 24 and 48 hr anaerobic) on the nutritive value of two complete fattening diets containing 25 and 45% poor roughage, was examined in three digestion and nitrogen balance trials, each of Latin square design, in cattle.Fermentation increased the lactic acid and volatile fatty acid concentrations of the feed, decreased its pH and the crude fibre content, and caused losses of dry matter.There were non-significant differences in voluntary intake between the dry and soaked diets. The apparent digestibility of dry and organic matter, crude protein, nitrogen-free extract and crude fibre was non-significantly improved by added moisture. There were no consistent differences in nitrogen retention.The average metabolizable energy values (ME) observed for both diets were 6% higher than those calculated. There were no significant differences in the apparent digestibility of gross energy or in ME value between treatments of different moisture content.The fluctuations in pH of rumen liquor during the day differed markedly when the animals received different levels of roughage. These differences were greater when the feed was allowed to ferment. Soaking of feed resulted in a significant increase in the concentration of propionic acid in the rumen liquor, and a non-significant decrease in that of acetic acid. Consequently the C2/C3ratio was significantly lower on the moist feed treatments.There were no consistent differences in concentration of ammonia in the rumen liquor, or of urea in the blood.
Effects of stage of gestation and litter size on prenatal growth in the mouse
Authors: Koong Ling-Jung , Bradford G. E. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYA theoretical equation is proposed which describes the dynamics of foetal growth in mice. The equation is basically of exponential form and takes into account the effects of stage of gestation (T) and number of foetuses (N) on the instantaneous relative growth rate. The model was tested against experimental data by using a stepwise regression technique. Both stage of gestation and number of foetuses had significant effects (P< 0·01) on the instantaneous growth rate. When the model was tested against another set of data 44 out of a total of 52 comparisons had a prediction error less than 15 %. As a result, the following equation is proposed to describe the foetal growth of miceW = e-14·34Ne(1·302–0·0276T–0·00059)TAn equation of this form could be useful in interpreting prenatal growth data for other species. Other factors which may influence the dynamics of foetal growth, such as maternal age or weight, could also be incorporated into the equation.
Economic evaluation of selecting sheep for wool production
Authors: Thatcher L. P. , Napier K. M. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYA technique is described for assessing the profitability of selecting sheep for wool production. A model of the breeding system incorporating three submodels is developed: one to represent the flock from which the selection intensities for rams andewes are calculated; a second to determine gains made in wool production and the year in which they accrue; and the third uses discounting procedures to examine the economics of selecting for wool production.Flock and genetic parameters were set at ‘average’ values for an Australian Merino wool producer and gains were determined for a range of lambing percentages. Three measures were used to evaluate profitability; the net present value of the programme which shows overall profits, the internal rate of return, which gives the earning rate of the programme, and the payback period, which identifies the number of years before early costs are repaid.sensitivity analysis was used to examine changes in the three measures of profitability resulting from changes in interest rate, wool price, costs for labour and computer analysis, wool testing costs and lambing percentage. Profitability was sensitive to changes in all parameters except wool testing charges, and of the remainder the producer has a degree of control only over labour costs. A programme can be profitable, however, if wool price and lambing percentage are adequate and costs can be kept at reasonably low levels. Simple breeding programmes should be studied in which labour inputs are kept to a minimum or where costs are confined to studs (nuclei) and genetic gain disseminated by the sale (migration) of rams.
Effects of post-weaning stress and feeding management on return to oestrus and reproductive traits during early pregnancy in swine
Authors: Fahmy M. H. , Dufour J. J. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYA total of 177 sows representing five two-breed crosses were used in a 2×2 factorial experiment to study the effects of post-weaning stress (changing environment and group housing) and feeding regime (flushing by feeding ad libitum until mating) on the weaning-oestrus interval and other reproductive traits up to 30 days of pregnancy.The group which was stressed had about 10% (P<0·05) fewer reproductive failures than those not stressed, while little difference was found between the two feeding regimes. About 61% of the flushed sows returned to oestrus within 7 days after weaning, 9% higher than for those not flushed. The stress treatment had little effect on the weaning-oestrus interval. Neither treatment affected ovarian and follicular-fluid weights, percentage of follicles of different sizes, ovulation rate nor number of viable embryos. The flushed group, however, had 9% lower embryo survival than the group not flushed. A positive relation was found between the number of days on ad libitum feeding and ovulation rate and embryonic mortality.Differences among breeds were significant for all the traits, except weaning-oestrus interval, weight of follicular fluids, percentage of large follicles, ovulation and survival rates. The weaning-oestrus interval was not significantly correlated with any of the reproductive traits studied.
A note on the properties of the cumulative difference method for sire evaluation
Authors: Dempfle L. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYSeveral of the various dairy sire evaluation methods now in use account for the genetic level of contemporary herdmates. In the cumulative difference method of Bar-Anan and Sacks the contemporary comparison estimate is first calculated and then adjusted by taking into account the genetic level of the contemporaries. These estimates depend on the genetic level of the herdmates. A modification of the procedure in which account is taken of the herdmates' genotype before regressing for small numbers would remedy this deficiency without increasing computing costs.
A note on the use of kale as a replacement for cereal-based concentrates for milk production
Authors: Gordon F. J. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYTwenty-four lactating cows were used in a 6-week randomized block experiment to assess the effect of replacing 2·4 kg of cereal-based concentrate dry matter by either 2·6 or 3·2 kg of kale dry matter for cows with ad libitum access to grass silage. Milk yield, milk composition and live-weight change were not affected by the inclusion of kale. Silage dry-matter intake was significantly lower on the kale treatments than with concentrate, being 8·51, 7·89 and 7·95 kg per day for the concentrate, low-kale and high-kale supplements respectively. Energy digestibilities were 68·1, 74·4 and 76·4% and nitrogen digestibilities 67·1, 74·9 and 78·8% for the three treatments respectively.
The potential toxicity of copper-rich animal excreta to sheep
Authors: Suttle N. F. , Price J. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARY1. The true availability of Cu in animal excreta and pasture dressed with excreta was assessed in three experiments from the responses in plasma Cu concentration of initially hypocupraemic ewes repleted with diets containing different Cu sources.2. Herbage from a sward treated with Cu-rich pig slurry contained a larger proportion of available Cu than untreated herbage (0·058 v. 0·047; P<0·05, Experiment 1). Herbage Cu content was also increased from 7·3 to a maximum of 10·2 mg Cu/kg DM by slurry application.3. Availability of Cu in dried pig slurry (DPS) and Cu sulphate was similar and lowered from 0·068 to 0·040 in both sources by increasing the sulphur content of the diet from 1 g/kg in Experiment 3 to 3 g/kg in Experiment 2. Availability of Cu in dried poultry waste (DPW) was greater than that in DPS (P < 0·05).4. Treatment with ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid extracted 64·3 % and 78·3% of the Cu in DPW and DPS, respectively.5. The Cu toxicity hazard associated with the recycling of animal excreta of high Cu content is discussed.
A note on growth and food conversion in pigs at different air temperatures and ventilation rates
Authors: Morrison S. R. , Givens R. L. , Heitman H. 
Published: September 2010

SUMMARYVentilation rates of 0·14, 0·42 and 0·71 m3/min per pig (2·3, 6·9 and 11·5 air changes per hour) were compared at weight ranges from 42 to 65 kg and from 69 to 88 kg and at optimum ambient temperature and at 8°C above optimal. A total of 96 pigs was used, housed so that gases from manure decomposition were present. Growth rate and food conversion were not affected by ventilation rates, but food intake was significantly lower at the lowest ventilation rate compared with the other two rates at the hotter temperature only. The odours and gases at the lowest ventilation rate were such that attendants strongly objected to them.
Autoradiographic studies of wool growth rate in Wensleydale crossbred lambs: absence of a marked circadian rhythm
Authors: Priestley G. C. , Ryder M. L. 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTThe linear growth rate of wool on three sites on each of six Wenslcydale × Blackface lambs was measured by wool fibre autoradiography following 11 injections of 35S-cystine. The first injection was given at 09.00 h, so that alternate 36h intervals between injections represented predominantly day (09.00 to 21.00h) or night (21.00 to 09.00 h). The overall mean growth rates on shoulder, mid-side and breech were 0·83, 0·96 and 0·95 mm/day. Differences between day and night growth rates were very small (proportionally<0·05) and inconsistent in 16 of the 18 samples; although breech samples from two sheep showed up to 0·14 faster growth in daytime, a circadian rhythm of wool growth seems unlikely on this evidence. Both linear wool growth rate and food intake increased steadily throughout the experiment.Mid-side wool growth rates in a second group of three crossbred longwool lambs averaged 0·79, 100 and 1·14 mm/day and were relatively stable over a period of several months.