Showing papers in "Livestock Production Science in 1978"

TL;DR: A description is given of the new energetic feeding systems for dairy and beef cattle in The Netherlands that are sufficiently flexible to adapt to new information, for which there is an urgent need with regard to some details.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a new system of energy feed evaluation for ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) in France, which is based on net energy for maintenance plus meat production.

TL;DR: The main feeding factors leading to optimum milk production in dairy goats are studied and feeding of good quality forages favourably affects the onset of lactation and maintenance of milk production at a high level.

TL;DR: In this paper, a total of 36 goats of the breeds Gemsfarbige Gebirgsziege (G), Saanen (S), and Toggenburger (T) were exposed for periods of 4 hours to the following climatic conditions: normal (20°C, 50% RH); cold (−5°C); heat (40°C and 30% RH) and high altitude (4000 m, 20°C).

TL;DR: It was concluded that field records are sufficiently accurate for progeny testing AI bulls for 1st and 2nd parity daughter mastitis incidence provided the progeny groups are large enough.

TL;DR: It is suggested that the halothane-test will be most effective for minimization of stress-susceptibility and abnormal meat quality when used as a selection criterion in commercial breeding and selection of Dutch Landrace pigs.

TL;DR: This study summarizes the main results obtained by the different research teams of INRA on fertility, prolificacy and its components, ovulation rate and embryonic losses, adaptability to breeding season changes, endocrinological criteria, milk production of the dams, viability of lambs, and carcass quality as well as the productivity of four schemes using Romanov in crossbreeding.

TL;DR: Advances in pig nutrition and physiology provide understanding of the underlying biology and allow predictions about the joint effects of selection criteria and feeding systems (and other factors) in pig improvement work to be confirmed.

TL;DR: Research shows that the influence of the calf's environment prior to 3–4 months of age has lasting effects on performance, and central performance tests as currently organised are of limited value in New Zealand to indicate genetic superiority for traits such as growth rate.

TL;DR: Calculations of genetic gain have been made in order to compare mass selection with two-stage selection (mass selection and progeny testing) for trotters and riding horses and it could be said that progenyTesting is quite valuable as a complement to performance testing for these traits.

TL;DR: The main lines of the new systems of energetic feed evaluation of the three countries agree closely but with regard to some details they differ slightly; they are said to have sufficient flexibility to take in new information for further improvement.

TL;DR: In this article, a new system of energy evaluation of ruminant feedstuffs to be used in Switzerland will follow the proposals of Van Es (1978) very closely, the main difference consists in using the energy unit megajoule instead of feed units in determining energy values of feeds and energy requirements of animals.

TL;DR: According to the assessment, and taking into account reasonable piglet prices, the margins over feed costs per sow per year are highest with a lactation period of 21–25 days, which is based on data derived from experiments and surveys carried out in several countries.

TL;DR: Fertility of treated ewes to natural service was not significantly different from controls when assessed in terms of both the conception rate and prolificacy, and the endocrine changes during the induced cycle were not significantlyDifferent from those during a natural cycle.

TL;DR: Meat quality traits were poorly correlated with carcass dissection and assessment characteristics, the highest correlations being recorded between pH 1 and ham conformation score and between MLD colour and M. longissimus area.

TL;DR: Fat thickness measurements declined steadily over the four-year period, the annual reduction in P2 or equivalent (P2e) being 0.3 percentage units per annum in the lean content of an average carcass.

TL;DR: In this paper, a cellulase method was proposed for routine use, which is easy, cheap and sufficiently precise to determine the digestibility of green and preserved forages of known digestibility in vivo regression equations.

TL;DR: In this paper, a survey has been made by the authors of present utilization of cow indices that are considered important for efficient cow selection, including the aggregate genotype should be properly and equally defined for both cows and bulls when calculating the index weightings for different sources of information, and the effects of expressing yield in absolute vs relative terms at various yield levels.

TL;DR: There is a correlation between pregnancy rate obtained after insemination with a given board, small size (direct boar effect) and embryonic survival rate at 25 days and the quantity of spermatozoa recovered per boar increases with boar age.

TL;DR: The use of a liquid supplement besides dried sugar beet pulp gave satisfactory results but further studies concerning palatability will be needed as mentioned in this paper. But it can be concluded that the use of beet pulp is a palatable feedstuff which can be used as sole energy source for finishing bulls.

TL;DR: The “all-in-all-out” management system is shown to improve the growth performance of piglets and no definite conclusions can be drawn about the optimum environmental conditions for early weaned piglets.

TL;DR: To date, cows have been evaluated both genetically and phenotypically primarily for milk and fat yield, but estimates of breeding values of cows for other traits are nearly nonexistent.

TL;DR: Raising levels of feed intake postpartum increased gains and reproductive performance of females on levels below recommended allowances, but increasing either feed intake 45 days prepartum or feed intake levels above recommended allowances had no measurable benefit.

TL;DR: Charolais, Limousin and Piemontese bulls were included in the AI testing programme and compared with Braunvieh- and Simmental-M-bulls, and it proved to be an attractive alternative to use specially selected dual purpose bulls tested for ease of calving and high growth rate but low dairy performance.

TL;DR: It is concluded that the importance of forages generally declines compared to concentrates with increased milk production but that liberal feeding of high quality forages is needed to maintain normal digestion and high milk yield under practical farm conditions.

TL;DR: Iceland sheep are found to be relatively early maturing and the level of reproductive efficiency in the flock is raised by breeding from ewe lambs, progressively being increased by genetic selection for a higher lambing rate in conjunction with improvements in feeding.

TL;DR: Heritability estimates for haemoglobin level and genetic and phenotypic correlations among the traits studied were calculated and little differences were found between the piglets of the two lines in growth and mortality rates.

TL;DR: Calving season, sex of calf, age and genetic type of the dam within breeds were the main sources of variation, and important herd influences were found by using herd size and herd average performance as effects.