Showing papers in "Livestock Production Science in 2003"

TL;DR: Overall, NEBAL is related to lower fertility in dairy cows both through effects exerted early in lactation and later during the breeding period, and to reduced serum progesterone concentrations during thebreeding period and to lower pregnancy rates.

TL;DR: The overall conclusion is that reviewing existing literature is inadequate to the task of elucidating the relationship between lactational performance and risk of production diseases, and proposes abnormal body mobilisation and immune competence as common currencies for metabolic and immune status and the development of indicators of metabolic imbalance and the early development of diseases.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a review of the potential environmental impact of conventional versus organic production using life cycle assessment (LCA) and show that LCAs of different case studies currently cannot be compared directly and that such a comparison requires further international standardisation of the LCA method.

TL;DR: Results suggest that fresh grass promotes the synthesis of CLA in the dairy cow through an increase in Δ9-desaturase activity in the mammary gland and possibly other unknown factors.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed existing data on animal health and welfare in organic livestock production systems in the European Community countries and concluded that, whilst the available data are limited and the implementation of the EC regulation is relatively recent, there is little evidence to suggest that organic livestock management causes major threats to animal health.

TL;DR: Prevention is mainly directed against infections involving mammary sources, and includes milking machine control, milking routine optimisation, and post-milking teat disinfection.

TL;DR: The overall conclusion is that many minor pathways probably contribute, but that reduced metabolic fuel availability, rather than direct effects of hormone concentrations, is an important cause of poorer fertility with increasing genetic merit.

TL;DR: Though slow genetic progress is possible with all reproduction and survival traits, it would be more efficient to select for prolificacy but guarding against a higher lamb mortality.

TL;DR: Intake, animal performance and methane (CH4) output was investigated using 36 finishing Charolais cross heifers fed ad libitum over an 11-week period and rumen protozoa numbers were significantly lower than expected although coconut oil significantly reduced dry matter intake (DMI), CH4 l/day and LWG on the 0.65:0.35 F/C ratio diet.

TL;DR: Two-trait analysis of fertility and milk yield was investigated as a method to estimate fertility breeding values when culling or selection based on milk yield in early lactation determines presence or absence of fertility observations in later lactations.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the pathogen involved in goats mastitis and the strategies for their prevention and control and revised the strategies to prevent and control of these pathogen.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the dietary factors and mechanisms that significantly affect Cu and Zn availability in pig diets and proposed ways to improve the availability of the two elements by using organic supplements and/or phytase.

TL;DR: It is suggested that multiple objectives, including the need for more milk, adaptability to local feed conditions and diseases, and the provision of non-market production such as manure, insurance and financing roles of cattle, underlie smallholders’ breeding decisions in the Kenya highlands.

TL;DR: Farm-level factors that could be associated with feather pecking of layers kept in organic farming systems were monitored in 63 flocks from 26 farms located in different areas of The Netherlands and factors associated with increased usage of the outdoor run were smaller flock size, a young age at purchase, an increasing number of cockerels present in the flock and a higher percentage of cover in the run.

TL;DR: There is no clear evidence to indicate that organic food is more prone to mycotoxin contamination than conventional food, and there is no firm evidence at present to support the assertion that organic animal foods are more or less microbiological safe than conventional foods as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: A framework describing the relationship between body lipid reserves and the reproductive cycle is developed and a way to predict the impact of future management and selection strategies is proposed, based on the rate of maternal energy investment in the offspring.

TL;DR: The average estimated effect of health disorders is a 1.94-kg milk yield loss per kg DM feed intake decrease, which suggests that economical evaluation of health control actions should include associated feed intake decreases.

TL;DR: The present review focuses on the respective role of low-digested and digestible fibre fractions in the digestive health of the growing rabbit, after weaning, and gives levels of fibre classes, including pectins, in some feed ingredients classically used in rabbit feeding.

TL;DR: It is suggested that fertility be included in the breeding goal to halt or minimise further deterioration in fertility due to selection for MY, however, selection for persistency of MY may not improve fertility or survival.

TL;DR: Results suggest that increasing LWT from 6 to 10 and 25 kg for kids artificially reared does not have negative effects on carcass or meat quality yet would result in more edible meat (pounds) to be marketed.

TL;DR: The Scandinavian experiences are reviewed in this paper in the light of this international development of sustainable breeding programmes require more extensive recording and genetic evaluations of reproduction and health traits internationally, a development that presently grows quickly.

TL;DR: It is argued that organic livestock production in future will be carried out by farmers who are committed to organic ideals and, therefore, it is important that new livestock systems are developed which comply to a higher degree with these ideals.

TL;DR: In this paper, the quantitative influence of dietary fat composition on methane production in dairy cows was estimated from a literature survey involving thirty-seven diets from seven papers, covering a large range for animal performances and dietary lipid composition, it seems that methane production decreased when either the level of production of the animals or the dietary ether extract content increased.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that animal manure should be treated as a commodity rather than as a waste, with a tailor made composition to be achieved by nutrition or by fractionation.

TL;DR: The objective of this study was to compare the performance of Dutch Holstein-Friesian (HF), upgraded Irish Holsteins (CL), French Montbeliarde (MB) and French Normande dairy cow breeds on a spring calving grass-based system of milk production.

TL;DR: A cross-sectional stratified random sample survey of 1755 households in the Kenya highlands was conducted between June 1996 and April 1998 to quantify cattle population dynamics in smallholder herds as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: A literature search on organic animal health and welfare was performed in October-November 2001 to investigate how well these aims compare with reality, and to see what areas have been researched as discussed by the authors. But only 22 papers were found in the search, mainly dealing with dairy cattle health and parasitology.

TL;DR: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the position of calves on the truck (back or front compartment) and other aspects of short distance transport on the welfare of cattle and meat quality parameters.

TL;DR: Analysis of herd data indicates that feeding strategy, breed and milk yield, together with energy conversion and the protein content of the diet, are important factors explaining N excretion and N efficiency of cows.

TL;DR: In the wide range of carcass weights studied in this paper, the general relationships among carcass traits were confirmed and animals with the better conformation were also leaner.