The progeny test is generally regarded as an important aid to selection in livestock improvement. It is by no means a new method, but it seems to be in the limelight today. The usual methods of selection have brought us to a certain standard of performance, and apparently any further imporvement can only result through the application of the progeny test.

It is worth pointing out that cattle, especially dairy cattle, pigs and poultry have received more attention by the scientist than sheep. This may be due to the fact that these animals are more under the direct control of the breeder than sheep. They require daily attention whereas a hill flock of sheep may not be seen for weeks or months by the breeder. Again one has definite objectives in view when breeding dairy cows or hens; one can weigh the milk and count the eggs but the task of the hill sheep worker is considerably more complicated.

The aim of this paper was to present an alternative multi-criteria evaluation model to assess animal welfare on farms based on the Welfare Quality® (WQ) project, using an example of welfare assessment of growing pigs. The WQ assessment protocol follows a three-step aggregation process. Measures are aggregated into criteria, criteria into principles and principles into an overall assessment. This study focussed on the first step of the aggregation. Multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) was used to produce a value of welfare for each criterion. The utility functions and the aggregation function were constructed in two separated steps. The Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique (MACBETH) method was used for utility function determination and the Choquet Integral (CI) was used as an aggregation operator. The WQ decision-makers’ preferences were fitted in order to construct the utility functions and to determine the CI parameters. The methods were tested with generated data sets for farms of growing pigs. Using the MAUT, similar results were obtained to the ones obtained applying the WQ protocol aggregation methods. It can be concluded that due to the use of an interactive approach such as MACBETH, this alternative methodology is more transparent and more flexible than the methodology proposed by WQ, which allows the possibility to modify the model according, for instance, to new scientific knowledge.

I feel that I have rather a difficult task this afternoon, because there are not many things that I can disagree with in Mr. Moses Griffith’s paper, since we in Montgomeryshire learnt the fundamental things of land reclamation from Cahn Hill, although we think of course that we improved on them in some detail! However, our general methods were what Mr. Griffith finally put into practice at Cahn Hill.

In Montgomeryshire we tackled about 6,000 acres. It was not all directly reseeded, but all was hill land classified as rough grazing. The land fell into three types: Molinia, Nardus and Bracken. Each of these types of vegetation clearly relate to three different soil types. Molinia is wet, heavy clay; Bracken is dry, loam overlying shale; while Nardus comes somewhere between the two.

Estimating the feed intake of grazing herbivores is critical for determining their nutrition, overall productivity and utilization of grassland resources. A 17-day indoor feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential use of Medicago sativa as a natural supplement for estimating the total feed intake of sheep. A total of 16 sheep were randomly assigned to four diets (four sheep per diet) containing a known amount of M. sativa together with up to seven forages common to typical steppes. The diets were: diet 1, M. sativa + Leymus chinensis + Puccinellia distans; diet 2, species in diet 1 + Phragmites australis; diet 3, species in diet 2 + Chenopodium album + Elymus sibiricus; and diet 4, species in diet 3 + Artemisia scoparia + Artemisia tanacetifolia. After faecal marker concentrations were corrected by individual sheep recovery, treatment mean recovery or overall recovery, the proportions of M. sativa and other dietary forages were estimated from a combination of alkanes and long-chain alcohols using a least-square procedure. Total intake was the ratio of the known intake of M. sativa to its estimated dietary proportion. Each dietary component intake was obtained using total intake and the corresponding dietary proportions. The estimated values were compared with actual values to assess the estimation accuracy. The results showed that M. sativa exhibited a distinguishable marker pattern in comparison to the other dietary forage species. The accuracy of the dietary composition estimates was significantly (P < 0.001) affected by both diet diversity and the faecal recovery method. The proportion of M. sativa and total intake across all diets could be accurately estimated using the individual sheep or the treatment mean recovery methods. The largest differences between the estimated and observed total intake were 2.6 g and 19.2 g, respectively, representing only 0.4% and 2.6% of the total intake. However, they were significantly (P < 0.05) biased for most diets when using the overall recovery method. Due to the difficulty in obtaining individual sheep recovery under field conditions, treatment mean recovery is recommended. This study suggests that M. sativa, a natural roughage instead of a labelled concentrate, can be utilized as a dietary supplement to accurately estimate the total feed intake of sheep indoors and further indicates that it has potential to be used in steppe grassland of northern China, where the marker patterns of M. sativa differ markedly from commonly occurring plant species.

In countries with developed agricultural systems the proportion of dairy cattle inseminated artificially increased substantially following the Second World War, but a similar expansion in the use of artificial insemination (AI) has not been experienced for beef herds. The availability of deep frozen semen provided a further incentive to increase the percentage of dairy cattle artificially inseminated, for the more progressive herd owners soon realized that the technique offered the advantage of a long-term breeding programme with semen from progeny-tested sires available at a relatively modest cost. More recently, however, various developments in herd management have tended to militate against the use of AI in dairy herds, and during the past year there has been a substantial decrease in the total number of dairy cows inseminated which can only be partially explained by the smaller decrease in the size of the national herd. Amongst reasons advanced is the increase in average size of individual herds, resulting in more cows per man and therefore less time available for the observations of oestrus. Since accurate detection of the onset of oestrus is so important in obtaining high fertility following AI, some herd owners have returned to using natural mating. Evidence supporting this view can be derived from the fact that during 1973/74 there was an increase of over one thousand in the number of bull licences issued in England and Wales above the seventeen thousand issued in 1972/73. Of the 18.2 thousand bulls licensed, there were 3.2 thousand crossbred bulls, some obviously for use in dairy herds. The availability of synchronized and controlled ovulation would largely remove the difficulties which have been encountered, and would permit planned management techniques to be more widely applied within such herds.

Calf rearing systems vary greatly in the quantity of milk substitute fed and in the age of the calf at weaning (Webster, 1986). Husbandry conditions can affect disease incidence and welfare of young, bucket-fed calves and Andrews (1979) has suggested a relationship between age at weaning and disease incidence. This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of level of milk substitute powder fed and the age at weaning on the immune responses of bucket-reared calves compared with naturally suckled calves.

Two groups of 20 calves were kept at the Veterinary Field Station, University of Liverpool. All calves received pooled mixed-source colostrum at birth and were then randomly allocated to one of five treatment groups. After colostrum, bucket-reared calves were introduced to milk substitute (Volac Easi-Mix) which was reconstituted at 125g ADM per litre of water and fed twice daily. Calves were housed in individual pens arranged in four blocks with wood shavings as bedding. Suckled calves remained with their dams and were housed in the rear of the same building. These calves had access to a calf creep area. All calves were introduced to Keystart Quicklettes (BOCM Silcock) at 7 days of age and fed ad libitum. Small quantities of water and silage were also provided from 7 days of age. Table 1 lists the treatment groups, level of milk substitute received (g ADM/day), age of the calf at weaning and at inoculation with antigen (KLH), and also the age of the calf when the skin sensitivity response was measured.

Growing pigs spend considerable time orally manipulating their environment, which can include their pen-mates. In certain situations this leads to problems such as tail-biting. It is unclear if this active behaviour represents foraging or exploratory motivation, a problem exacerbated by the possibility that both share certain behavioural elements. The aim of this experiment was to distinguish appetitive foraging (extrinsic exploration) from intrinsic exploration by manipulating both feeding motivation and the content of the external environment. The objective was to discover which behavioural elements are common to either behavioural category. This would allow hypotheses to be proposed concerning the causation of oral-manipulation of the environment and inappropriate stimuli such as pen-mates, and furthermore to control for the effects of intrinsic exploration in continuing experiments concerning foraging behaviour.

Oilseed rape meal is high in protein and available in the UK relatively cheaply. Toxic constituents limit its inclusion in feeds for pigs and poultry but this is not a problem with ruminant animals where microbial action in the rumen removes them. However, the bitter taste of rape meal has been thought to reduce its palatability for ruminant animals (Stedman and Hill, 1987) and it is recommended that its inclusion in compound feeds for cows should not exceed about 150kg/tonne; masking agents are incorporated to reduce this limitation.

The question to be addressed can be summarized as “can higher rates of inclusion of rape meal in dairy compound feeds be concealed by more mask?”. Twelve dry cows in late pregnancy were offered feeds with various levels of rape meal in combination with several levels of mask and rate of consumption was monitored.

Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) is now the method of choice for the estimation of breeding values in dairy and beef populations. The advantages of this mixed model methodology over traditional methods are well documented and include the simultaneous estimation of fixed effects and prediction of random effects and the utilization of records from all relatives to predict an individuals breeding value. In addition, account is taken of genetic trend and of reduction in genetic variance due to selection. In Canada, BLUP is now used for breeding value estimation of pigs but the structure of the Canadian pig industry is one of many herds practising selection with the herds linked by a widespread use of artificial insemination. The advantages of BLUP have not been investigated for the situation of the UK pig industry where most selection is performed within closed nucleus herds.

The objectives of this study were to use computer simulation to determine rates of response, accuracy of prediction and accummulation of inbreeding for pigs in closed nucleus herds when selection decisions were based on estimated breeding values (EBVs) derived from BLUP compared to more traditional methods of phenotypic selection and index selection.

Grass silage provides an alternative feed for extensively kept sows, but previous experiments have indicated very variable intake and utilisation, dependant on silage quality. ‘Maxgrass’ silage additive (BP Nutrition) is a blend of compounds including ammonium hexamethanoate, ammonium hexapropanoate and octanoic acid. It is designed to modify fermentation, so that the resulting silage retains a higher proportion of water soluble carbohydrates. This should improve the nutritive value for pigs.

The experiment comprised two parts: an intake/growth study and a separate digestibility study. The same two experimental silages, either treated with Maxgrass or an untreated control, were offered to groups of pregnant sows in a randomised block experimental design in each experiment. Second cut, mainly perennial ryegrass herbage was cut by mower conditioner and direct ensiled. Alternate loads were left untreated or treated with Maxgrass at a mean rate of 6.04 litres/tonne.

Premature loss of wool from fleece casting prior to shearing is a problem in some sheep genotypes, in particular in the North Country Cheviot. The reasons for this ocurrence are not fully understood, but it is believed that it is due to a complex of factors including heredity, nutritional and managerial (stress) practices, the wool growth cycle, and physiological parameters such as pregnancy. Prolonged stress is reported to be particularly important in the case of wool slip in ewes which are housed and shorn (Morgan et al, 1986).

The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of visible fleece casting in the North Country Cheviot (NCC), Scotch Halfbred (HB) (Border Leicester x NCC), and Border Leicester (BL), which has no history of premature wool loss. The study was implemented on 8 commercial farms in Scotland, and links between key productive parameters and wool loss were studied, and an attempt to identify fleece types most liable to cast was also made.

It is not clear when the optimum time of harvesting the winter barley as whole crop for silage should be in terms of feeding value for dairy cows and yield of the crop. Little information is available using whole crop barley as a buffer feed. The aim of these experiments was to evaluate the feeding value of whole crop barley (WCB) silage harvested at three stages of growth as a supplementary feed for grazing dairy cows during the late season.

Winter barley (var. Pipkin) was harvested at 4 stages of growth : T1:250, T2:350, T3:450 and T4:550 gDM/kg, at the following dates : 25/5, 19/6, 3/7 and 11/7/1991, respectively. The chopped material from T1-T4 was stored in minisilos and from T1-T3 in larger silos for animal studies.

Much of the early studies investigating the water consumption of pigs have measured water use rather than actual water intake. Water use includes an unknown component of waste from the drinking utensil used.

WATER USE = WATER INTAKE + WATER WASTAGE

One of the objectives of this study was to measure actual total water Intake of growing pigs and to calculate actual total water to feed ratio.

Recommendations of water feed ratio for liquid feed systems have been commonly made from experimentation with non wet fed pigs. The Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock : Pigs (1985) state that where water is not freely available, for example by means of bowls or drinkers, at least 2 litres of water should be added to each kg of meal. Water to feed ratios calculated in this way may be over estimated as they include an element of waste from drinking utensils which does not occur with wet fed pigs. Also recommendations of this nature make no allowance for the amount of water a pig may choose to consume with its feed. The second objective of this study was to investigate how much water pigs choose to drunk with their feed and how much is drink interprandially.

Over recent years, the system of grazing management most commonly adopted by dairy producers has tended to oscillate between various forms of strip-grazing, on the one hand, and set-stocking, on the other. While arguments in favour of strip-grazing mainly revolve around the ease of grassland management, many of those for set-stocking are essentially behavioural -greater space for the cattle and, hence, less competition, aggression, and spoiling of localised areas of pasture. A current development in the southern hemisphere, ‘fast-rotation’ grazing, attempts to combine the merits of both systems. In this, the herd is given a fresh area each day, but a much larger one than in strip grazing, resulting in less close grazing and (given the same overall land allocation) a much quicker rotation over the total grassland.

This project, part of a larger one evaluating other aspects of the system, was designed to determine the effects a fast-rotation system, versus strip-grazing, on grazing, competition and aggression, and on the incidence and distribution of other basic activities.

An experiment was carried out to determine which feeding method maximised feed intake of growing pigs and to record growth rates, feed conversion efficiency and backfat measurements. There is an increasing tendency for dry fed pigs to be fed ad libitum or to appetite in order to increase growth rates and throughput of building.

Limited information is available on how the modern genetically improved pig will respond to high levels of feeding and whether ad libitum feeding will encourage higher feed intake than feeding to appetite either wet or dry.

The generally accepted view is that, in sheep and cattle, plane of nutrition (as indicated by growth rate) can influence body composition; the higher the rate of gain the greater the fatness at a particular live or carcass weight. However, exceptions to this view can be found which demonstrate that the effective protein: energy ratio of the diet can exert a considerable influence on the composition of live weight gain. Unfortunately most studies which have considered the effects of growth rate on composition (either directly or as a consequence of some treatment which resulted in different growth rates) have described their animals in terms of chemically determined protein, fat, ash and water. To assess the potential economic impact of different growth rates on body composition and the distribution of fat throughout the body requires dissection data, describing the animal in terms of lean, bone and individual fat depots. In this experiment the dissected composition of 44 Hampshire Down x Mule ewe lambs was determined in animals which had followed planned growth paths involving periods of high (H) and low (L) growth.

Two experiments have compared the effects of forages or concentrates offered to dairy cows, continuously stocked in late Summer at a low stocking rate in Experiment 1 or a higher stocking rate in Experiment 2.

In Experiment 1 (July - October 1984) 20 Spring calving British Friesian cows were allocated to a Latin square design with four, three week periods and four treatments, a control group, grazing only (TO), grazing with 5 kg dry matter fresh lucerne per day (TL), grazing with 5 kg dry matter hay per day (TH) and grazing with 4 kg DM concentrate per day (TC). In Experiment 2 (August -October 1985) 24 cows of similar calving dates were used in an incomplete Latin square design lasting eight weeks to compare treatments TO, TL, TS and TC where silage (TS) replaced hay. All supplements were offered for 1 hour after each of two milkings per day.

Lamb performance at grass falls in July/August on upland farms. Allowing sward height to rise has been recognised as having an amoreilating effect. The objective of this trial was to determine the influence of both sward quantity (sward height) and sward quality (sward type) on ewe and lamb performance from mid April to September. An associated objective was the evaluation of the use of clover to replace nitrogen fertiliser.

Seitz (1954) claimed the infant animal is more susceptible to the long-range effects of experience than the adult animal. The effects of infantile experience has been observed in the pig. Wood-Gush and Beilharz (1983) found that pigs reared in a bare environment did not use substrate, that was provided in later life, to the same extent as pigs which always had access to it. Schouten (1991) found that pigs which had spent the first few weeks of life in a barren environment were more restless in the growing and fattening periods than pigs which had spent their early life in enriched environments.

This study investigated the effects of the housing environment in the first six weeks of life on the behaviour of pigs in the growing and fattening stages.

In a cross-over study, which examined the effect of change of environment at weaning, 96 piglets in 16 groups each of six littermates were allocated to a 2 x 2 factorial experiment. There were two environments (barren and enriched) and two growth periods, birth to weaning at six weeks and weaning to slaughter at 20 weeks. Intensive husbandry conditions were defined as barren environments. The enriched environment changed at weaning.