Previous work at ADAS Bridgets aimed at evaluating the Metabolisable Protein (MP) system (AFRC 1992) has indicated that the efficiency of MP use for milk production may be too high, or that the amount of MP required for maintenance may be too low (Newbold et al 1994). This experiment was designed to indicate the true efficiency of MP use for milk protein production when metabolisable energy (ME) and MP supplies were balanced.

Systems of lowland sheep production in the UK and Ireland are labour intensive with survey data indicating an average level of labour input of 6.0 to 8.0 hrs/ewe/year (Connolly, 2000). With declining returns from lamb production, management options with reduced labour requirements, such as outdoor lambing, need evaluation. Flock genetics may also influence labour requirements and determine the effectiveness of grass-based lambing systems. Therefore, the aims of current study were firstly to evaluate the effect on lamb output of controlled grass-based lambing systems compared with housing ewes in late pregnancy and lambing indoors and secondly to examine the effect of crossbred ewe genotype and ram breed on lamb output with grass-based and indoor lambing systems.

Animal science research is important in relation to our understanding of animals, their function and performance, and their relationships with their social and physical environments. Animal science research covers a wide range of disciplines and so can lead to the use of a variety of experimental techniques on animals for many different purposes. This has the potential to lead to a multitude of diverse ethical issues. Members of the British Society of Animal Science and authors of papers submitted to the Society for publication come from countries around the world and therefore are subject to differences in legislative requirements and recommendations regarding animal experimentation. These legal requirements, along with the ethical implications of the research must be fully considered before any experimental work is undertaken.

Consumption of poultry meat is associated with human Salmonella infections (Revolledo etal. 2006). One way to control the presence of these bacteria in broiler flocks is to make chickens less susceptible to colonisation. Fermented liquid feed may be a potential tool to reduce the Salmonella carriage in broiler chickens (Heres etal. 2003). Fermented liquid feed is a moistened feed with high numbers of lactobacilli (=109cfu/gr), high concentration of lactic acid (= 150mM) and a low pH (<4.5) (Brooks etal. 2003). In the present experiment, a strain identified as Lb. salivarius that has been isolated from chicken gut and has been selected for its probiotic and fermentation properties after a screening method, was assessed for its efficacy in reducing the shedding of Salmonellatyphimurium in poultry.

Modern management of dairy heifers leads to lack of familiarisation with humans. Consequently when the dairy heifer calves and enters the milking herd in close contact with humans whom she innately fears, her productivity and welfare are at risk. The rearing period has potential for shaping the heifers experiences of people prior to the regular contact of milking where productivity can suffer and behaviour be disruptive. This experiment was to determine if positive treatment reduced fear of humans and if so if heifers generalise this response to other humans. The results will be used in further analysis relating to subsequent measures of behaviour, production and welfare associated with milking.

Genetic evaluations for Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) and Lifespan (LS) have recently been introduced in the UK. LS is a measure of longevity and predicts the ability of a cow to withstand involuntary culling while SCC is used as an indirect measure of mastitis, which is a major reason for involuntary culling. Optimum use of both sources of information require incorporation of both traits in an index. In addition, the usefulness of including some Type traits with SCC to improve the accuracy of indirectly measuring mastitis has been demonstrated. Knowledge of the genetic relationships between SCC, LS and Conformation is crucial to the construction of such indices. This study investigates the relationship between SCC and LS and Conformation in some UK dairy breeds.

Alkanes are the components of plant cuticular waxes. Recent studies have been shown that the faecal ratio of natural to dosed alkane concentration can provide accurate and precise prediction of herbage intake in grazing sheep ( Mayes et al. 1986; Vulich et al. 1991). Limited information is available on the use of n-alkanes with dairy cows, but they have the potential to predict intake of group-fed cows. The objective of this study was to evaluate n-alkanes as markers to predict the intake of hay based diets for dairy cows.

Three rumen-fistulated Holstein Friesian dairy cows were housed in individual standings. A three by three latin square design was used with a different level of hay (Diet A, 6; B, 8; C,10 kg/d) and 1 kg/d rolled barley for each cow. Each period was lasted 20 days. The first 10 days was a preliminary period and over the following 10 days total faecal collection took place.

In Iran, wheat straw is produced in huge amount and has been used in animal feed. However, the use of straw as an animal feed is limited due to its low available energy as well as its low nitrogen content. Various chemical delignification methods to improve the digestibility of straw have extensively investigated (Sundstol and Owen, 1984). Biological methods of treating straw using fungi such as white-rot-fungi have also been reported (Zadrazil, 1984). The solid-state fermentation (SSF) of wheat straw with white-rot fungi is a complex process, which is influenced by factors such as the species of fungus, substrate, temperature and moisture (Zadrazil, 1984). Rouzbehan et al., (2000) noted that pre-treating the straw with urea and incubation with either pleurotus ostreatus or pleurotus Persian fungi has improved the digestibility of wheat straw. In this study, the effect of urea and another two species of white rot fungi on the nutritive value of wheat straw was tested.

The mixing of unfamiliar sows at weaning results in the establishment of dominance hierarchies, frequently involving aggression. In commercial situations, with limited available flight distances, this can result in injuries and poor sow welfare. The objectives of this study were to measure flight and chase distances, and the incidence of aggressive interactions and levels of skin damage that occur when newly weaned sows were mixed in a large area where flight and chase distances were unlikely to be limiting.

Eight replicate groups of six unfamiliar sows were mixed in an arena (18x10.5m) at weaning. The sows were mixed at 09.00 h on Day 1, removed on Day 2 at 08.00 h for feeding in individual stalls, and returned to the arena at 09.00 h. Sows were observed directly from 09.00 h to 16.00 h on Day 1, and from 09.00 h to 13.00 h on Day 2. Video tape records were taken continuously for 28 hours from 09.00 h on Day 1. All aggressive interactions were recorded and categorised into three classes: brief (single knock, snap or bite), one-sided fight (no retaliation by defender), or two-sided fight (defender retaliates).

Currently fewer than 50% of UK lambs produce carcasses of acceptable quality for the domestic and export markets, which compromises the competitiveness of sheep farming. Carcass quality can be changed by selection, and this is now being taken advantage of in terminal sire breeds and, to a lesser extent, in hill breeds. However, little attention has yet been focused on the crossing breeds, which have relatively poor carcass quality, in spite of the large impact such breeds have on the slaughter generation. Recently, a long-term project began to develop breeding programmes relevant to crossing sire (‘longwool’) breeds. Its objective is to produce a selection index to improve carcass quality without compromising the reproductive performance or maternal ability of these breeds. The Bluefaced Leicester is the most prevalent crossing sire breed with its crossbred (‘Mule’) daughters out of draft hill ewes accounting for 89% of crossbred (longwool x hill) ewes in the UK (Pollot, 1998).

Previous attempts to apply statistical models, which correlate nutrient intake with methane production, have been of limited value where predictions are obtained for nutrient intakes and diet types outside those used in model construction. Dynamic mechanistic models have proved more suitable for extrapolation, but they remain computationally expensive and are not applied easily in practical situations. The first objective of this research focussed on employing conventional techniques to generate statistical models of methane production appropriate to UK dairy systems. The second objective was to evaluate these models and a model published previously using both UK and North American datasets. Thirdly, non-linear models were considered as alternatives to the conventional linear regressions. The UK calorimetry data used to construct the linear models were also used to develop the three non-linear alternatives that were all of modified Mitscherlich (monomolecular) form.

In Egypt, animals suffer from under feeding and mal-nutrition due to the shortage of local produced feed which are not sufficient to cover the nutritional requirements of animals. The annually amount produced of agro-by¬products in Egypt are around 2.5 million ton of rice straw and one million ton of sugarcane bagasse. These wastes are usually burned causing environmental pollution. The potential use of these wastes in ruminant ration will participate in reducing the shortage of feedstuffs and subsequently increase milk and meat production in Egypt. Gas measuring technique has been widely used for evaluation of nutritive value particularly to estimate agro-industry by-products, different feed classes and energy value of straws. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the nutritive value of rice straw, date stone, sugarcane bagasse and berseem hay using the in vitro gas production technique.

It is known that some forage trees have potential defaunating capacity, as rumen protozoa population is reduced when ruminant are feed with them (Odenyo et al., 1997ª,b). The effect has been attributed to saponins (Diaz et al., 1992) and tannins (Odenyo et al., 1997a,b). It is also known that PEG binds to tannins and has been used to reduce the deleterious effect found in animals feed tanniferous trees (Makkar et al., 1998). However, to our knowledge it has not been studied if using PEG to increase digestibility will, on the other hand, affect the defaunating capacity of the tree. The objective of the present study was to develop a simple technique to screen forage trees for defaunation capacity and to assess if PEG could be used to overcome this effect.

The transition period (last four weeks of pregnancy and the first four weeks of lactation) is the most traumatic period in the annual cycle of the dairy cow. It is physiologically and nutritionally stressful, particularly as food intake is reduced, especially in the last few days prior to calving, whilst nutrient demands for foetal growth and initiation of milk synthesis are increased. As the genetic merit of the national herd has increased considerably in the last ten years, improved nutritional management of cows during the transition period may be more important in reducing or preventing the cumulative loss of body condition, particularly in early lactation. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of level of concentrate intake in late gestation on subsequent milk yield and composition.

Profitability of hill sheep enterprises depends on both maternal and lamb traits, and selection programmes should include all aspects of performance. However, the relative contribution of different traits to overall profitability depends on the type of hill farm and, specifically, the severity of the environmental constraints on the farm (Conington et al., 2000). The objective of this paper is to derive and evaluate selection indexes for holistic and sustainable genetic improvement of hill sheep on ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ hill farms by considering carcass, maternal and ‘sustainability’ traits simultaneously.

Voluntary intake of tropical grasses is a major constraint to animal performance in tropical countries. The use of forage trees as supplements has been associated with an improved rumen environment and hence an increased intake of forage (Umunna et al., 1995). Under practical conditions, grass and forage trees are commonly offered simultaneously at feeding time. However, little information is available as to the effect of this practice on intake of different forages. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the intake of grass and a forage tree when offered simultaneously, and to assess the benefits on total DM intake with five different forage tree species.

It is now well established that milk progesterone analysis can provide a valuable tool in reproductive management of the dairy cow. With the advent of relatively cheap cow side milk progesterone tests, the principle block to widespread monitoring is the time and effort involved in the actual collection and analysis of the milk samples. This has led to a research drive to develop on line milk progesterone monitoring systems whereby progesterone is routinely monitored at normal milking. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is widely used in the agricultural industry for analysing cereals and forages and is used for on-line testing in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Vibrations of chemical bonds between carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen atoms affect the amount of near-infrared light absorbed at individual wavelengths, so different molecules show unique patterns in the spectrum. These patterns are related to determined concentrations of chemicals in calibration samples to develop equations that predict concentrations in unknown samples. This project set out to assess the use of this technique to measure milk progesterone.

Alpha-tocopherol is the natural antioxidant in milk preventing the oxidation of milk fat and development of off-flavour and off-odour. The feeding of dairy cows can significantly affect plasma and milk concentrations of α-tocopherol. There is growing interest in the use of legumes in milk production and so it is important to investigate their effects on milk a-tocopherol as well as the oxidation of milk fat during storage and, hence, shelf-life of milk.

Disposal of sewage sludge to grassland is likely to increase in future years as a result of legislation to control disposal to the sea (CEC, 1991) and increased production (DoE, 1993). Recent research has investigated the possible accumulation of potentially toxic elements in body tissues of lambs given diets containing known amounts of sludge (Wilkinson et al, 1996). The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of season and method of application of sludge to grassland on voluntary feed intake, digestibility and growth of lambs.

Relative to purebreeding, crossbreeding in the hill flock has been shown to increase lamb growth rates from birth to weaning by up to 12% and weight of lamb weaned by up to 24%, depending on ewe and ram breeds concerned (Carson et al 2001). Traditionally crossbred females produced in the hill are sold to the lowland as replacement females, so that potential hybrid vigour effects associated with crossbreeds are not fully exploited in the hill environment. A research programme has been established in Northern Ireland to investigate the potential for retaining crossbred females in the hill environment, as replacement breeding females, to improve the genetic potential of the hill flock. This paper presents the results from the first phase of the study which involved the production of the crossbred lambs from Scottish Blackface ewes (over 3-years) and the first year of the second phase, an evaluation of the performance of crossbred ewes as breeding females in the hill sector.