BACKGROUND In dairy mixed production systems, maximizing pasture intake and total mixed ration (TMR) supplementation are management tools used to increase dry matter and energy intake in early lactation. The objective was to evaluate metabolic and endocrine profiles and hepatic gene expression of Holstein cows fed either TMR ad libitum (without grazing) or diets combining TMR (50 % ad libitum D...

The numbers of horses grazing at pasture are increasing in developed countries, so a proper understanding of their feeding selectivity and of the tactics they use for extracting nutrients from swards is essential for themanagement of horses and grasslands. Resource acquisition in herbivores can be optimised through the modulation of their intake and patch selection both being strongly dependent...

The effect of feeding low quality roughages (LQR) on live and carcass weight gains and the incidence and severity of bloat of stocker cattle grazed on wheat pasture was evaluated in a 3 yr study. One hundred eighty-five steer calves (172 kg mean initial weight) grazed clean-tilled wheat pasture and were either fed no LQR or had ad libitum access to wheat straw (WS) or sorghum-Sudan hay (SS). Gr...

Characteristic ion mobility spectra for volatile compounds present in fat were used to authenticate the feeding regime of Iberian pigs. Volatile compounds were obtained by heating the solid samples at 150 degrees C for 40 min. This produced a headspace that was introduced in the spectrometer ionization chamber by means of a highly purified nitrogen stream. The spectra thus, obtained for the fat...

Twenty-four male 1-year old swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) were randomly allocated to 4 groups. One group grazed on guinea grass (GG) and another on guinea grass and the legume Stylosanthes guianensis (GL). The other two groups were kept in pens and fed freshly cut guinea grass and concentrate at an amount of 1.5% (GC1.5) and 2.0% (GC2.0) of body weight, respectively. The effect of the diffe...

We tested the hypothesis that cattle aided by visual cues would be more efficient than uncued animals in locating and consuming foods placed in either fixed or variable locations within a 0.64-ha experimental pasture. Eight yearling steers were randomly selected and trained to associate traffic barricades and traffic cones with high- (oat-barley mixture) and low- (straw) quality foods, respecti...

Listronotus bonariensis (Argentine stem weevil) is a stem-boring weevil that has become a major pasture pest in New Zealand, and cool climate turf grass in Australia. This species is also frequently found in native tussock grassland in New Zealand. Laboratory and field trials were established to determine the risk posed to both seedlings and established plants of three native grass species comp...