ABSTRACT Zero-grazing (ZG; the mechanical harvesting and feeding of fresh grass) is increasingly used in grass-based milk production systems alongside conventional grazing. It allows farmers to supply grass from land parcels that are outside main grazing block during seasonal shortages periods when climatic conditions limit animal opportunities. The objective this study was establish an underst...

I n August of this year the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) made its draft guideline on fertility treatment available for consultation. As has been widely reported in the media the draft guideline recommends that the National Health Service (NHS) should provide publicly funded fertility treatment in a consistent way across England and Wales. The guideline recommends that three...

Economists and demographers have long argued that fertility differs by income (differential fertility), and that social security creates incentives for people to rear fewer children. Does the effect of social security on fertility differ by income? How does social security change the cross-sectional relationship between fertility and income? Does social security further affect the dynamics of t...

BACKGROUND As part of research investigating the complexities of managing fertility in Australia, public opinions about how Australians manage their fertility were sought from women and men. OBJECTIVE To identify public opinion about sexual and reproductive health in Australia. METHODS To ensure access to a diverse group of people throughout Australia, an online group was advertised and con...

Dairy bull fertility is traditionally evaluated using semen production and quality traits; however, these attributes explain only part of the differences observed in among bulls. Alternatively, can be directly cow field data. The main objective this study was to investigate Italian Brown Swiss dairy cattle population confirmed pregnancy records. data set included a total 397,926 breeding record...

Lactation increases considerably the demand for amino acids over that required for basal needs. The demand imposed varies with the quantity of milk produced and, between species, with the protein content of milk. Using data on milk composition from Blaxter (1989) and assuming milk production of 60, 1000 and 50 000 ml/d for a rat, human subject and dairy cow respectively, the ideal protein requi...

This study covered 75 cooperative member milk producers and 75 non-member milk producers which were poststratified into small, medium and large herd size categories. Per day net maintenance cost was found to be higher for member group than that of non-member group. It was found to be higher in case of buffalo than that of cow and also observed more in the summer season. Per litre cost of buffal...

The objective of this study was to quantify the genetic association of body energy assessed throughout lactation with a cow's fertility. Nine direct and indirect body energy traits were defined at different stages of lactation. Four were daily records of energy balance, energy content, cumulative effective energy (CEE) and body condition score (BCS) calculated between lactation days 4 and 311. ...

A single ovulation, reciprocal embryo transfer study was used to investigate effects of oocyte competence and maternal environment on pregnancy establishment and maintenance in beef cows. Estrous cycles were synchronized in suckled beef cows and embryo donors were inseminated on d 0 (n = 810). Cows were classifi ed on d 0 as having a small (<12.5 mm) or large (≥12.5 mm) ovulatory follicle and r...