Question: The biodiversity of mountain hay meadows has historically been maintained through traditional, low-intensity farming practices. In recent decades, however, agricultural intensification for hay production has led to dramatic declines in their biodiversity. This study asks: which management practices can contribute to maintaining the biodiversity value of mountain hay meadows without je...

Two metabolism trials were conducted with 12 yearling crossbred wethers per trial (34 and 38 kg for trials 1 and 2, respectively). The wethers, equipped with ruminal, abomasal and ileal cannulae, were randomly allotted for each trial to the following treatments: 1) hay alone or hay supplemented with 2) .9% urea, 3) 1% urea and 6.5% molasses or 4) 1% urea and 5.2% corn. Two digestive flow marker...

A ruminal fermentation study was used to investigate the relationship between forage quality and monensin-dependent amino acid-sparing. Two fistulated cows were fed three concentrations of chopped (2.5 to 5.0 cm in length) timothy and alfalfa hays (100:0, 50:50 and 0:100) and two levels of monensin (0 and 350 mg.cow-1.d-1). The diets were offered 12 times per day (9 kg of DM/d), and the rumen r...

Alfalfa hay utilization by dairy cattle has expanded in western dairy states. Alfalfa silage utilization has increased in the Midwest. Alfalfa haylage contains high levels of nonprotein nitrogen (NPN) due to protein breakdown during fermentation. Excessive levels of NPN in alfalfa silage diets require supplementation of protected protein sources to meet protein demands of high-producing cattle....

Resistance of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) to anthelmintic treatment has increased pressure to find alternative, non-chemical control methods. Feeding hay of the high condensed tannin (CT) forage sericea lespedeza [SL; Lespedeza cuneata (Dum-Cours.) G. Don.] to sheep and goats has reduced GIN fecal egg count (FEC) and worm numbers in the abomasum and small intestines. This effect has been r...

Recent surveys have estimated that the prevalence of hay fever among modem populations is between 2 and 15 per cent.1 Yet there are few references to the condition in any literature before the nineteenth century. Despite this fact, by 1900 hay fever was described as a common and fashionable disease. In this paper I outline the first descriptions of hay fever and how ideas about it developed thr...

In some areas of the country, producers store a substantial portion of their forage for winter feeding as silage or haylage. However, hay remains the most popular storage method for forage. Hay stores well for long periods and is better suited to cash sale and transportation than silage. Mechanical conditioning, which gained acceptance during the 1950's is probably still the greatest single cha...