Zeranol implants were administered to 250 crossbred heifer calves at 1, 6 or 9 mo of age to evaluate growth, reproduction and calving performance. Heifers were assigned to eight treatment groups with 25 animals per group. Two additional groups of 25 heifers each were used to study the effects of multiple implants at two levels of nutrition on heifer performance. Implants at 1 mo of age (brandin...

Adipogenic/lipogenic transcriptional networks regulating intramuscular fat deposition (IMF) in response to weaning age and dietary starch level were studied. The longissimus muscle (LM) of beef steers on an early weaning (141 days age) plus high-starch diet (EWS) or a normal weaning (NW, 222 days age) plus starch creep-feed diet (CFS) was biopsied at 0 (EW), 25, 50, 96 (NW), 167, and 222 (pre-s...

The objectives of this work were to evaluate birth and weaning traits, to estimate genetic effects, including heterosis and direct and maternal breed effects, and to evaluate calving difficulty, calf vigor at birth, and calf mortality of Romosinuano as purebreds and as crosses with Brahman and Angus. Calves (n = 1,348) were spring-born from 2002 through 2005 and weaned in the fall of each year ...

Weanling pigs (n = 176), 21 to 26 d of age (average initial weight, 7.1 kg), were used to evaluate the effects of weaning time (evening vs morning) and feeding time (immediate vs delayed) on postweaning performance. Pigs were randomly allotted within litters to four treatments in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement as follows: 1) weaning at 2000 with immediate feeding, 2) weaning at 2000 with 12-h de...

BACKGROUND The right nutrition from the start of a pregnancy to the child's second birthday has a profound impact on the future health, wellbeing, and success of a child. This can be achieved through proper maternal nutrition during pregnancy, exclusive breastfeeding, and appropriate weaning practice. OBJECTIVE This study was aimed at assessing appropriate weaning practice and associated fact...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproductive and growth performances of pig breeds in Douala, Cameroon. The reproductive performance of gilts and multiparous sows (38 per group) from 8 selected farms were monitored and controlled. Thereafter, piglets were controlled from birth to weaning age. The age at first service (AFS), fertility index (FI), fecundity, age at first farrowing (AFF)...

http://www.aasp.org/shap/issues/v5n5/index.html he earliest efforts to use early weaning and segregation technologies to obtain pathogen-free piglets were attempted in the early 1980s.1 Initially, the strategy called for weaning pigs at 5–10 days of age and relying on medication.1,2 Later studies suggested that early weaning without medication could also reduce, but not eliminate, the impact of...

Abstract Background The bovine upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiome includes opportunistic pathogens that cause disease and stress associated with maternal separation transportation contributes to the severity of this disease. Stress is known alter gut but little regarding effect on URT microbiota. This study used six-month old suckling beef calves investigate whether (weaned), by itself or...

Sodium butyrate (SB) provided orally favours body growth and maturation of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in milk-fed pigs. In weaned pigs, conflicting results have been obtained. Therefore, we hypothesised that the effects of SB (3 g/kg DM intake) depend on the period (before v. after weaning) of its oral administration. From the age of 5 d, thirty-two pigs, blocked in quadruplicates within ...