A number of factors influence dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. The study reported here investigated whether herbage mass and distance affects preference and if continuously housed cows exhibited behavioral and production differences compared to cows that had free access to pasture. Dairy cows (n = 16) were offered a free choice of being in cubicle housing (1.5 cubicles/cow) or ...

Increasing the current precision of nutrient management will need analytical tools that aid in collecting site specific data. A technology with potential is hyperspectral remote sensing. Modern, portable spectroradiometers permit reflectance data in the spectral region between 350 and 2500 nm to be collected quickly. With the limited sampling, handling, and processing required the technology al...

The lower montane zone of northwestern Ecuador, like many parts of the tropics, is undergoing rapid conversion from native forest vegetation to crop and pastureland. The current landscape is a mosaic of agricultural land, forest fragments and secondgrowth vegetation in various stages of development. While there is abundant research documenting the e€ects of land-use change in the lowland tropic...

Nutritional and environmental factors have been shown to cause epigenetic changes that influence characteristics of the offspring throughout life. In livestock, small differences in nutrition during gestation may alter lifetime production efficiency of offspring. Therefore, the potential for fetal programing should be considered when determining supplemental feeding strategies during gestation....

The objective was to evaluate the effects of feeding level (FL) and milking frequency (MF) in early lactation on milk production in grazing dairy cattle. Multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows (n = 120; ~31 DIM) offered an unrestricted allowance of fresh pasture (UnRes) and milked twice daily (2X) were randomly assigned to one of 4 treatments for 21 d in a 2 by 2 factorial arrangement 2 FL of pastu...

The aim of the present study was the continuous measurement of ruminal pH in grazing dairy cows to monitor the diets effects on ruminal pH value. A novel indwelling pH-measurement and data transmitting system was given to 6 multiparous cows orally. Ruminal pH was measured every 600 sec over a 40 d period. After barn feeding and changeover to pasture, the following 3 treatments (2 cows/treatment...

Spring-born Hereford x Angus heifers (n = 206) were used to determine effects of energy supplementation programs and amount of starch in the diet on incidence of puberty. In Exp. 1, heifers (205 +/- 5 kg; n = 68) grazing dormant native pasture were fed 0.9 kg/d (as-fed basis) of a 42% CP supplement from November until February 14. Heifers were stratified by weaning weight and allotted randomly ...

The potential to modify the milk fatty acid (FA) composition by changing the cow or goat diets is reviewed. Ruminal biohydrogenation (RBH), combined with mammary lipogenic and D-9 desaturation pathways, considerably modifies the profile of dietary FA and thus milk composition. The pasture has major effects by decreasing saturated FA and increasing FA considered as favorable for human health (c9...

BACKGROUND Obesity in horses is increasing in prevalence and can be associated with insulin insensitivity and laminitis. Current treatment strategies for obesity include dietary restriction and exercise. However, whether exercise alone is effective for decreasing body fat is uncertain. HYPOTHESIS Our hypothesis was that twice daily use of a dynamic feeding system for 3 months would induce sus...

________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Comparisons between production and breeding potential of different feeding systems (Concentrates, Mixed and Pastures) in South Africa were made. Data of active cows participating in performance testing as at November 2007 were used. Holstein cows numbered 68280 in 254 herds and Jersey cows 51275 in 248 her...