Weight loss due to poor nutrition in adult ewes over summer–autumn is economically expensive due to immediate costs such as feed and labour but also due to ongoing costs to reproductive success and ewe health. We predicted that adult Merino ewes with a higher proportion of fat would be more efficient, both through lower intake and reduced weight loss. Four-year-old Merino ewes (n = 64) were hel...

Seven duplicate floor pens with 25 day-old commercial chicks were fed a practical type of broiler diet based on maize-palm kernel meal supplemented with varying levels ofniacin so that the rations had 15.0, 22.5, 30.0, 37.5, 45.0, 52.5 and 60.0mg of niacin per kg offeed. The treatments were maintained for a period of 42 days. The results based on liveweight gain, feed intake, apparent utilisati...

Context It is common practice to manage red deer on highly digestible easily harvested forage during winter New Zealand farms, particularly in areas that experience low or no pasture growth this period. However, not all individuals within these production systems perform equally.Aims To investigate foraging behaviour of young and liveweight gain wapiti crossbred sire lines when offered two cont...

The effects of induced hypothalamic hyperphagia and forced-feeding were studied in 30 geese of the Landes breed. They were housed in individual cages under a dark-light cycle of 12 hrs light-12 hrs darkness. Eleven geese with ventromedian hypothalamic (VMH) lesions and 8 controls were fed ad libitum. A third lot of 11 force-fed animals was pair-fed with the operated geese. The study lasted 4 we...