An investigation was carried out to determine whether teat order has any effect on metabolic rate in young pigs as determined by oxygen consumption in the thermoneutral zone. A total of six sows and their litters was examined. Metabolic rate was determined at 1 day old and thereafter at 7-day intervals up to 57 days of age. Teat order was determined by regular observations of the piglets suckling. There was considerable variation in metabolic rate both within and between litters but there was no detectable effect of teat order on metabolic rate expressed as ml O2/W0·75 per min.

1. Three pigs prepared with re-entrant cannulae in the proximal duodenum and terminal ileum were used to study flow rate of nitrogen, and digestion and absorption of dry matter, nitrogen, gross energy and starch. The pigs were given a semi-purified diet, a hard wheat diet and a soft wheat diet. These were approximately isonitrogenous.

2. Nitrogen content of insoluble dry matter of duodenal digesta was much higher on the semi-purified diet than on the wheat-based diets.

3. Apparent digestibilities of dry matter, energy and nitrogen in the small intestine were in the order semi-purified diet > hard wheat > soft wheat although differences were not statistically significant. Similar results were obtained for total digestibility of these components.

4. Absorption of most amino acids from the small intestine was higher for casein in the semi-purified diet than for wheat protein. Significantly more lysine, arginine, isoleucine and tyrosine were absorbed from hard than from soft wheat.

5. With all diets there was almost complete digestion of starch in the small intestine.

6. There was little digestion of nutrients in the large intestine, and thus digestibilities calculated from faecal analyses showed similar trends to those calculated from analyses of digesta from the terminal ileum. Most values compared favourably with those reported elsewhere for digestibilities of amino acids in wheat.

7. It was concluded that casein was superior to the wheat proteins but that protein of hard wheat was of better quality than that of soft wheat when evaluated by ileal recovery of animo acids, due largely to a greater absorption of lysine.

Seven Soay rams were subjected to a short daylength from the middle of August until the end of October, and this hastened the onset of winter follicle inactivity which normally begins at the end of September. A reversion to long days until the middle of January slowed down the process, and in six animals the usual spring moult was inhibited.

Eighty pregnant ewes were housed in December in each of 2 yr approximately 14 weeks before lambing and offered grass silage. Four nutritional regimes were imposed during the final 7 weeks of pregnancy. They were (a) no concentrates given, and three other treatments each aiming to provide 25 kg concentrates on (b) a weekly ascending scale, (c) a level scale, or (d) a weekly descending scale. Concentrate feeding caused the anticipated improvement in performance particularly with respect to ewe live-weight loss and the live weight of multiple litters, but pattern of concentrate feeding appeared to have no significant effect on any performance parameter. It is concluded that a level pattern of concentrate feeding would be simpler and provide a more even distribution of feed among housed pregnant ewes, which vary in expected date of lambing, than the currently recommended ascending pattern of concentrate feeding.

Several of the various dairy sire evaluation methods now in use account for the genetic level of contemporary herdmates. In the cumulative difference method of Bar-Anan and Sacks the contemporary comparison estimate is first calculated and then adjusted by taking into account the genetic level of the contemporaries. These estimates depend on the genetic level of the herdmates. A modification of the procedure in which account is taken of the herdmates' genotype before regressing for small numbers would remedy this deficiency without increasing computing costs.

Twenty-four lactating cows were used in a 6-week randomized block experiment to assess the effect of replacing 2·4 kg of cereal-based concentrate dry matter by either 2·6 or 3·2 kg of kale dry matter for cows with ad libitum access to grass silage. Milk yield, milk composition and live-weight change were not affected by the inclusion of kale. Silage dry-matter intake was significantly lower on the kale treatments than with concentrate, being 8·51, 7·89 and 7·95 kg per day for the concentrate, low-kale and high-kale supplements respectively. Energy digestibilities were 68·1, 74·4 and 76·4% and nitrogen digestibilities 67·1, 74·9 and 78·8% for the three treatments respectively.

Three aspects of body condition scoring in commercial sheep flocks were examined. Ewes in 44 flocks were condition scored when the rams were introduced to the flock and their subsequent lambing performance was recorded. The pooled regression coefficient obtained for the relationship between individual ewe condition score and litter size was 0·29±0·0243 with a squared correlation coefficient of 1·96%.

Between flock differences accounted for 57% of the variation in ewe condition score. Within the breeds recorded average flock condition score at mating was related to the number of live lambs born per 100 ewes mated. This relationship is shown for several breeds of ewe. A further 27 flocks were involved in a trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific use of condition scoring. Ewes were scored 6 to 8 weeks before mating and in 12 flocks the ewes in poor condition were given an improved plane of nutrition. These ewes showed an improvement of 12 lambs born per 100 ewes mated over ewes not given better nutrition.

The concentrations of maternal immunoglobulin in 2-day-old lambs born to Scottish Blackface ewes which had been mated when 6 to 7 mo old were significantly lower than in lambs born to these ewes a year later. But the mortality rates were almost identical. The concentrations in lambs born to the same ewes in successive years were significantly more highly correlated than the concentrations in lambs born to older females in successive years, examined in a previous study.

Two trials with 44 and 30 British Friesian male calves were conducted over a period of 48 and 30 weeks respectively, to study the value of dried citrus pulp and grape marc as substitutes for part of the barley in calf-fattening diets. In each case the diets were fortified with additional crude protein to compensate for the lower digestible crude protein contents of these substitutes.

Including dried citrus pulp at 60% of the concentrate diet had no effect on calf performance or feed intake, and provided additional protein is supplied, citrus pulp appears to compare favourably with barley as an energy source.

Inclusion of grape marc at 15 and 30% of the diet tended to reduce live-weight gain at the higher level and to reduce killing-out percentage and increase feed intake at both levels, resulting in poor feed utilization. Its value as an energy source appears to be about half that of barley.

It is proper, on the occasion of this lecture, to recall the man whose name it bears. John Hammond, the first president of our Society, was known to many of us, all of us have been influenced by his ideas, and the animal industries of this country, and indeed the world, have been transformed as a result of the work he and his small band of colleagues and students carried out at Cambridge, mostly before the Second World War. If anyone can be called the ‘onlie begetter’ of modern animal production it is John Hammond.