Experimental sheep in nutrition trials are commonly housed individually in slatted, unbedded pens and receive a concentrated, pelleted ration. Under these conditions a number of abnormal oral activities are performed including bar-biting, slat-chewing and wool-eating (Marsden and Wood-Gush 1986, Cooper et al 1994). These have been described as a functionless, stereotypic response to a restrictive or frustrating environment. They may, however, be the redirection of feeding motivation to apparently inappropriate substrates, when presented with a diet which does not satisfy all the sheep's nutritional needs. In this experiment the effect of a fibrous diet, which provides a substrate for chewing and/or rumination, on the performance of abnormal oral activities was examined, since pellated rations are usually low in effective fibre.

Choice feeding of complete feeds offers the potential for a more gradual transition to feeds of lower specification as the pig grows. This may result in more efficient production as the pig consumes a blend of nutrients which provides the optimum match to its nutrient requirement for growth. The objective of this study was to compare performance of weaned pigs fed a sequence of commercial feeds with pigs allowed consume these diets free choice.

Two experiments were carried out using pigs weaned at 22-26 days of age, penned in groups of 16 and fed the test diets for a 26 day period from weaning. The test diets were commercial starter, link and weaner feeds, marketed as suitable for pigs of 3-8kg, 8-15kg and 15-30kg respectively. Each group had two self feeders, 0.75m long with one diet in each. After the 26 day trial period all pigs received a common grower diet (barley, wheat, soyabean meal, fishmeal, DE: 14.4 MJ/kg, lysine: 1.19%) to about 36kg liveweight

Slurry spreading is normally restricted to grassland designated for cutting because of a risk of rejection of contaminated herbage by grazing cattle. Spreading on both cut and grazed areas would allow greater flexibility in time and rate of application and reduce the risk of water pollution. Shallow injection, a technique in which slurry is pumped into slots cut into the sward to a depth of ca. 60mm, reduces herbage contamination so may allow earlier subsequent use for grazing without detriment to animal intake.

The choice feeding of pigs has been shown in many experiments to allow the individual pig to express its own needs and thereby grow more efficiently and show its full potential.

The objective of this experiment was to test whether pigs representing 7 distinct genotypes, including Large White, Landrace, Pietrain, Duroc and Meishan, were able to select their dietary crude protein (CP) in relation to energy requirements under a choice feeding regime, and whether these differences were related to growth and performance.