The objective of the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) is to create and maintain a sustainable and competitive beef and lamb sector. Eblex delivers a range of services and information to help farming and red meat chain businesses improve their competitiveness and product quality. Our national on farm technology transfer activities are delivered on a regional basis through the EBLEX Better Returns Programmes for Beef and Sheep, we demonstrate best practice using the latest technology. Enabling producers to access best management practices and improve their skills is critical to ensuring the future financial viability of the sector. In addition producers who are truly getting the best from their animals in terms of efficient feeding, breeding and timely marketing are playing their part in helping address the twin challenges of climate change and better rural landscape management.

SAC, with its combined role in research, education and consultancy, is uniquely placed to deliver effective KT to the livestock sector of the UK. The consultancy division provides a wide variety of technical consulting services and basic training for a comprehensive range of clients within the land-based sectors. As well as our own programme of KT events which are linked to our research programmes we deliver KT for levy funded organisations throughout the UK mainly aimed at improving competitiveness and product quality.

Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC, Meat Promotion Wales) is widely recognised as the leading vehicle for information and support to the livestock/meat industry in Wales. HCC through the Farming Connect Sheep and Beef Development Programme has established and maintains an extensive, pan-Wales network of Demonstrations Farms and Discussion Groups.

The Dairy Development Centre (DDC) is one strand of a multi-faceted resource for the agricultural industry known as Farming Connect. The purpose of the Centre is to facilitate the development of the Welsh dairy industry through the provision of a proactive technology transfer service and market intelligence, working in collaboration with key partners to organise events illustrating best practice techniques and new technologies. The Centre is based around a co-ordinating Development Centre and a network of Development Farms, Demonstration Farms and Discussion Groups.

Although there have been many studies examining the requirements and needs of working dogs, most is either unpublished commercial data, or focuses on racing dogs, such as greyhounds and sled dogs. A substantial number of the world’s working dog population are farm dogs used on cattle, dairy or sheep farms. The majority of dogs in New Zealand fall into this category, making them a useful population for examining factors affecting their performance. In this initial study, information from more than 3000 working dogs was obtained by questionnaire to establish an accurate picture of the average working dog and to identify feeding practices and areas that could be improved to ensure health, welfare and longevity.

Fish meal based diets are important in fish farming. As with other living organisms, the growth, health and reproduction of fish are dependent on adequate nutrient supply, and feed quality has a significant impact on the quality of fish meat. The aquaculture consumes 70 per cent of the global production of fish oil and 34 per cent of the total fishmeal. It is estimated that the demand for fish meal (FM) for feed will increase even more. This increased demand will surpass the natural fish supply and so it is crucial to find alternative protein sources to reduce pressure on the natural fish ecosystem. It is essential that the alternative sources compare well with the fish by-products and do not harm the fish health and growth. Therefore, this study examined the suitability of UK produced rapeseed meal (RM) as an alternative to FM to prepare nutritious diets to maintain mature fish and their impact on the water quality. Common carp (fish) was selected for their ability to cope with variable situations and for their low rearing cost.

The principal method of assessing a captive animal’s welfare is by observing their behaviour and comparing it to its wild relatives (Carlstead, 1996). Enrichment often takes the form of a complex, diverse enclosure where the individual can, for example forage for food, mark its territory and maintain its physical condition which allows the lemurs to exhibit more ‘natural’ behaviours by exhibiting some control over their environment and thus maintain high welfare standards (Carlstead, 1996). Whilst previous studies suggested visitors resulted in negative behaviours in primates (Chamove et al., 1988), more recent work suggests that the presence of humans within their enclosure is a form of enrichment for ring-tailed lemurs (Simpson, 2004). The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the ‘traditional’ versus the larger, more varied walk-through enclosure on the behaviour of ring-tailed lemurs.

The camel carries a mixed fleece similar to the Cashmere goat and renowned as specially hair or luxury fibres. The outer hair of animal is very coarse, tough, and wiry and inner coat has soft fine down fibres that give a valuable product known as camel’s hair wool. Coarse wool and hair is often used for the manufacture of tent cloth, blankets, rope and cloaks. In Iran, the fine down hairs of the inner coat of the camel is usually gathered to make special clothing for men, such as that carrying the ‘Aba’ name. The young animals yield about 3kg of raw wool while older animals yield only 1-2kg. The hair colour is generally brown, varying from deep chocolate and almost black, through reds, rusts, and fawns to almost white in some types. The objective of this study was to evaluate the camel fibre according to region and age and such information for improving their quality during processing.

Global aquaculture production has been growing at about 8% per year compensating for the stagnation of fisheries, and it is likely to become the main source of aquatic food for humans as demands continue to grow. This development in aquaculture is predicted to replace fisheries as intensive animal production has replaced the land based hunting. To satisfy this predicted demand plant based alternatives to fish meal (FM), the main dietary ingredient for fish production, will be needed. However, the use of such alternatives may affect the water quality which determines the fish health and production. This study hypothesized that replacement of FM with rapeseed meal (RM) as major sources of crude protein (CP) would not affect the water quality of fish tanks inhabited by common carp (fish).

Holmstrom et al. (1990) highlighted that conformation is regarded as indicative of performance and soundness. However little research has been devoted to confirming the relationship between conformational characteristics and performance. Today most conformational assessment is based on a subjective approach (Holmstrom et al 1990). Several authors have stressed the most important part of the ridden horses conformation are its hind limbs (Holmstrom et al 1990). Length between tuber coxae and tuber calcanei (point of hip to point of hock) is regarded by assessor and trainers as an important reflection of the power generated within the hind limb. The belief is that, the longer this length the greater the power generated and potentially the higher level of performance attained. However there is little scientific evidence to verify this. The stated null hypothesis is tuber coxae to tuber calcanei length does not differ significantly in four groups of event horses defined by level of performance.

Iranian buffalo have a wide geographical distribution. Buffalo production is an important livestock sector, as a source of milk and meat. Knowledge of the genetic population of the buffalo is one of the main steps in breed conservation programmes and may have implications for future breeding strategies. Microsatellites are now widely used since they are numerous, randomly distributed in the genome, highly polymorphic and show co-dominance inheritance (Hillel et al., 2003). The objective of the present study is to determine and characterise the genetic diversity and the genetic structure of the Mazandaran buffalo population by using 13 polymorphic microsatellite markers.

The main objective of silkworm breeding is the progressive improvement of economic traits to increase the profit of silk producers and other sectors of the sericulture industry. There are approximately 2000 different strains of Bombyx mori used in silk production worldwide (Reddy, 1986). Twenty one characters influence silk yield quantitatively or qualitatively (Chateerjee et al., 1990). The use of selection indices for genetic and economic improvement of traits in the shortest time will give the greatest improvement (Harris, 1970). Several researchers have shown the heritability of these characteristics in mulberry silkworm. The general aim of selection in animal breeding is to acquire new generation of animals which, under future economic conditions of the production system, are more efficient than the present generation. The goal of the present study is investigation of individual selection based on cocoon weight in comparison to randomize selection in two lines of mulberry silkworm (31 and 32) and its effects on production traits of their hybrid (31×32).

Urea is the major contributor to nonprotein nitrogen fraction of milk which represents 5 to 6% of the total nitrogen in milk. Milk urea (MU) nitrogen is closely related to blood urea nitrogen which is derived from at least two sources: the liver detoxification of ammonia diffused from the rumen and the amino acid catabolism in the liver (Depeters and Ferguson, 1992). Thereby, MU concentration could reflect the protein metabolism in the cow and be related to the diet. Several studies showed significant links between MU concentration and nutritional variables (mostly dietary crude protein and energy:protein ratio) or environmental factors (e.g. season or stage of lactation) (Broderick and Clayton, 1997; Schepers and Meijer, 1998; Godden et al., 2000). MU has proved to be an interesting management tool for breeders (Jonker et al., 2001). The aim of our research is to provide feed management tools to Walloon dairy farmers based on the detection of ‘abnormal’ values. To develop such a tool, MU concentrations need to be predicted for future test days. Given the nature of MU, this presents a special challenge and this study will show first results obtained when testing two different models.

Understanding individual differences in temperament traits enables us to investigate the relationship between those traits with animal production and welfare. One aspect of dairy cow temperament that is particularly important to study is aggression. Stress caused by aggressive interactions can negatively affect behaviour and feed intake (Olofsson, 1999), and cause some cows to alter their feeding times to avoid aggressive interactions (Miller and Wood-Gush, 1991). The objective of this study was to characterise the competitive ‘style’ of individual cows. The following questions were addressed: 1) are cows consistent in how they express aggression over time at a standard length feedface, 2) does the parity, feedface length, stage of lactation and social dominance rank have an effect on aggressive behaviour?

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the issue of farm animal welfare. This interest stems from a belief that many modern livestock production systems do not allow animals to perform a natural range of behaviour, leading to a possible decline in welfare. One method of determining the value of natural behaviours is to perform preference tests. In dairy cows, choices relating to various treatments, including feeding, shouting, electric shock, hitting (Pajor et al., 2003) and being milked (Prescott et al., 1998) have been assessed using Y-maze methodology. This is a process that involves training animals to anticipate receiving a treatment if they enter one arm of the Y and an alternative treatment if they enter the other. We used preference tests as a tool to determine how dairy cows perceive aspects of their feeding environment, with specific emphasis on understanding what difficulties low ranking animals face at the feed-face. We hypothesised that subordinate cows would trade-off proximity to a dominant individual at the feed-face with access to food of a high quality.

The measurement of somatic cell counts (SCC) is used in the UK to detect the presence of sub-clinical mastitis in dairy cattle (Mrode & Swanson, 1996). Many studies have investigated the relationship between farm hygiene and management factors on the herd average SCC (from the bulk milk tank) and have shown that factors such as milking parlour hygiene, the use of straw-yard systems, cleanliness of the lying area and mastitis treatment strategies affect SCC (e.g. Barkema et al., 1999; Peeler et al., 2000). The organic status of the farm may also affect SCC. The principles of livestock farming are that animal health should be promoted through good animal care and management, and this is particularly emphasised for organic systems. Organic standards discourage the general prophylactic use of chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary medicines, such as antibiotics. Use of alternative remedies, such as homeopathy, is encouraged for the treatment of disease. Antibiotics can be used in acute cases, such as for clinical mastitis, but the withdrawal period for sale of milk is longer on organic farms than for non-organic farms. There is concern that these regulations may have a negative impact on animal health and welfare, particularly if alternative health treatments are ineffectual. The aim of this study was to determine whether organic status and other farm management practices affect SCC in organic and non-organic farms.

The use of metabolic profiles is widely accepted as an assessment method of the dairy cows’ energy status (Whitaker, 2004). Three of the most reliable parameters that can be used are serum concentration of glucose, beta hydroxybutyric acid (BHB) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). There is growing interest in the changes of these parameters during lactation (Wathes et al., 2007). The scope of this study was to record and characterise the fluctuation of serum levels of glucose, BHB and NEFA during a 305-day lactation of primiparous Holstein cows raised under commercial conditions.

Energy balance is often considered to be a major factor in the onset of dairy cow reproductive activity in early lactation. The relationships between various aspects of energy balance (EB) and the day of first heat (DFH) are weak when analysed with the mixed generalised linear model approach (e.g. Butler et al., 1981). This is understandable since DFH may not respond to the additivity of the factors which influence it but may require various states to be reached together before the expression of heat occurs. This study investigates a number of factors which may combine to influence DFH to see which combinations appear to be critical for first heat to occur. The aim of this study was to see if an alternative approach to investigating the link between energy balance and day of first heat would provide a stronger relationship than currently found with the mixed model approach.

As financial pressures on UK beef farms increase, each beef industry stockman will be expected to look after more animals. Consequently, labour availability around calving will be reduced in future years. In order to enable limited human assistance to be targeted towards those cows and calves that need it, a sound understanding of the time course of the natural calving process is needed. The objective of this study was to detail the time dynamics of the major externally visible calving events in unassisted spring calving suckler cows housed in a straw bedded yard, typical of UK practice.

Outdoor farrowing system account for 27% of breeding sows in England, and it is therefore important to understand the factors affecting their production efficiency. Piglet mortality is a significant economic and welfare issue, with farrowing and preweaning losses in commercial oudoor herds currently averaging 19% of all pigs born. Since sophisticated environmental and human interventions at the time of farrowing are infeasible in these systems, risk factors may differ in importance from those seen in indoor systems. A better understanding of the risk factors for different causes of mortality will help to design strategies to minimise losses.