Isolates of Lactobacillus spp were obtained from colon samples from a total of 26 randomly selected Scottish piggeries. These were screened for probiotic potential, assessed by their ability to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli K88. It emerged that the distribution of potentially probiotic isolates was not uniform: certain piggeries seemed to harbour populations of Lactobacillus spp. with a high proportion of potential probiotics, while other piggeries yielded few or no active isolates. We postulate that this distribution may influence the perceived variation in efficacy of commercial probiotic preparations.

Recent studies on the production and marketability of sheep meat in Greece have shown that response of the small ruminant sector to changing consumer demands has been to produce consistently larger and leaner lambs all year round. Moreover, purchases of such meat are likely to favour less exploitative systems of production (Zygoyiannis et al. 1999). The idea is that such systems should constitute more environmentally and economically sustainable options. The objective of the current study was to investigate the potential of developing sustainable systems of sheep and goat meat production that are less depended on pharmaceutical control of gastrointestinal parasitism without comprising the quality of produced meat.

Brachiaria spp. pastures, specially B. decumbens, cover an area of 400 thousand ha in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. They comprise the basal diet for ruminants in dual-purpose and small-holder dairy systems of the region (Herrero et al. 1999). Therefore, an important portion of the animal production is conditioned by the amount and quality of these pastures and their intake. Knowledge of pasture intake is crucial for formulating bio-economically feasible feeding systems for ruminants. The objective of this work was to measure intake of Brachiaria spp pastures using alkanes as markers and to quantify pasture intake differences between dry and lactating cows.

Armenia is a typical highland country with an average altitude of 1800 m. More than half of its territory is occupied by natural pastures and hay producing areas which form an important source of feed material for animal husbandry. However, in recent years the country has been experiencing an acute shortage of feed materials and as a result the total number of livestock and animal derived products has drastically dropped. During the transition to a market economy the government has been unable to import additional forage materials, therefore there is a need to utilise local resources more rationally. Limited studies of the nutritive value of Armenia’s forage plants has been carried out. Moreover, in previous studies the fundamental criteria for measuring forage quality has been largely limited to an assessment of crude protein (CP), total ash (TA), crude fat (CF), nitrogen-free extractable substances (NFS) and crude cellulose (CC) contents. Only recently have studies been undertaken to assess gross energy (GE) and in-vitro digestible organic matter (OM) in the dry matter (DOMD) contents, and OM digestibility (OMD) and digestible energy (DE) value of OM. The objective of this work was to summarize the published studies on chemical composition and to discuss the results of recent measurements of energy value and in-vitro digestibility of native forages in Armenia in order to facilitate the selection and utilisation of high quality forages by farmers.

Pulse chunies are popular agro-industrial byproducts, obtained from processing of pulses in the preparation of dals and are available to extent of 3 million tonnes in India. These chunies comprise broken seed coat, germ and small pieces of broken cotyledons and constitute about 15-20% of total weight of pulse seeds. Very little information is available in the literature on effective levels of inclusion of chunies in complete rations for ruminants. An attempt was made to study the effect of inclusion of varying levels of urad (Vigna mungo) chuni in the concentrate mixtures on the nutrient utilization in native male buffaloes.

In tropical countries is a common practice to feed cattle with variety of forage trees as supplements. In order to develop adequate strategies for management of trees, an assessment is needed of their potential use (intake) by cattle. Little research has been conducted in this area, and most effort has been focused on single forage evaluation. The objective of this experiment was to assess the preference by cattle of five forage trees. Preference was taken as the voluntary intake of a tree forage offered in a cafeteria trial.

Voluntary intake of tropical grasses is a major constraint to animal performance in tropical countries. The use of forage trees as supplements has been associated with an improved rumen environment and hence an increased intake of forage (Umunna et al., 1995). Under practical conditions, grass and forage trees are commonly offered simultaneously at feeding time. However, little information is available as to the effect of this practice on intake of different forages. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the intake of grass and a forage tree when offered simultaneously, and to assess the benefits on total DM intake with five different forage tree species.

The roughage supplementation with some industrial by-products is an alternative on feed management. The great number of brewery in Brazil and the wet brewers’ grain nutritional value are an attractive possibility for use in sheep diets, mainly for its availability during the year and its fibre quality. The inclusion of this feed in high proportions on sheep diets could modify rumen environment. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the modifications on rumen environment caused by addition of brewers’ grain silage as fibre source on sheep diets.

Indonesia is the world’s third largest producers of coffee with the residual coffee pulp being included in ruminant diets. However, coffee pulp has a low palatability although studies have shown that this can be increased by ensiling. In addition, coffee pulp contains anti-nutritive factors such as caffeine and tannins. Washing the residue with hot water reduces caffein concentration by about 90 % (Kiflewahid, 1982). In this study, the effects of washing and ensilage on the degradability profiles were examined by estimating gas release using the Reading Pressure Technique.

There is much discussion about the effect of the diet of the inoculum donor animal. The ideal diet should supply microrganisms and they should be able to degrade the feed. But when we evaluate several different feeds by a gas production assay, it is very difficult to feed donor animals with a diet composed by all feeds that will be tested. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of three different tropical diets on inoculum ability to degrade the feeds.

Urea treatment of moist wheat at harvest preserves the grain, increases its crude protein content, allows it to be fed whole, and results in savings in feed costs when fed to intensively finished cattle (Lewis et al., 1999). The objective of this experiment was to evaluate urea treated wheat and barley for finishing lambs.

Lamb concentrate costs account for around 30% of the variable costs of an early lambing system and can account for up to 33% of the variable costs for store lamb finishing (MLC, 2000). Over recent years the price for finished lambs has declined. It is against this background of declining lamb prices and reduced gross margins that cheaper alternatives to proprietary lamb concentrates are being sought. The aim of this work was to evaluate an ensiled mix of pressed sugar beet pulp and dried maize distillers dark grains (Praize, Trident Feeds Limited) for finishing lambs.

Intensively finished beef cattle have traditionally been fed rations based on rolled mineralised barley with a protein supplement such as soya bean or rapeseed meal. Since feed accounts for 75-85% of the variable costs of intensive beef production systems (MLC 1999) the use of alternative feeds that have a lower cost per unit of energy are worthy of investigation. The objective of this trial was to evaluate feeding pressed sugar beet pulp ensiled with dried maize distillers grains (Praize, Trident Feeds) on the performance of fast finishing continental cross weaned suckled bulls.

The use of barley and a protein supplement such as soya bean meal as an ad libitum ration for intensively finished male beef calves has been well established and widely used since the conception of the cereal beef system in the 1960’s (Preston et al 1963). Rations on commercial beef units rearing Continental cross Holstein beef cattle are usually formulated to contain 175g CP/kg DM. With the recent fall in the price of barley there is increased interest in the cereal beef system for bull calves and late maturing Continental cross Holstein heifers. Increasing the proportion of barley in cereal beef rations can reduce ration costs and provided productivity is maintained, increase profit. There is also a paucity of information on the performance of heifers on the cereal beef system. The objective of this study was to evaluate feeding cereal based rations containing either 140 or 175g CP/kg DM to Continental cross Holstein bulls and heifers.

As a result of the Agenda 2000 increase in the Special Beef Premium and introduction of a slaughter premium for bulls, there is renewed interest in bull beef production especially from low value Holstein-Friesian calves. To evaluate the economics of such a production system further information is required on responses to supplementary concentrates with silage and duration of the finishing period.

The cost of grazed grass is less than half that of grass silage (O’Kiely, 1994) and incomes from beef production are low and largely dependent on EU support schemes. Thus the income from beef production could be incresed by reducing feed costs through increasing the proportion of grazed grass in the diet and optimising the use of the various support schemes. The objective of this two-year study was to examine the effects on the performance of yearling cattle of turnout to pasture three weeks earlier than normal. This was examined within two suckler beef production systems. One was a standard system similar to that outlined by Drennan (1993) and the second was compatible with the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS).

Efficient lamb finishing is geared to reaching market at a specific time, this is done by regulating growth rates – this may involve using different feeds – in this case varying in crude protein content or using different breeds – crossbreds rather than purebreds. The objectives of this trial were to determine the effect of different feed crude protein level on lamb performance of two breed types.

Feeding of lowland sheep on straw-based systems during pregnancy and in early lactation has shown that ewe and lamb performance can be satisfactory, providing adequate compound supplementation is fed (Davies and Chapple, 1995). Whole barley and soya bean meal has been the standard ration. However, soya bean meal is imported and may not be fully traceable. Maize or barley distillers fed with beans could provide traceable protein to replace soya bean meal in sheep diets. Experiments with housed early-lambing ewes and ewes suckling twin lambs at grass have shown that traceable feeds, based on molassed sugar beet and either maize or barley distillers grains, can replace a barley/soya supplement when fed with straw based diets in late pregnancy or at grass (Chapple et al., 1999 and 2000). The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects on ewe and lamb performance of feeding sugar beet feeds with distillers grains and beans to March-lambing ewes on a straw-based system.

Feeding conserved forage in the form of silage to pregnant ewes in winter is common practice in agricultural systems in the UK. However, silage as a sole feed in late pregnancy is unlikely to meet the nutritional requirements of ewes carrying twin lambs, and supplementary feeding is usually required. Evidence suggests forage legumes such as red clover and lucerne offer great scope for improving the supply of protein to ruminants (Frame et al., 1998), and feeding silage prepared from these crops could potentially reduce the need for protein supplements. The aim of this experiment was to compare the performance of twin-bearing ewes and their lambs when fed either ensiled red clover, lucerne or ryegrass during late pregnancy.

In pre-ruminant calves the oesophageal groove reflex allows milk to bypass the developing rumen and is a mechanism by which dietary fatty acids can be delivered directly to the small intestine. This experiment was a pilot study carried out to establish the extent and time course of the changes in plasma fatty acid composition in calves fed milk supplemented with oils of differing fatty acid composition and allowed minimal access to roughage (straw bedding). The work was carried out to provide baseline data for a longer study with calves in which rumen development will be encouraged by feeding solid food but the oesophageal groove reflex will be maintained through long term milk feeding and used as a means of delivering polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) directly to the small intestine.