The nutrient requirements of ewes increase greatly during the final two months of gestation as a result of the rapid foetal growth (Robinson, 1990). Traditionally these nutritional requirements were met by feeding grass silage supplemented with concentrates (Sheehan et al., 1979). Intakes of silage by sheep are variable, dependant on a range of factors with silage digestibility of major importance (Sheehan, 1975). However, voluntary silage intakes have been reported to vary irrespective of quality (Sheehan and Fitzgerald, 1977). Alternatively, the energy requirements of the ewe during late pregnancy can be supplied by offering a complete concentrate diet (Sheehan, 1975). The objectives of this experiment were to compare the performance of single, twin and triplet-bearing ewes when offered either a concentrate diet or a silage based diet supplemented with concentrates, each offered at 90% of metabolizable energy requirements for maintenance and conceptus growth.

Approximately 75% of ewes are housed in Ireland for some portion of the winter, normally the late gestation period. This coincides with a large increase in dietary requirements, with 80% of lamb birth weight laid down in the final two months of gestation (Robinson, 1990) and also udder development during this period. Traditionally, these nutritional requirements were met by feeding grass silage ad libitum and supplementing with concentrates on a stepped rate with advancing pregnancy. With the introduction of the decoupled single farm payment and an ever-decreasing labour supply, sheep producers are looking for financially attractive, low labour alternatives and a concentrate based diet may be one such alternative. The objectives of this experiment were to compare an all concentrate diet supplemented with different fibre sources with the standard silage based diet supplemented with concentrates on feed intake, ewe performance and lamb growth to weaning.

Patterson et al. (2004, 2005) obtained positive intake and milk production responses to the inclusion of maize silage in grass silage-based diets under Northern Ireland conditions. However, fermented whole crop and high dry matter (DM) milled urea/urease-treated whole crop wheats both increased forage intake, but had no significant effect on milk production. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the milk production potential of milled high DM whole crop wheat, in both urea-treated and ‘fermented’ forms, and fermented triticale whole crop, as a partial replacement for grass silage.

Replacement rate on farms in Southern Ireland has increased from 16 per cent in 1990 to 27 per cent in 2003 or an increase of 0.8 per cent per year (Evans et al., 2004). Cull cow compromise about 38 per cent of all cattle slaughtered at Irish meat factories. Only 23% of total cows slaughtered in 2005 were killed in the first third of the year, 36% in the middle third and 41% killed in the final third, this indicates that there is an influx of unconditioned dairy cows from the milking herd at the end of the cow’s lactation. In Ireland, the average for all cull cow carcass weights is 282kg. This is considerably less than the average for other EU countries. It is especially low when compared to values in major cull cow markets such as France (343kg). The objective of this study was to evaluate four different finishing treatments for cull dairy cows based on grass silage and concentrate.

Holo-analytical models are used for the prediction of nutritional responses, product comparisons and the setting of future research priorities. Following holo-analyses of the efficacy of exogenous enzymes in monogastrics (Rosen, 2006), this study in ruminants comprises holo-analyses of all available data from beef and dairy cattle, negatively-controlled, start-to-finish tests in meat and milk production. The beef enzymes mainly contain amylases, cellulases and xylanases, with a total of eight other side activities and the dairy, betaglucanases, cellulases and xylanases, with 12 declared side activities.

Intensively fed ruminants receive highly fermentable diets to maximise production of meat or milk. However, highly fermentable diets increase the risk of acidosis, which can result in serious health and productive consequences. Accurate evaluation of feed fermentability in both rate and extent is therefore important in controlling acidosis. Differences in (rate of) fermentation between original raw materials are fairly well established and used in current feed evaluation systems (Van Laar et al., 2004). However, the effects of technological treatments, like grinding and especially pelleting of a feed on fermentability are less well explored. In this experiment the nylon bag method was used to analyse fermentability characteristics of a feed that was ground and pelleted in different ways. Additionally the effect on fermentability of pre-soaking the pellets prior to nylon bag incubation was investigated.

The future economic viability of beef production will require improved efficiency, reduced costs of production and ultimately cost-efficient carcass gain throughout the lifetime of the animal. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of plane of nutrition during the first winter growth phase, turnout date, stocking rate, concentrate supplementation at pasture and second winter finishing phase on lifetime performance.

The performance of Holstein Friesian bulls on commercial beef farms is highly variable and, on average, falls well short of the generally accepted cereal beef target of a minimum 260kg carcase at around a year old from cattle gaining at least 1.15kg per day from birth to slaughter (Allen and Browne 2005). The carcase weights and daily liveweight gains (DLWG) recorded by bottom 1/3rd and top 1/3rd commercial producers were 266kg and 0.95kg, and 299kg and 1.15kg respectively. It was suggested that many producers restricted concentrate feeds for at least part of the feeding period and included forage, including grazing in some cases. The formulation of the ration fed to the bulls could also have influenced performance. There is limited data on the optimum quantity of starch to include in a ration for intensively fed beef cattle The objective of this experiment was therefore to determine the effect of feeding compounds containing either a high or low level of starch to intensively reared Holstein Friesian bulls.

Increase of feeding frequency in cattle decreased insulin level and increased plasma glucagon concentration and consequently prevented milk fat reduction during consuming of high concentration rations (Sutton et al. 1986). It is also indicated that feeding of cows for six times per day instead of two times per day decreased insulin, fatty acids and butyrate level and increased GH and glucose concentration (Sutton et al. 1988). These changes may prevent milk fat reduction. Increased propionate concentration can stimulate insulin secretion in ruminants (Jenny et al., 1972). Increased insulin secretion will stimulate glucose and fatty acid absorption and consequently will increase lipogenesis and reduce lipolysis in adipose tissue. In lactating cows, insulin usually decreases fatty acid availability for milk fat synthesis (Foster and McGarry, 2000). Previous studies have shown positive effect of increased feeding frequency on reduction of fat synthesis and deposition in body. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of feeding frequency on insulin secretion, body weight and carcass composition in fattening Holstein bull calves.

Ration particle size has been observed to affect DMI, chewing activity, rumen pH, milk fat and nutrient digestibility (Yang et al., 2001; Grant et al., 1990). Nonforage fiber sources (NFFS) possess a large amount of NDF that can be used as a forage substitute based on their price and availability. Cottonseed hulls (CSH), a by-product of cotton processing, contain a large proportion of NDF and associated lignin, and have been considered a useful NFFS. It was suggested that physical characteristics of dietary forage can interact with nonforage fiber sources (Grant, 1997). The objectives of this study were to determine effects of CSH as nonforage fiber sources and to investigate interaction between CSH as NFFS and alfalfa particle size on Chewing Activity and rumen pH.

NRC (2001) recommended 250 g/kg dietary neutral detergent fibre (NDF) with a minimum of 190 g/kg dietary forage NDF to prevent milk fat depression. This recommendation does not account for the differences in forage particle size. The forage particle size requirements of dairy cows fed barley grain-based diets can differ from those fed maize grain-based diets (Yang and Beauchemin, 2006). The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of lucerne hay and barley grain particle sizes on chewing activity, rumen pH, milk yield and milk composition using barley grain-based diets.

Supplementation with legume fodder during the dry season is a strategy to improve animal performance. The results obtained in silvopastoral systems has been explained either by their ingestion of a higher quality grass (Hernandez et al., 2001, Iglesias, 1998) resulting from the inclusion of a legume in the system which provide N for grass growth or due to the intake of the legume itself, which in turn is also of higher quality than grass (Kakengi et al., 2001), and provides a higher microbial-N supply (Karda and Dryden, 2001). The objective of the present work was to discriminate, in a silvopastoral system, the effect of improved grass quality and legume intake (L. leucocephala) on rumen fermentation, microbial N supply, milk yield and composition of dual purpose lactating cows.

Level 1 of the Cornell Net carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) model has not yet been used to predict animal performance on smallholder dairy farms in African conditions. Over 60% of the smallholder dairy cattle in sub-Saharan Africa are in the East African highlands. Although the level of production is low, dairy cattle contribute significantly to the livelihoods of rural families. If the model predictions reflect animal performance, the CNCPS model could be a useful tool to develop feeding strategies to enhance animal production. The objectives of our study were to: (1) evaluate the accuracy of the predictions of dry matter intake, milk production and phosphorus excretion of the CNCPS model for dairy cattle on smallholder farms; (2) predict nutrient requirements and supply of confined and lactating crossbred cows consuming high forage rations and (3) determine the variation in feed quality and milk production.

Feed costs account for large part of the total costs in milk production. Thus, dairy producers attempt to minimize the costs of feeding their herds particularly when milk prices are low. By-product feeds such as soybean hulls, In addition to the potential of providing an economical alternative, can be successfully used as a source of fiber in rations for dairy cattle when forages have poor quality or are in short supply (Firkins, 1997; Weidner and Grant, 1994). Alternatively, replacing cereal grains with SH in diets for dairy cows may contribute to elevated intakes of energy while preventing a disruption of rumen functionality (Ipharraguerre et al., 2003). The objectives of this paper are to evaluate effects of soybean hulls in replacement of alfalfa hay, corn silage and wheat bran on performance and total tract apparent nutrients digestibility.

Goat production in northeast of Thailand has gradually increased, partly because of the limited land available to raise cattle. The other reason is that goats can give twin kids and can give birth twice a year under good management. Tomato pomace is a by product from the tomato juice factory. Dried tomato pomace is a promising protein source with high protein content. The price of dried tomato pomace is cheaper than soybean protein when expressed as price per unit protein. The trial of Yuangklang et al. (2006) found that dried tomato pomace increased growth rate in beef cattle. In dairy cows, replacing soybean meal by dried tomato pomace did not influence milk production (Yuangklag et al., 2005). Data on utilisation of dried tomato pomace in goats is limited. Therefore the present experiment aimed to investigate the effects of substitution of soybean protein by dried tomato pomace in the concentrate diet on feed intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of meat goats.

Current nutritional models as the CNCPS-sheep (Cannas et al., 2004) are built with the possibility to consider breed effects. An important effect included in the prediction of live weight gain is the maturity index of the animal (the actual weight of the animal in relation to their adult weight). During a concurrent evaluation of the CNCPS-sheep model, no information was found on the Pelibuey sheep mature weight to allow a proper adjustment of this parameter. Thus the objective of this work was to estimate the mature weight of Pelibuey sheep.

Sanjabi breed is an important dual-purpose (meat and wool) sheep and one of the heavy weight and the second largest populated of sheep among 27 breeds in Iran. According to FAO (2004) there are more than 53 millions sheep are reared in Iran. The breed is well adapted to reasonably suitable environment, vegetation and management conditions of the western part of Iran. In the western part of Iran although there are rocky mountains, there is enough feed source for raising sheep. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for planning sustainable improvement, conservation and utilization of the breed.

The selection index is a method for estimation the breeding value of an animal combining all information available on the animal and its relatives. Research shows that genetic and phenotypic correlation between traits is completely different among breeds. In baluchi sheep, genetic and phenotypic correlation between weaning weight and yearling weight are 0.93 and 0.59 respectively. Another study on hamshire sheep shows that correlation between birth weight and yearling weight is 0.48 and 0.23. The objective of this study is to predict different type of correlation in karakul sheep traits for determination selection index.

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is an important cause of lamb loss. Horizontal transmission to ewes can occur from the parasite’s definitive host, the cat, by the faecal-oral route (Buxton 1990). Vertical (transplacental) transmission to lambs also occurs (Williams et al 2005; Rodger et al 2006). Toxoplasma encysts in brain and muscle where it persists for the lifetime of the sheep. Since Toxoplasma can infect any warm-blooded vertebrate, wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and hares (Lepus europeaus) might similarly be infected by the faecal-oral route and they might function as parasite reservoirs, infecting cats by the tissue-oral route. The aim of this study was to determine whether rabbits and hares are informative as sentinel species, revealing the prevalence and strain of Toxoplasma on pasture, such that they could be used as indicators of infection risk to sheep.

In some part of world for intensive production of fattening of lambs, they are fed with high amount of concentrate. However this pattern of feeding often affect negatively of rumen fermentation (Mould et al., 1983). Ionophores act by interrupting transmembrane movement and intracellular equilibrium of ions in certain classes of bacteria and protozoa that inhibit the gastrointestinal tract (McGuffey et al., 2001). In Ruminants, monensin has shown selective inhibition of ruminal bacteria, lactic and methane producers and stimulation of propionate production by 25% (Matabudul et al., 2001). In lambs, monensin improves weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) and depressed the dry matter intake (DMI) (Martini et al., 1996), but lasalocid improve average daily gain (ADG) without depressed the DMI (Swanson et al., 2000). There is limited information about the effect of ionophores on performance of Iranian fattening lambs and particularly no works was done with Arabi lambs. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding monensin and lasalocid on performance and carcass characteristics of fattening Arabi lambs.