The effect in an intensive production system of type of cereal and time of weaning on the performance of lambs

1971 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Ørskov ◽  
C. Fraser ◽  
J. C. Gill ◽  
Elizabeth L. Corse

SUMMARYTwo experiments were conducted to study the effect of type of cereal and time of weaning on the performance and voluntary intake of lambs.In the first experiment 20 early-weaned entire male lambs were given diets ad libitum during the fattening period from 15 to 40 kg live weight. The diets were based on either kibbled maize or rolled barley. A high feed efficiency and growth rate were achieved with both diets and differences between them were not statistically significant. The growth rates were 428 and 430 g/day. The cold carcass weights at 40 kg live weight were 19·0 and 19·9 kg and the conversion ratios of dry matter to live-weight gain were 2·33 and 2·22 for the rolled barley and kibbled maize diets respectively.In the second experiment a comparison was made of the performance of 36 sets of twin lambs, one of each set being weaned at either 6, 13 or 20 weeks of age and the other being left to suck the ewe outdoors. The lambs weaned at 6 weeks had better conversions of dry matter to live-weight gain than lambs weaned at 13 and 20 weeks. The respective conversions of dry matter to live-weight gain were 3·36, 5·64 and 5·52. The lambs weaned at either 13 or 20 weeks had a greater weight at weaning, a greater growth check at weaning and a lower rate of feed intake.

1983 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Bryant ◽  
P. Rowlinson ◽  
H. A. M. Van der Steen

ABSTRACTNursing frequency, suckling duration and teat order were recorded in 12 ‘hybrid’ sows and their litters from parturition to weaning at day 42 post partum. Sows and their litters were moved from the farrowing quarters at day 20; half were housed as a group (G) and fed ad libitum with a boar present and the other half were housed individually (S) with no boar present and ration-fed to scale.Some differences occurred in behaviour from day 20. A significantly greater number of false nursing periods, significant synchronization of nursing periods, and a tendency for more long and short nursing intervals occurred in G than S sows and litters. The duration of the preliminary nosing phase and the total nursing period were significantly longer in S than G litters. Teat order scores, indicating consistency of piglet suckling position on the sow, tended to be greater in S than G litters, and there was a fall in the score for G litters in the weeks following grouping. This was associated with a check in live-weight gain.All G sows showed oestrus during lactation, on average 15 days after grouping. There was no incidence of lactational oestrus in the S sows which showed oestrus 5 days after weaning.


1980 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Aston ◽  
J. C. Tayler

ABSTRACT1. Experiment 1. Six treatment groups of one British Friesian and four South Devon × British Friesian bulls, initially 432 kg mean live weight and aged 491 days, were offered individually maize or grass silage ad libitum plus 0, 5 or 10g barley dry matter per kg live weight daily for 80 days. The silages had similar digestible dry matter and estimated metabolizable energy contents but the grass silage contained more ammonia and acetic, propionic and butyric acids. Mean values for groups receiving respectively maize and grass silage diets were for dry-matter intake 17·7, 20·3, 20·4 and 13·0, 16·6, 18·7 g/kg live weight and for live-weight gain 1·00, 1·32, 1·46 and 0·65, 0·98, 1·22kg/day. Significantly more maize than grass silage dry matter was eaten when the silages were given alone and dry-matter intakes, live-weight and carcass gains were greater for maize silage diets. Dry-matter intake, live-weight and carcass gains, efficiency of feed use and carcass quality significantly improved when barley was given.2. Experiment 2. Six groups of five British Friesian bulls, initially 418 kg mean live weight and aged 474 days, were offered individually maize silage ad libitum with either urea or one of two quantities of aqueous ammonia mixed in at the time of feeding, plus 0 or 5 g barley dry matter per kg live weight daily for 90 days. The urea and ammonia-treated silages contained 125, 124 and 148 g crude protein per kg dry matter respectively, with pH values of 3·8, 3·9 and 4·3, and when given alone or with barley mean daily intakes (g dry matter per kg live weight) were 17·1, 18·6 for urea-treated silage diets, and 17·8, 18·8 and 16·9, 19·1 respectively for ammoniatreated silage diets. Live-weight gains were 0·69, 0·94, 0·63, 1·09, 0·64 and 1·07 kg/day. Ammonia treatment had no effect on intake or live-weight gain. Live-weight and carcass gains and carcass quality improved when barley was given.3. The maize silage offered in Experiment 1 contained similar metabolizable energy but more starch than that in Experiment 2 and was used more efficiently for live-weight gain.


1987 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Gill ◽  
D. E. Beever ◽  
P. J. Buttery ◽  
P. England ◽  
M. J. Gibb ◽  
...  

SummaryThe effect of oestradiol-17β on the response to fishmeal supplementation of grass silage was studied in young growing cattle. Voluntary intake and live-weight gain were recorded over 63 days with 36 British Friesian male castrates (initial live weight (LW) 119 kg) offered silage alone (C) or with 50 (FM1), 100 (FM2), or 150 (FM3) g fishmeal/kg silage dry matter. Twelve calves were allocated to each of treatments C and FM3 and six to treatments FM1 and FM2. Half of the calves on each treatment were ear-implanted with oestradiol-17β (Compudose 365) at the start of the experiment. The calves on treatments C and FM3 were slaughtered after 75 days and chemical analysis conducted on half of each carcass. The silage had an organic-matter digestibility in vivo of 0·794 and was well-fermented, with a pH of 3·7. Intake averaged 24·2±0·42 g D.M./kg LW over all the treatments and live-weight gain was 0·77 kg/day on the silage alone. There was a significant (P < 0·05) interaction between fishmeal and oestradiol-17β, such that response to the hormone was observed only in the presence of fishmeal at 100 or 150 g/kg silage D.M. A similar interaction was apparent between fishmeal at 150 g/kg silage D.M. and oestradiol-17β in the final weights of empty body and carcass. This level of fishmeal also increased protein gain from 96 to 147 g/day and this was further increased to 179 g/day in the implanted animals receiving fishmeal. However, the overall effect of oestradiol-17β on protein gain was not significant. Gross efficiency of energy utilization was significantly (P < 0·01) increased by fishmeal supplementation suggesting an improved balance of nutrients compared with the silage alone diet.


1973 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Rutter

SUMMARYTwo experiments involving the sequential slaughter of intensively fattened store lambs were each carried out over a period of 12 weeks. In the first experiment the lambs were offered a concentrate diet ad libitum. In the second experiment they were offered swede turnips ad libitum with a limited amount of concentrates.In each experiment, similar groups of lambs were slaughtered at equal intervals in order to measure progressive changes in live weight, carcass weight and dry-matter intake. Carcass-weight gain as a proportion of live-weight gain was found to be 74% in the first experiment and 86% in the second experiment.


1978 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Wilkinson ◽  
Ines M. Penning ◽  
D. F. Osbourn

ABSTRACTWhole-crop maize was harvested at 20% (L), 29% (M) and 38% (H) dry-matter (DM) content, chopped to 7·67 mm (F) or 33·3 mm (C) average particle length and ensiled. The six silages were offered ad libitum to 36 entire male calves (initially 96 kg live weight), together with supplements of urea and dried ryegrass, for 42 days. Voluntary intake and the apparent digestibility of the diets were measured. Intake of DM was not affected by the DM content of the silages, but was higher for F than C by 6·6% (P<0·01). Apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter and cell walls decreased with increasing silage DM content (P<0·001) and was higher for F than C (P < 0·01).


1971 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kay ◽  
R. Massie ◽  
A. MacDearmid

SUMMARY1. A growth trial was carried out using 24 British Friesian steers given diets containing (1) 100%, (2) 60%, (3) 40% and (4) 0% concentrates and chopped dried grass up to 100%.2. Daily dry-matter intake was significantly lower for steers on Treatment 1 than for steers on the other three treatments.3. Rate of live-weight gain declined from 1·18 to 0·88 kg/day and carcass gain from 625 to 430 g/day between steers on Treatments 1 and 4.4. Killing-out percentage dropped from 55·3% (1) to 51·9% (4) and the 8th-10th rib from steers on Treatments 3 and 4 contained significantly more crude protein and less ether-extractable matter than ribs from steers on Treatments 1 and 2.


1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kay ◽  
A. Macdearmid ◽  
R. Massie

SUMMARY1. A growth trial was carried out with 21 Friesian steers given diets containing either 0%, 30% or 50% ground straw, and concentrates up to 100%.2. Steers offered the diet containing 0% straw consumed less dry matter per day than steers on the other two treatments.3. Rates of live-weight gain were 1·20, 1·04 and 0·87 kg/day for the three treatments respectively, and carcass gains were 690, 550 and 440 g/day.4. Killing-out percentage dropped and alimentary-tract fill increased as the proportion of straw in the diet increased.5. The dry-matter digestibility coefficients for the three diets, determined at maximal intake, were 79·1%, 62·3% and 56·6%, respectively.


1983 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Thomas ◽  
R. M. Tetlow ◽  
B. G. Gibbs ◽  
Margaret Gill

ABSTRACT1. The primary growth of perennial ryegrass was cut between 7 and 9 June and ensiled with formic acid at 2·5 1/t. The regrowth was cut on 24 July; part was dried at high temperature (dried grass), the remainder was left to dry in the field (hay). The dried grass (DG) and part of the hay were ground and pelleted, the hay being pelleted alone (PH) or with the addition of formaldehyde at 20 g/kg crude protein (PHF). The remainder of the hay was offered in the chopped form (CH). The four supplements (CH, PH, PHF, DG) were offered at two levels, 6·5 (L) and 130 (H) g dry matter per kg live weight to 54 British Friesian steers (initial live weight, 110 kg) receiving the silage ad libitum.2. The silage had a high pH and a high proportion of the total nitrogen was in the form of ammonia, indicating poor fermentation. The solubility of nitrogen in the supplements was highest (262 g/kg total nitrogen) in CH, progressively less in PH and PHF and lowest (122 g/kg total nitrogen) in DG.3. Total dry-matter intake was highest with DG at the higher level of inclusion. Dry-matter intake was significantly higher for PH and PHF than for CH (P < 0·001). However, intake of digestible energy did not differ between hays. Live-weight gain was increased from a low level of 0·24 kg/day (silage alone) by all supplements, but this effect was greater with DG than with the hays (P < 0·001). Level of supplementation increased live-weight gain from 0·54 to 0·74 kg/day.4. Supplements of dried grass gave higher live-weight gains than did hay made from the same sward. However, the results indicate that supplementation of badly preserved silage with grass hay of good quality can produce acceptable levels of performance of up to 0·70 kg/day in 4-month-old steers. Processing of the hay had little effect on animal performance.


1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-353
Author(s):  
Jean M. Bass ◽  
G. Fishwick ◽  
J. J. Parkins

ABSTRACTGroups of Hereford-cross steers weighing 283 kg were given 0·6 kg dry matter hay per head per day, and bruised barley supplemented with 40 g of a fully soluble liquid product per kg, containing urea, minerals and vitamins, ad libitum. Half the animals received 10 g limestone per kg diet as an additional supplement. Over a 105-day period the food intake of the limestone-supplemented animals was 0·20 higher than that of unsupplemented animals. The resultant daily live-weight gain was 1·22 kg compared with 0·92 kg for the animals receiving the diet containing no additional limestone. Food conversion ratios (kg/kg live-weight gain) were improved by limestone supplementation from 6·84 to 6·19. Limestone inclusion did not appear to influence the low concentrations of starch (ca. 15 g/kg) present in the faecal dry matter but there was a small significant difference in faecal pH.


1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kay ◽  
A. Macdearmid ◽  
R. Massie

SUMMARY1. Two growth trials and a digestibility trial were carried out with a total of 84 British Friesian steers to investigate the substitution of root crops for a part of the concentrates in an all-concentrate diet. In Trial 1 six experimental diets were offered ad libitum and contained, on a dry-matter basis, (1) 100% concentrates, (2) 34%, (3) 66%, (4) 87% sliced swedes and (5) 66%, (6) 87% whole potatoes. In Trial 2, five diets were offered ad libitum and contained (1) 100% concentrates or (2) 34%, (3) 50%, (4) 66%, (5) 100% swedes.2. In both the growth trials when the steers weighed less than 350 kg live weight, daily dry-matter intake was lower for steers offered the highest proportion of swedes than for steers offered concentrates. Substitution of potatoes for concentrates resulted in a higher daily dry-matter intake and daily live-weight gain than did substitution of swedes.3. In Trials 1 and 2 rate of live-weight gain and in Trial 2 carcass gain were similar for steers on treatments 1 and 2. In Trial 2 liveweight gain declined from 1-05 to 0-87 kg/day and carcass gain declined from 0-62 to 0-51 kg/day between steers on treatments 1 and 5. 4. The replacement of concentrates with swedes or potatoes did not affect the overall digestibility of dry matter.


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