Reproductive performance of the Thoka Cheviot sheep

2000 ◽  
Vol 2000 ◽  
pp. 44-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.M. Rhind ◽  
G. Gittus ◽  
J.M. Potts ◽  
S.C. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Reproductive Response ◽  
Icelandic Sheep ◽  
The Uk ◽  
North And South

The Thoka gene for fecundity, a gene which originally occurred in Icelandic sheep, was introduced to the UK in 1985 and through a programme of crossbreeding was established in Cheviot sheep (Russel et al, 1997). Ewes are now retained as "Thoka carriers" only if they have lambed in each of the first three years and had at least two sets of twins. The gene has been introduced into separate North and South Country Cheviot (NCC and SCC) lines which are now phenotypically indistinguishable from purebred animals and contain proportionately less that 0.2 of the Icelandic genotype. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the increase in fecundity in the two breeds and whether or not the reproductive response to the incorporation of the Thoka gene differs between NCC and SCC breed types.

TBE in United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Clinical Disease ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Probable Case ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
South West ◽  
Louping Ill ◽  
The Uk ◽  
North And South ◽  
South West England

Until 2019, TBE was considered only to be an imported disease to the United Kingdom. In that year, evidence became available that the TBEV is likely circulating in the country1,2 and a first “probable case” of TBE originating in the UK was reported.3 In addition to TBEV, louping ill virus (LIV), a member of the TBEV-serocomplex, is also endemic in parts of the UK. Reports of clinical disease caused by LIV in livestock are mainly from Scotland, parts of North and South West England and Wales.4

A study of factors which influence the job satisfaction of stockpeople on commercial pig farms

1990 ◽  
Vol 1990 ◽  
pp. 95-95
Author(s):  
R C Segundo ◽  
P R English ◽  
G Burgess ◽  
S A Edwards ◽  
O MacPherson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Pig Farms ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Farm Livestock

The role of stockmanship in relation to the wellbeing of farm animals has been emphasised in the UK Codes of Recommendations for the Welfare of Farm Livestock (MAFF, 1983). Moreover, previous research work has demonstrated important effects of good and bad stockmanship not only on welfare but also on growth, lactational and reproductive performance of pigs and other farm livestock (Hemsworth et al, 1987). There is a need, therefore, to establish the factors which motivate and demotivate stockpeople since the degree of job satisfaction is likely to have a considerable influence on the attitude and performance of stockpeople and on their empathy with the animals in their care. With this objective in mind, a questionnaire was designed to investigate the aspects which could have an influence on the job satisfaction of the stockpeople involved in pig production.

Effects of selection for production and maternal diet on maiden dairy heifer fertility

2002 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Pryce ◽  
G. Simm ◽  
J. J. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Selection Line ◽  
Control Line ◽  
Maternal Environment ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to investigate reproductive performance and the influence of maternal environment on reproductive performance in two genetic lines of maiden heifers. These were given food and managed in the same way at the Langhill Dairy Cattle Research Centre. The two genetic lines were established in 1973; one has been selected for high combined yield of fat plus protein (selection line; S) and the other has been maintained at around the UK average for genetic merit of yield of fat plus protein (control line; C). Analysis of the reproductive performance of 988 heifers born between 1981 and 1998 showed that S heifers were poorer (all P < 0·05) than C heifers for all reproductive measures: conception at first service (S: 0·64, s.e. 0·02; C: 0·71, s.e. 0·03), interval between first and last service (S: 18·2 days, s.e. 2·2; C: 13·4 days, s.e. 2·2) and number of services per conception (S: 1·49 services, s.e. 0·06; C: 1·39 services, s.e. 0·06). S heifers were also younger at first service than C heifers (474·9 days v. 480·1 days, s.e. 1·9, for S and C respectively; P • 01). Fertility of service sires may have had some influence on these results, but this could not be investigated here, as S heifers were mated only to high merit bulls and C heifers to average merit bulls. However, within genetic line, the yearly downward trend in the average number of services per conception of heifers was significantly different from zero for the S line, but not the C line. There were no statistically significant relationships between conception rates in maiden heifers and their subsequent reproductive performance in first lactation. The effect of maternal environment on the reproductive performance of daughters as maiden heifers was investigated. There were no statistically significant relationships between daughter reproductive performance and dam parity or the feeding system of the dam (either a high or low level of concentrates). Within the limited range of nutritional status of dams during the periods post calving and in early pregnancy, there was no statistically significant effect of maternal nutrition on daughter reproductive performance.

A comparison of the reproductive performance of Holstein-Friesian and Norwegian Red dairy cattle on commercial dairy farms over five lactations

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 61-61
Author(s):  
C P Ferris ◽  
D C Patterson ◽  
D J Kilpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Dairy Cow ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Holstein Friesian ◽  
Current Fertility ◽  
Breed Selection ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Fertility Traits

Fertility traits have been included within breed selection programmes for the Norwegian Red (NR) dairy cow population in Norway for over thirty years. As a consequence, a 60 day non-return rate to first artificial insemination (AI) of 72.5% was recently calculated for NR cows in Norway (Garmo et al., 2008). In view of this long term breeding programme, and current fertility performance within Norway, there is considerable interest in the NR breed as a means of overcoming the high levels of infertility that currently exist within the Holstein-Friesian (HF) breed. However, farming systems within Norway are very different from those within the UK, with herd sizes in particular being much smaller. Thus an experiment was established on 19 commercial dairy farms to compare the fertility performance of cows of the NR and HF breeds.

scholarly journals Structured medical electives: a concept whose time has come?

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Willott ◽  
Eva Khair ◽  
Roger Worthington ◽  
Katy Daniels ◽  
A. Mark Clarfield
Keyword(s):  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical School ◽  
International Health ◽  
Current Medical ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Travel Abroad ◽  
The University ◽  
North And South

Abstract Background Most international electives in which medical students from high-income countries travel abroad are largely unstructured, and can lead to problematic outcomes for students as well as sending and receiving institutions. We analyse the problems of unstructured medical electives and describe the benefits of an elective experience that includes more organisation and oversight from the sending medical school. Results A number of structured elective programmes have been developed, including those at the Medical School for International Health, Israel and the University of Dundee, United Kingdom. These programmes provide significant pre-departure training in global health and the ethical dimensions of electives, support and monitoring during the elective, and post-elective debrief. Crucially, the programmes themselves are developed on the basis of long-term engagement between institutions, and have an element of reciprocity. We further identify two major problems in current medical electives: the different ethical contexts in which electives take place, and the problem of ‘voluntourism’, in which the primary beneficiary of the activity is the medical student, rather than the receiving institution or health system. These two issues should be seen in the light of unequal relations between sending and receiving institutions, which largely mirror unequal relations between the Global North and South. Conclusion We argue that more structured elective programmes could form a useful corrective to some of the problems identified with medical electives. We recommend that medical schools in countries such as the UK strongly consider developing these types of programmes, and if this is not possible, they should seek to further develop their pre-departure training curricula.

scholarly journals Internal colonisation: The intimate circulations of empire, race and liberal government

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Turner
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Black Studies ◽  
Knowledge Practices ◽  
Global North ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
Colonial Histories ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
North And South

This article proposes that ‘internal colonisation’ provides a necessary lens through which to explore the relationship between violence and race in contemporary liberal government. Contributing to an increasing interest in race in International Relations, this article proposes that while racism remains a vital demarcation in liberal government between forms of worthy/unworthy life, this is continually shaped by colonial histories and ongoing projects of empire that manifest in the Global North and South in familiar, if not identical, ways. In unpacking the concept of internal colonisation and its intellectual history from Black Studies into colonial historiography and political geography, I highlight how (neo-)metropolitan states such as Britain were always active imperial terrain and subjected to forms of colonisation. This recognises how metropole and colonies were bounded together through colonisation and how knowledge and practices of rule were appropriated onto a heterogeneity of racialised and undesirable subjects both within colonies and Britain. Bringing the argument up to date, I show how internal colonisation remains diverse and dispersed under liberal empire — enhanced through the war on terror. To do this, I sketch out how forms of ‘armed social work’ central to counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq are also central to the management of sub-populations in Britain through the counterterrorism strategy Prevent. Treating (neo-)metropoles such as the UK as part of imperial terrain helps us recognise the way in which knowledge/practices of colonisation have worked across multiple populations and been invested in mundane sites of liberal government. This brings raced histories into closer encounters with the (re)making of a raced present.

scholarly journals A System Dynamics Simulation to Estimate Roundabout Entry Capacity by Adopting Three Different Methods

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Raquim N. Zehawi
Keyword(s):  
System Dynamics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dynamics Simulation ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
Dynamics Model ◽  
The North ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Transportation Agencies ◽  
North And South ◽  
Observation Period

Many models were introduced to estimate the  roundabout entry capacity from 1980s until  now. In the United States, transportation  agencies adopted three different models from  1994 until 2010. The Austroads, the UK, and  the HCM 2010 methods. In this paper, these  three methods were used to analyze the field  traffic data of Al-Quds roundabout, located  near Baqubah City, simultaneously by utilizing  a system dynamics model. The collected data  included turning movements, circulating flows,  and field calculated entry capacities whenever  possible during the observation period which  lasted for 14 consecutive hours. A comparison  is then conducted on the resulting entry capacities and their variation over time. The  results showed that the calculated capacity  according to Austroads method is the highest at all times while the UK method was always a little lower and the HCM 2010 method was  always the least on all entries. The UK method  capacity estimates were the closest to the field  measured capacities for they returned the least  RMSE on all entries. Field capacities showed some tendency towards the Austroads results  in the north and south bound entries which  carry about 66% of the total traffic. While, field capacities showed more proximity  towards the HCM capacity results in the east  and the west bound entries which carry 34% of  the total traffic.

scholarly journals The Effect of P4 + eCG Estrus Induction Protocol during the Deep and the Transition Anestrous Period on the Reproductive Performance of Crossbred Dairy Goats

Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Francisco G. Véliz-Deras ◽  
César A. Meza-Herrera ◽  
Miguel Mellado ◽  
Viridiana Contreras-Villarreal ◽  
Leticia R. Gaytán-Alemán ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Body Condition Score ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Reproductive Outcomes ◽  
Dairy Goats ◽  
Herd Level ◽  
Reproductive Response ◽  
Condition Score ◽  
Positive Correlations

Seasonal reproduction restricts the offering of goat commodities across the year. Therefore, it is crucial to improve diverse strategies to induce the reproductive response in goats during the anestrus stage. The effectiveness of a short P4 + eCG-based estrus induction protocol during both the deep anestrous (March) or the reproductive transition period (June) upon the reproductive performance of crossbred dairy goats was assessed. Adult, anestrous, 24–30-month- old dairy crossbred (Saanen–Alpine–Nubian × Criollo) goats (n = 123) from two commercial herds and 10 sexually active goat bucks were used. Before the trials, the anestrous status of goats was confirmed. Then, goats were randomly allocated into two different experiments. In Exp. 1, we tested the effect of different doses (D) of intramuscular progesterone (P4; 10 or 20 mg + eCG (100 UI)) and type of breeding (TB), natural mating (NM), or artificial insemination (AI), on two commercial goat herds (H1 & H2), in March (deep anestrous). In Exp. 2, we evaluated the effect of D (P4; 10 or 20 mg + 100 UI eCG) in goats subjected to NM, and either during deep anestrous (March; M) or transitional anestrous (June; J), in two commercial herds. After breeding, conception and pregnancy were diagnosed with ultrasound scanning. The response variables were estrus induction (EI; %), estrus latency (EL; h), ovulation (OVP; %), ovulation rate (OR; units), fertility (FERT; %), and pregnancy (PREG; %). No differences (p > 0.05) in live weight (LW) and body condition score (BCS) occurred between herds in both trials. In Exp. 1, EI, EL, OVP, OR, FERT, and PREG were affected (p < 0.05) by the H–TB–D interaction, whereas in H1 + P4–20 combination had the highest (p < 0.05) EI, EL, and OVP values. Irrespective of TB, H1 had the largest (p < 0.05) OR, independently of TB or D. Also, the lowest (p < 0.05) OVP occurred in the AI + P4–10 group, while the AI had the lowest (p < 0.05) FERT, irrespective of D. FERT and PREG were two-fold higher (p < 0.05) in NM compared with AI. In Exp. 2, EI, EL, OVP, OR, FERT, and PREG were affected (p < 0.05) by the H–M–D interaction. In general, H2 + P4–10 had the lowest (p < 0.05) reproductive outcomes in March, whereas H1 had the largest (p < 0.05) values in either month. No differences (p > 0.05) between P4 doses occurred for EI, OVP, OR, FERT, and PREG. Yet, the largest (p < 0.05) EL occurred with P4–20 in June. No correlations (p > 0.05) occurred between LW and all the reproductive variables. BCS was positively correlated (p < 0.05) with EI (0.34), OVP (0.44), OR (0.58), and PREG (0.20). Also, positive correlations (p < 0.05) occurred between EI with EL (0.83), OVP (0.80), OR (0.64), and PREG (0.56); EL with OVP (0.58), OR (0.44), and PREG (0.42); OVP with OR (0.79) and PREG (0.70), as well as OR and PREG (0.63). Results of these studies confirm a multidimensional response regarding the effectiveness of P4 + eCG for estrus induction in goats mainly modulated by a specific time within the anestrous season, or even by specific management or a particular environment at the herd level (H1), although quite remarkably independent of the animal’s LW or BCS at herd level. Moreover, the best reproductive outcomes occurred with NM in June. The most reproductive variables were similar using either 10 or 20 mg P4 + 100 IU eCG, giving the possibility to lessen the scale in the use of exogenous hormones while obtaining acceptable out of season reproductive response.

Confirmation of the presence of a major gene for fecundity in Thoka Cheviot sheep by segregation analyses

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 ◽  
pp. 41-41
Author(s):  
G.A. Walling ◽  
S.C. Bishop ◽  
R. Pong-Wong ◽  
G. Gittus ◽  
A.J.F. Russel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Segregation Analysis ◽  
Major Gene ◽  
Breeding Programme ◽  
Complex Segregation Analysis ◽  
Gene Carriers ◽  
Favourable Allele ◽  
Icelandic Sheep ◽  
Progeny Tests ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Separate Population

The putative Thoka gene, with large effects on fecundity, originated in Icelandic sheep. The gene was introduced to the UK in 1985 through a programme of crossbreeding and established in Cheviot sheep (Russel et al., 1997). Ewes have been retained in the flock as putative Thoka gene carriers if they have lambed in each of the first three years and had at least two sets of twins. Progeny tests on a separate population of ewes have been used on two occasions to identify rams believed to carry the gene. Despite this complex breeding programme, the actual segregation of a gene for fecundity has yet to be unambiguously demonstrated in this flock. The purpose of this study is to use complex segregation analysis to demonstrate the existence of this gene, estimate the size of its effect and frequency of the favourable allele within the population.

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