Featured Articles

  • Jun
    06
    Interpretive Summary: A matter of age? How age affects the adaptation of lactating dairy cows to virtual fencing


    For dairy farmers, pasture management is a difficult task, including feeding the herd on demand, improving pasture use efficiency, and dealing with high labor costs. Virtual Fencing (VF) is an innovative technology that can help farmers to solve these issues.

    Read more
  • Jun
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of supplemental citrulline on thermal and intestinal morphology parameters during heat stress and feed restriction in growing pigs


    Heat stress (HS) negatively affects animal health and production efficiency and is a significant economic burden to global animal agriculture. Although the mechanisms responsible for reduced animal productivity during HS are complex and multifaceted, increasing evidence points to decreased intestinal barrier function as an important mediator of this response.

    Read more
  • Jun
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Heat stress alters hematological parameters in barrows and gilts


    Heat stress (HS) negatively impacts efficient pork production; however, the role of biological sex is largely unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which HS differentially impacted hematological parameters in barrows and gilts. To address this, 3-mo-old barrows and gilts were exposed to ambient temperature or constant HS for 1 or 7 d.

    Read more
  • Jun
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of sex and milk replacer with or without supplemental carnitine and arginine on growth characteristics, carcass, and meat quality of artificially reared low-birth weight pigs


    Breeding efforts to increase litter size in modern sows have inadvertently reduced the average birth weight of piglets, resulting in a higher number of piglets born with low-birth weight. These piglets are indeed vulnerable from birth and display relatively poor growth potential from a very early stage.

    Read more
  • Jun
    06
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of porcine somatotropin administration on the responses to dietary lysine and a near-ideal blend of amino acids on the amino acid composition of whole-body protein and amino acid accretion rate in growing pigs


    This study evaluated the effects of two factors, porcine somatotropin and graded levels of amino acids, on the total accumulation and the accretion rate of amino acids across a broad range of protein deposition rates in growing pigs. Treatments included 1) with or without a daily injection of porcine somatotropin and 2) graded levels of total dietary lysine from 0.75% to 1.50%.

    Read more
  • May
    23
    Interpretive Summary: Nano vitamin E improved the antioxidant capacity of broiler chickens


    With the rapid development of intensive farming, factors such as high temperature, harmful gases, high-fat and high-protein diets, and changes in feeding methods have become causes of oxidative stress in animals. Studies have shown that oxidative stress decreases livestock feed intake and slows growth in animals, thereby affecting the quality of livestock products.

    Read more
  • May
    23
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of different feeding strategies and dietary fiber levels on energy and protein retention in gestating sows


    Feeding sows sugar beet pulp (SBP) has many known benefits, for example, increased satiety and high fermentability. This study investigates the ability of the sow to utilize energy for fat retention when replacing part of starch with dietary fiber.

    Read more
  • May
    23
    Interpretive Summary: Methane output across life stages in sheep, how it differs from lambs to adult ewes using portable accumulation chambers


    Obtaining accurate estimates of methane (CH4) output across life stages is important to assess how CH4 output changes throughout the production cycle in pasture-based sheep production systems. This study investigated the factors associated with CH4 output at each life stage (lambs, hoggets, pregnant, lactating, and dry ewes), the relationship between CH4 output measured across life stages and the relationship between CH4 output and dry matter intake (DMI) in an Irish lowland sheep production system.

    Read more
  • May
    23
    Interpretive Summary: Genomic estimated breeding values for bovine respiratory disease resistance in Angus feedlot cattle


    Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the major cause of losses in feedlot cattle worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated that there is a genetic component to resistance to BRD, suggesting that this trait could be improved by selection.

    Read more
  • May
    23
    Interpretive Summary: Differential analysis of immunoglobulin gene expression pattern in chickens of distinct breeds and developmental periods


    Immunoglobulins play a key role in the organism’s defense against pathogens, and their diverse expression allows the body to generate a wide array of antibodies. This diversity serves as a critical safeguard for the immune system against various pathogens.

    Read more
  • May
    21
    Teresa Davis, Ph.D. - Why I Give


    What a great day to join my colleagues and give back!

    Read more
  • May
    16
    Interpretive Summary: Bioactive metabolites of Asparagopsis stabilized in canola oil completely suppress methane emissions in beef cattle fed a feedlot diet


    Red seaweed, Asparagopsis taxiformis (Asparagopsis), has been shown to be highly effective at inhibiting the production of methane (CH4) in ruminants. An alternative to feeding whole, freeze-dried Asparagopsis is steeping the biomass in vegetable oil to stabilize the bioactive compounds (Asp-Oil) and feeding Asp-Oil to ruminants as a component of their dietary intake.

    Read more
  • May
    16
    Interpretive Summary: How do grazing beef and dairy cattle respond to virtual fences? A review


    Virtual fencing is a GPS-enabled fencing technology with the potential for improved livestock and pasture management, as well as socioeconomic and environmental benefits. However, the missing visual cue of a physical fence and the use of electric signals to ensure animals stay within the invisible boundary raise ethical and animal welfare concerns regarding the animal’s ability to understand and learn the technology and the stress and anxiety associated with these processes.

    Read more
  • May
    16
    Interpretive Summary: Maternal pre- and postpartum supplementation of a Bacillus-based DFM enhanced cow and calf performance


    Direct-fed microbials (DFM), such as Bacillus spp., have been shown to produce a wide variety of enzymes related to nutrient digestion and to support gastrointestinal tract immune function and integrity, leading to increased nutrient digestibility and cattle performance.

    Read more
  • May
    16
    Interpretive Summary: Beef production and carcass evaluation in Brazil


    This paper aims to explore the main characteristics of beef cattle production and carcass evaluation in Brazil. Livestock production in Brazil continues to expand due to the adoption of new specialized technologies.

    Read more
  • May
    16
    Interpretive Summary: Carcass assessment and value in the Australian beef and sheepmeat industry


    Beef and sheepmeat are major high-volume foods produced in Australia for both domestic consumption and export markets. Australian carcass and meat evaluation has evolved from very basic and imprecise carcass assessments to more sophisticated systems over the last 30 years, reflecting changing technologies, market systems, and consumer preferences, with significant investment in eating quality research.

    Read more
  • May
    09
    Interpretive Summary: Trace mineral source and chromium propionate supplementation affect performance and carcass characteristics in feedlot steers


    Trace minerals (TM) are supplemented to finishing cattle diets to prevent TM deficiencies. Sources of TM differ in their bioavailability and effect on rumen fermentation. Chromium is a TM required in low concentrations to enhance insulin activity.

    Read more
  • May
    09
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of diets supplemented with bioactive peptides on nutrient digestibility, immune cell responsiveness, and fecal characteristics, microbiota, and metabolites of adult cats


    Dietary bioactive peptides (BP) may have positive health effects, but are poorly tested in cats. Our primary objective was to determine the apparent total tract digestibility of BP-containing kibble diets and assess how fecal characteristics, metabolites, and microbiota were affected in adult cats.

    Read more
  • May
    09
    Interpretive Summary: Influence of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, and digestive enzyme activity in lambs


    This research explored the influence of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), an anti-inflammatory mediator, in lambs fed a high-concentrate finishing diet on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, and digestive enzyme activity. Wether lambs were fed a whole corn grain-based diet containing no added forage and randomly assigned to either the VIP or control group.

    Read more
  • May
    09
    Interpretive Summary: Gene expression of free fatty acids-sensing G protein-coupled receptors in beef cattle


    Free fatty acids (FFA) are key modulators of bovine physiology. Recently, it has been discovered that some G protein-coupled receptors, termed free fatty acid receptors (FFARs), may help mediate the action of FFA at the cellular level.

    Read more