Body condition scores (BCS) and/or body weights (BWT) are often used as visual or tactile management tools to evaluate and improve reproductive competency in pasture-managed small ruminant animals. This study was designed relationships between BCS, BWT traits (number born alive weaned, litter size, birth weaning weights) 16 purebred Kiko, 11 Boer 7 Kiko x crossbred meat goat dams that were semi...

In this paper charcoals from the Syrian sites Tell Mozan and Jerablus are investigated to understand impact of 4th 2nd millennium BC settlement on vegetation. Charcoals these have been identified oak fragments measured for their maximal diameter annual ring widths. Our results show that while had reached its expansion in Mid-Holocene, vegetation Euphrates Valley was lusher than today, strong an...

BACKGROUND At the end of 2011, a new orthobunyavirus, tentatively named Schmallenberg virus (SBV), was discovered in Germany. This virus has since been associated with clinical signs of decreased milk production, watery diarrhoea and fever in dairy cows, and subsequently also with congenital malformations in calves, lambs and goat kids. In affected countries, initial surveillance for the infect...

Genetic differentiation is generally assumed to be low in highly mobile species, but this simplistic view may obscure the complex conditions and mechanisms allowing genetic exchanges between specific populations. Here, we combined data from satellite-tracked migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus), microsatellite markers, and demographic simulations to investigate gene flow mechanisms between sev...

BACKGROUND Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and bovine corona virus (BCV) affects cattle worldwide. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of these infections on general health and reproduction parameters measurable on herd level and to explore the association between antibody status and some herd characteristics. METHODS We collected a pooled milk sample from five primiparous cow...