With the milk to feed ratio at 2.36 in February, 2008, dairy managers must carefully reviewing feed inputs relative to milk yield. A milk to feed ratio under 3 is a signal to reduce feed inputs. Feed efficiency (also referred to as milk performance efficiency and dairy efficiency) can be defined as pounds of 3.5%FCM (fat corrected milk) produced per pound of dry matter (DM) consumed. Monitoring...

Twenty eight lactating buffaloes were used in a completely randomized design with 2×2 factorial arrangement of four experimental diets including low protein–low energy (LP-LE), low protein–high energy (LP-HE), high protein–low energy (HP-LE) and high protein–high energy (HP-HE). Results showed that the HP-HE diet recorded the highest digestibility coefficients of CP, EE, NFE, nutritive values, ...

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of crude protein and threonine on performance, carcass characteristics and immune system of broiler chickens during starter (7-24) and grower (25-42) periods. a total of 288 male broiler chicks of ross 308 strain were used in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement (2×4) with three replicates in each trea...

Methane produced by methanogenic archaea in ruminants contributes significantly to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The host genetic link controlling microbial methane production is unknown and appropriate genetic selection strategies are not developed. We used sire progeny group differences to estimate the host genetic influence on rumen microbial methane production in a factorial exper...

Feed efficiency has a major influence on the unit cost of beef cattle production. Gibb and McAllister (1999) have reported that a 5% improvement in feed efficiency has an economic impact four times greater than a 5% improvement in average daily gain. In addition, the cost of feed is second only to fixed costs in importance to the profitability of commercial beef operations (Basarab, 1999). The ...

Increasing feed costs and the desire to improve environmental stewardship have stimulated renewed interest in improving feed efficiency of livestock, including that of US dairy herds. For instance, USDA cost projections for corn and soybean meal suggest a 20% increase over 2010 pricing for a 16% protein mixed dairy cow ration in 2011, which may lead to a reduction in cow numbers to maintain pro...

3.5 ha of sweet potato were used to feed 30 crossbred Brahman bulls with an average weight of 184 kg and approximately one year old in an experiment to study the use of sweet potato in beef production. The five treatments were allocated to the experimental units in an unrestricted randomized block design. Treatments contained 0:100, 25:75, 75:25, 50:50 ant 100:0 ratios of tubers to sweet potato...

in order to survey the inclusion effects of different levels of barley and/or corn grain in diet on growth and performance of holstein calves 40 newborn calves were taken in 5 experimental groups with 4 female and 4 male calves in each group for a duration of105 days. the experimental group was comprised of: group 1; no barley (only consisting of corn grain) and other experimental groups 2, 3, ...