Some serum electrolyte values of 170 cows in eight settled cattle herds in Zaria, Northern Nigeria during the third trimester of pregnancy and first two weeks of lactation were determined. The cows were sampled once weekly during the third trimester of pregnancy and early lactation (first two weeks) periods for two consecutive weeks respectively. The total (overall) mean prepartum and postpartu...

Interest in improving feed efficiency in cattle is intensifying. Residual feed intake (RFI), which is the difference between expected intake and that predicted based on energy demands, is now the most commonly used measure of feed efficiency over a given time period. However, RFI, as commonly defined, is independent of growth rate, which may affect its acceptance by industry. Residual BW gain (...

in the present study, under typical management conditions of dairy farms in iran, the effect of oral administration of on serum glucose, ast and arginase(indices of liver injuries) of oral monensin was assessed. thirteen multiparous holstein cows were blocked into a control and an experiment group from 3 weeks prepartum to 45 days postpartum according the number of their calvings. the groups re...

Recent research has shown a negative correlation between marbling and serum retinol concentration in Japanese Black cattle. Three hundred sixty single-source black, yearling steers (average initial BW = 316 ± 9.1 kg) fed a 91 % concentrate (steam-flaked corn base) diet were used to evaluate the effects of supplemental vitamin A concentration on performance, DMI, and carcass traits. Steers were ...

. an experiment was conducted by incorporating 35 newborn balouchi lambs to study the effects of different type and levels of forage in starter diets on rumen development characteristics and performance. the 5 experimental treatments were included; starter diet without forage (control) and starter diet containing two levels (7.5 and 15%) of alfalfa hay and wheat straw. inclusion of forages incr...

Large ruminants respond to changing plant phenology during winter by decreasing voluntary food intake, increasing gut passage time and utilizing body fat reserves. It is uncertain, however, how other large mammals with a non-ruminant digestive physiology cope with winter forage conditions. Therefore, we investigated seasonality of energy intake in a large herbivorous wild mammal, the Przewalski...

this study was conducted on 24 holstein cows in close-up period, in a split-plot in time design, with a 2×2 factoriel arrangement and in a completely randomized framework to evaluate the effect of pre and postpartum dietary cation-anion differences (dcad) on homeostasis of calcium, acid-base balance and the subsequent lactation performance. the first factor was prepartum dcad for which the anim...

To determine the value of pre-pubertal plan of nutrition on reproductive performance, hormonal concentrations and milk production in ewe lambs, a total of 40 clinically health Kurdish female lambs (30±8.6 d and weighing 10.2±3.4 kg) were randomly allocated to one of two experimental diets in pre-weaning period: high quality diet (HQD) (HQD, 2.50 Mcal ME/kg dry matter (DM) and 148 g CP/kg DM) or...