successful pasture-based milk production systems pivot on balancing dairy cows’ feed requirements with seasonal and annual fluctuations in pasture production. in order to maximise cow production from grazing dairy systems, it is necessary to reach an efficient utilization of grazed grass for feeding cows and the development of appropriate grazing management systems designed to maximize daily pa...

Control of ration quantity and composition is important in the management of horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) or equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) that exhibit obesity and/or hyperinsulinemia. In obesity, restriction of daily dry matter intake to 1.25% to 1.5% of current body weight will facilitate weight loss and improvement in insulin sensitivity in most horses, although...

TWO methods of estimating pasture intake from total faecal output are discussed. Dry matter indigestibility co-efficients (apparent) are useful where the range of inter-species digestibility is relatively narrow in any one seasonal period. A relationship between total faecal nitrogen excretion and dry matter intake is illustrated and the biological principles upon which this type of relationshi...

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY A change in management from pasture to stabling is a risk factor for equine colic. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of a management change from pasture with no controlled exercise to stabling with light exercise on aspects of gastrointestinal function related to large colon impaction. The hypothesis was that drinking water intake, faecal output, faecal water c...

Successful pasture-based milk production systems pivot on balancing dairy cows’ feed requirements with seasonal and annual fluctuations in pasture production. In order to maximise cow production from grazing dairy systems, it is necessary to reach an efficient utilization of grazed grass for feeding cows and the development of appropriate grazing management systems designed to maximize daily pa...

Grazing management is a key factor in pasture-based dairy systems, which can be improved given advanced knowledge of the effects of pregrazing pasture mass (PM) on the performance of dairy cows. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of PM on the pasture intake, milk production, milk composition, and grazing behavior of strip- or rotational-grazing dairy cows, based on a meta-analysi...

Undi, M., Wilson, C., Ominski, K. H. and Wittenberg, K. M. 2008. Comparison of techniques for estimation of forage dry matter intake by grazing beef cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 88: 693 701. Four techniques were compared for their ability to estimate forage dry matter intake (DMI) of grazing animals. In the Cage technique, 10 grazing cages were placed within each pasture, and forage inside and ou...

In an automatic milking unit, a daytime grazing system with production pasture (group P) was compared with offering cows a small grass-covered paddock only for exercise and recreation, i.e. exercise pasture (group E). Two experiments (Exp1 and Exp2) were performed during 12 and 5 weeks with 53 cows and 42 cows, respectively. Group P was offered new pasture daily with night-time access to grass ...

Increasing plant species diversity has been proposed as a means for enhancing annual pasture productivity and decreasing seasonal variability of pasture production facing more frequent drought scenarios due to climate change. Few studies have examined how botanical complexity of sown swards affects cow performance. A 2-year experiment was conducted to determine how sward botanical complexity, f...