Day-old Amberlink pullets were fed chicken starter mash for the first seven weeks of age. Group A was choice-fed with pelleted protein concentrate, whole yellow maize and limestone powder from seven to 16 weeks of age. Group B received the…
The aim of this study was to determine whether blood metabolite concentrations in free-ranging indigenous goat are sensitive to expected variations in nutrient supply, and whether they could be used to evaluate different kidding season at two locations subject to…
At two months of age, 48 Holstein-Friesland heifers were randomly allocated to four treatments comprising untreated wheat straw (WS), oven-ammoniated wheat straw (AWS), lucerne hay (LH) or oat hay (OH). Least cost nutrient balanced complete diets were formulated for heifers…
The sale prices of 1 609 Dorper rams sold between 1990 and 1999 were compared with their measured performances. An analysis of variance was carried out in order to determine which variables influenced sale price. The most importance factors were…
The aim of this experiment was to determine the effect of using a heavy or a light calibre rifle for night cropping of impala (Aepyceros melampus) on meat quality (pH, colour, cooking and drip loss, tenderness). The effect of gender…
This article proposes the Bayesian approach to solve problems arising in animal breeding theory. General elements of Bayesian inferences, e.g. prior and posterior distributions, likelihood functions, and the solving of the random effects in the case of the mixed linear…
The aim of this survey was to characterize the economic, social and nutritional importance of goat farming in the Mgwalana district of the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, and to identify critical constraints and opportunities for use in future…
The aim of this experiment was to determine to what extent changes in the blood concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs), leptin and glucose are associated with compensatory growth and age at puberty in Friesian heifers…
A total of 497 Merino ewes were allocated to one of four experimental groups for the period 1996 to 1998. The treatments were designed to provide data on the effect of shade during an autumn lambing season and the effect…
Genetic parameters were estimated for 36-, 42-, 50-, 100- and 150-day weight in the South African Mutton Merino breed. The direct heritability estimates obtained were 0.270, 0.366, 0.278, 0.185 and 0.115 respectively. The maternal heritability estimates for the respective weights…
The aim of this experiment was to determine the effect of genetic selection for milk production on nutrient partitioning at a high vs. a low plane of nutrition. Twelve Indigenous goat does and eight Saanen x Indigenous crossbred does were…
Known environmental effects influencing type trait scores in South African Jersey cattle were identified. Variance components and heritabilities were estimated for these traits as well as genetic correlations among them and with production traits. Heritability estimates were generally low to…
Data from purebred and crossbred cattle, consisting of the Afrikaner (A), Simmentaler (S) and Hereford (H) breeds managed in a relatively intensive but high stocking rate environment, were analysed to estimate breed direct effects, individual heterotic effects, breed maternal and…
The objective of this study was to determine the undegradable dietary protein requirements of veal calves. Two experiments were carried out with Holstein bull calves from 3-10 days of age until slaughter at 20 weeks of age. Both experiments were…
This study was conducted to determine whether rumen dry matter and crude protein degradability in calves aged 8-10 weeks differs from that in mature cows. Five Holstein bull calves were rumen-fistulated at six weeks of age and were used in…
Data from a multibreed composite beef cattle population, managed under intensive irrigated grazing conditions, were used to estimate direct additive heritabilities (h2a), maternal heritabilities (h2m) and maternal permanent environmental effects (c2) birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW) of the…
In this study the production performance of lactating dairy cows receiving varying levels of oat silage (OS) and lucerne hay (LH) was determined as well as the maximum inclusion level of OS. Oats was ensiled in the soft dough stage…
