Sarda female lambs bred at pasture: growth rate from weaning to reproductive activity

The traditional dairy sheep system in Sardinia presents 2 lambing seasons: in November-December for mature ewes and in February-March for primiparous. Replacement (20-25% of female lambs) usually came from mature ewes whereas all lambs born in January-February are slaughtered when their market price is low. These lambs could represent part of flock replacement that can integrate the traditional lamb breeding system, and also a flock replacement of ewes that are planned to lamb in late winter to have a continuous milk production all over the year. The aim of the present work, that represent an aspect of a wider trial, was to determine the suitability to breed this lambs under grazing condition monitoring their growth rate from weaning to the beginning of reproductive activity. At the “Bonassai” research farm an experiment was carried out from March 2004 to May 2005. 51 female Sarda lambs born from 19/01/2004 to 07/02/2004 (live weight 3.24±0.51 kg; mean±standard deviation) were weaned on average of 45 days (live weight 12.02±1.52 kg) and weighted monthly. After weaning feeding regimen was based on grazed forage crops (Lolium multiflorum Lam., Hedysarum coronarium L. and Cichorium intybus L.) and on natural pasture with an average stocking rate of 5.5 head/ha. The supplementation ranged between 0 - 1200 g/head/d of Lucerne and Italian ryegrass hay and 0 - 400 g/head/d of commercial concentrate, depending on herbage on offer. The amount of hay and concentrate offered during the trial represented 51% of total energetic requirements of lambs. Average lamb daily gain (ADG) during the experimental period resulted 74±11 g head/day. The ADG pattern showed a maximum value 30 days after weaning (139±33 g head/day) and a minimum value in January when herbage availability was low. At the beginning of reproductive activity lambs weighed on average 40.5±3.5 kg and their average body condition score was 3.03±0.12. The trial showed that is possible to breed lambs born in late winter at pasture. However an economic and technical evaluation of differences of these lambs compared to those bred in the traditional system is under evaluation

Role of pasture in the growth, intake and meat quality of Sardinian cattle breeds

Cattle meat production in Sardinia is based mainly on suckler-cows system. Such system, based on the selling of calves to the fatness centers and characterized by a limited use of resources out of farm suffered a severe crisis by the introduction of bluetongue emergencies in Sardinia, which determined restrictive measures for animal movements. Hence the farms have been forced to fatten calves, changing the production system and increasing the costs. The use of pasture in the fattening of animals could reduce feeding costs and improve the nutritional composition of meat. For that reason 3 studies were carried out, in order to evaluate if grazing can represent a chance for Sardinian beef system,. The main results were: Pasture-fed animals showed daily live gain and dressing percentage similar to other breeds, more specialized than Sardinian breeds for meat production, obtained in similar conditions. Sardinian cattle showed an high capacity in exploiting the Mediterranean pastures, thanks to its selective grazing. Pasture-fed animals have shown specific characteristics of meat as an higher content of n-3 PUFA, beneficial for the human health; that improves both nutritional characteristics and consumer perception of the meat produced by Sardinian young bulls. Overall, fattening of Sardinian bulls based on pasture, with certain levels of supplementation, is a system that can allow to obtain high quality meat with lower costs

Palatability of \u3cem\u3ePsolarea\u3c/em\u3e spp. Accessions Offered as Micro-Swards to Dairy Sheep

Psoralea bituminosa C.H. Stirton (syn. Bituminaria bituminosa L.) is a perennial legume usually considered of low palatability because of the strong smell that can be emitted by oil glands located on its foliage. However the nutritive value of P. bituminosa in terms of forage composition and digestibility was proven similar to or even better than that of other legumes. The aerial part of this species may contain a high concentration of furano-coumarins, out of which psoralen and angelicin are the most abundant (Pecetti et al. 2007). These substances could be harmful to animals, being responsible for contact photodermatitis, in addition to possibly limiting forage intake. Nevertheless there are some examples of the utilisation of P. bituminosa either as green or dry forage. In the Canary Islands, it is grazed all year and also is collected from late spring to mid-summer to make hay used to feed goats (Ventura et al. 2009). In Israel P. bituminosa is grazed by cattle in particular in mid-spring, when the principal grasses become less palatable. In late spring, when the herbaceous species dry up, P. bituminosa becomes the only species with green leaves and cattle graze the whole plant intensively (Sternberg et al. 2006). The potentiality of Psoralea as forage species for dairy sheep is less known. For that reason an experiment was carried out to evaluate the propensity of Sarda dairy sheep towards different accessions of Psoralea spp. using the micro-swards method (Orr et al. 2005)

Excretion of Aflatoxin M1 in milk of goats fed diet contaminated by Aflatoxin B1

An experiment was carried out to study the excretion of aflatoxin M1(AFM1) in milk of three goats fed a single dose (0.8mg/head) of pure aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). The values of AFM1 concentration excreted in milk was highly variable among goats, even if the pattern of excretion over time was very similar among the three animals. AFM1 was first detected at the milking performed 1h after the AFB1 administration. The highest values of AFM1 concentration in milk were reached 3 and 6h after the AFB1 intake. The trend of clearance of AFM1 in milk over time was expressed by a decreasing exponential equation. AFM1 concentration was below the EU maximum allowed level (50 ng/L) in milk collected 36 h after the AFB1 administration

Effects of different fat-enriched concentrates on fatty acid profile of cheese from grazing dairy sheep

A trial on different fatty acid supplementation was run in grazing dairy sheep. Forty-eight lactating Sarda ewes were randomly allocated to four homogeneous groups: PAS, control group grazing for 22h/d without supplementation; NOF, group supplemented with a cereal based non-fat enriched concentrate; C182, group supplemented with a concentrate rich in sunflower seeds; and C183, group supplemented with a concentrate rich in linseeds. The results showed that the concentrates, based on oilseeds from both sunflower and linseed sources determined high C18:1 t11 and CLA c9 t11 cheese fat content. Moreover linseeds supplementation improved the concentration in the cheese of other beneficial fatty acids such as LN and PUFAω3

Incidence estimates of hand and upper extremity injuries in Italy

Objective. The purpose of this investigation is to estimate the incidence rates of upper extremity injuries and to give an overview of the most frequent diagnoses.Materials and methods. Two population databases were queried for all injuries in the upper extremities, the SINIACA-IDB (S-IDB: Emergency Department Injury Database in Italy) and the Hospital Discharge Register (HDR). The diagnoses codes of hand trauma were selected from both databases in order to estimate the national incidence rate.Results. According to the S-IDB data of year 2011, total 1,479,510 ED attendances per year in Italy were estimated with an upper extremity injury (incidence rate: 2,491 per 100,000 persons/year). About 880,816 Emergency Department (ED) attendances per year are due to hand injuries, while over 653,336 attendances per year concern arm injuries. The incidence rates are 1,483 and 1,100 per 100,000 person/year respectively. About 201,940 hospitalizations are observed in the HDR because of upper extremity injuries (incidence rate: 340 per 100,000 persons/year). Males have higher incidence rate (387 vs. 280 per 100,000 persons per year). The trend in the incidence rates for the age group of inpatients shows two peaks: at age 12 (400 cases per 100,000 persons/year), and in the older age groups (700 cases per 100,000 persons/year)