Herbage intake in Danish Jersey and Danish Holstein steers on perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture

The objective of this study was to estimate herbage intake in Danish Friesian and Danish Jersey steers at an age of 8-9 months on ryegrass / white clover pasture. The steers were turned out on pasture in late April and herbage intake was estimated in June in steers of a mean live weight (± S.D.) of 264 ± 14 kg and 185 ± 25 kg for Danish Friesian and Danish Jersey respectively. Faeces and herbage samples were analysed for alkanes to estimate herbage dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility (DMD) and botanical composition of intake. The weight gains at the time of herbage intake estimation in June (kg/day) were 1.142 ± 265 kg/day and 0.927 ± 168 kg/day for Danish Friesian and Danish Jersey respectively. Daily herbage intake (kg dry matter (DM)) estimated by alkanes C32 /C33 was 8.33 ± 0.97 and 6.28 ± 0.61 per day (P<0.001) and 3.15 ± 0.32 and 3.43 ± 0.30 per 100 kg liveweight (LW) (P<0.05) for Danish Friesian and Danish Jersey respectively. The botanical composition of the diet was the same for Danish Friesian and Danish Jersey with about half of the diet being grass leaves and the other half clover leaves. It is concluded that Danish Jersey steers have higher herbage intake per 100 kg LW than Danish Friesian steers of the same age, but herbage intake per kg metabolic LW is not different between the two breeds

Effects of chicory roots on finishing performance and CLA and fatty acid composition in longissimus muscle of Friesian steers

Low profitability is believed to be the greatest hindrance profitability is believed to be the greatest hindrance for a more extensive use of dairy breed bull calves in for a more extensive use of dairy breed bull calves in organic beef production systems organic beef production systems Among certain consumers, there is an increasing interest Among certain consumers, there is an increasing interest for organic beef production for organic beef production However, there is a need for reliable information about However, there is a need for reliable information about and documentation for production parameters, methods and documentation for production parameters, methods for rearing and housing, feeding strategies etc. to be able for rearing and housing, feeding strategies etc. to be able to increase the consumption of beef meat based on dairy to increase the consumption of beef meat based on dairy calves in Denmark calves in Denmark. Specifically, we believe there will be increased focus on Specifically, we believe there will be increased focus on improving animal health and welfare and product quality in improving animal health and welfare and product quality in the steer production systems the steer production systems There will also be a wish from the society and EU to use There will also be a wish from the society and EU to use and preserve the biodiversity of the marginal grazing and preserve the biodiversity of the marginal grazing areas areas The project reported here arises from a larger project The project reported here arises from a larger project investigating the effects of grazing system (set investigating the effects of grazing system (set stocking vs. two stocking vs. two-paddock rotation) for steers and the paddock rotation) for steers and the use of bioactive crops (especially chicory) use of bioactive crops (especially chicory). Chicory is used because of the possible positive Chicory is used because of the possible positive influence on animal health, i.e., parasite control, meat influence on animal health, i.e., parasite control, meat quality and sensory quality of meat from both steers quality and sensory quality of meat from both steers and pigs (including CLA content, selenium and and pigs (including CLA content, selenium and antioxidative antioxidative status, drip loss and boar status, drip loss and boar taint/ taint/androstenone androstenone levels) levels). The overall objective of the entire project was to The overall objective of the entire project was to develop production methods/strategies that could develop production methods/strategies that could improve the quality aspects of organic meat improve the quality aspects of organic meat

Novel ageing-biomarker discovery using data-intensive technologies

Ageing is accompanied by many visible characteristics. Other biological and physiological markers are also well-described e.g. loss of circulating sex hormones and increased inflammatory cytokines. Biomarkers for healthy ageing studies are presently predicated on existing knowledge of ageing traits. The increasing availability of data-intensive methods enables deep-analysis of biological samples for novel biomarkers. We have adopted two discrete approaches in MARK-AGE Work Package 7 for biomarker discovery; (1) microarray analyses and/or proteomics in cell systems e.g. endothelial progenitor cells or T cell ageing including a stress model; and (2) investigation of cellular material and plasma directly from tightly-defined proband subsets of different ages using proteomic, transcriptomic and miR array. The first approach provided longitudinal insight into endothelial progenitor and T cell ageing.This review describes the strategy and use of hypothesis-free, data-intensive approaches to explore cellular proteins, miR, mRNA and plasma proteins as healthy ageing biomarkers, using ageing models and directly within samples from adults of different ages. It considers the challenges associated with integrating multiple models and pilot studies as rational biomarkers for a large cohort study. From this approach, a number of high-throughput methods were developed to evaluate novel, putative biomarkers of ageing in the MARK-AGE cohort

Effect of winter feeding level and season on herbage intake in dairy breed steers on perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture

The objectives of this study were (1) to estimate herbage intake in spring and late summer in Danish Friesian steers during their first grazing season on ryegrass / white clover pasture and (2) to investigate the effect of different winter feeding levels on subsequent herbage intake in Danish Friesian steers weighing more than 450 kg. In experiment 1 (exp.1), herbage intake was estimated in 18-20 steers of a mean live weight of 210 kg (s.e. 8.0 kg) and 312 kg (s.e. 8.9 kg) in May/June and August respectively. In experiment 2 (exp.2), twenty-two steers were allocated to 2 feeding treatments in their second winter with expected daily liveweight gain of 500 g (LOW) and 800 g (HIGH). The steers weighed 483 kg (s.e. 13.1 kg) (LOW) and 542 kg (s.e. 8.2 kg) (HIGH) at the time of turn-out on a ryegrass / white clover pasture. Herbage intakes were estimated in June using the alkane bolus technique. Faeces and herbage samples were analysed for alkanes to estimate herbage intake, digestibility and botanical composition of intake. The weight gains (kg/day) were 1.156 (s.e. 0.69) and 1.054 (s.e. 0.80) in May/June and August respectively (exp. 1) and 1.592 (s.e. 0.137) and 1.273 (s.e. 0.116) in June in LOW and HIGH respectively (exp. 2). Daily herbage intake (kg dry matter (DM)/steer) estimated by alkanes C32 /C33 were 5.2 (s.e. 0.26), 9.4 (s.e. 0.28) in May/June and August (exp.1) (P<0.001) and 12.0 (s.e. 0.50) and 10.4 (s.e. 0.41) in LOW and HIGH (exp.2) (P<0.05) respectively. The diet of steers contained primarily ryegrass leaves (0.70-0.90) and ryegrass stems (0.10-0.30) and clover (0-0.02 and 0.18 in exp.1 and exp.2 respectively). It was concluded that (1) steers during their first grazing season can maintain herbage intake per kg liveweight during the grazing season from May to August, and (2) steers weighing more than 450 kg are able to increase herbage intake along with compensatory growth