Comparison between grass-silages of different dry matter content fed to reindeer during winter

A study was made of whether the dry matter content of silage influenced performance when 17-month-old male reindeer were fed solely silage outdoor during winter. Two kinds of round-baled silages with different wilting times were offered to the animals; low dry matter (LDM silage) with a mean of 39% DM, or high dry matter (HDM silage) with a mean of 53% DM. The 115 reindeer were allotted to slaughter at the start of the experiment in October or to be fed until slaughter in January or March. During the first three weeks of the experiment small amounts of lichens were mixed with the silages and the reindeer adapted to the feeding without problems. The daily intake of DM did not differ significantly between reindeer fed the LDM or the HDM silage despite a highly significant difference in daily silage intake. This resulted in small but significantly higher gains in live weight for animals fed the LDM silage, caused by increased weight of the rumen content. All groups of reindeer either retained or lost carcass weight during the experiment, and no improvements or differences were obtained between the kinds of silages in carcass assessment or gains in fat in the abdominal cavity. Animals slaughtered in January had a lower carcass weight and dressing percentage than reindeer slaughtered in October and March. Environmental conditions during the experiment were good but nonetheless mobbing and illness still occurred. The present results concur with those of earlier studies suggesting that it seems to be the bulk of the ration rather than the dry matter content of the silage that limits the intake

Evaluation of silage diets offered to reindeer calves intended for slaughter. I. Feeding of silage and barley from September to March

An experiment involving 75 male reindeer calves (mean initial live weight 39.6 kg, SD=3.7) intended for slaughter was undertaken to study the effect of proporrion of barley to silage in the diets on animal performance. The calves were alloted to five groups including one group slaughtered at the start of the experiment in September. The remaining groups were offered diets containing either, 30% (LB), or 60% (HB) rolled barley, based on the dry matter (DM) content, until slaughter in November (LB and HB) or in March (HB). The silage (43% DM) was made from the primary growth of a predominantly grass sward preserved as plastic-wrapped big bales. Small amounts of lichens were mixed with the rations during rhe first two weeks of the experiment and the calves adapted well to the experimental diets. However, health problems and deaths occurred on borh rarions after five weeks of feeding. Since the animals fed the LB diet lost live weight and condition the experimental feeding of these calves were interrupted at the slaughter in November. Calves fed the LB diet had significantly lower daily DM intake (P<0.01). They also had lower live weighr gain (not significant), greater losses of carcass weight and fat in the abdominal cavity relative to those offered the HB diet. During the second period of the study the remaining animals offered the HB diet showed no signs of ill-health and increased live weight, carcass weighr, and fat in the abdominal cavity. The results of the presenr experiment indicate that when silage of the investigated quality is fed to reindeer calves rhe proportion of silage should not exceed 40% of the DM

Evaluation of silage diets offered to reindeer calves intended for slaughter. II. Feeding of silage and concentrate from January to March

An experiment involving 56 male reindeer calves, with a mean initial live weight of 39 kg (SD=4.6), was undertaken to evaluate the effect of the concentrate:silage ratio on the performance during feeding to slaughter. Forty four of the calves were divided in four groups, two groups each being allotted to diets with low, 60% (LC), or high, 80% (HC) proportions of a commercial pelleted feed. The remaining twelve calves were slaughtered at the start of the experiment. The experimenral period lasted from January to March. The proportions of concentrate to silage were based on the dry matter (DM) content. The silage, 44% DM, was made from the primary growth of a predominantly grass sward preserved as plastic-wrapped big bales. Animal health was good throughour the experimenr. Small amounts of lichens were mixed into the diets during the first rwo weeks of feeding and may have contributed to the lack of adapta-tionai problems. The mean daily intakes of DM and metabolisable energy were higher (P<0.01) for calves offered the HC-diet. Despite the higher feed intakes, the increased proportion of concentrate in the diet did not significantly alter live weight gains or carcass weight gains. However, the greater fat deposition (P<0.05) and better carcass gradings indicated a better condition of the animals at slaughtet when less silage was fed. This experiment was the the final part of a three year study of silage based diets for reindeer intended for slaughter and the general conclusion is that the best role of grass silage of this quality is as a limited part of the ration. The silage may, however, play an important role during the adaptation period and further detailed studies are needed to evaluate the applicability of silage as a part of the diet to reindeer

Grazing and fouling behaviour on different vegetation types within heterogeneous semi-natural and naturalised pastures

In a two-year study, grazing, resting and fouling behaviour of cattle grazing on heterogeneous semi-natural/naturalised continuously grazed, fenced pasture areas (sites), were examined using two and nine sites in year 1 and 2. Five vegetation types were identified and mapped out on the sites used in the study: four typical species-rich semi-natural vegetation types (dry, mesic, wet, shaded), and one naturalised, grass-dominated type on former fertilised arable land. The two sites used in year 1 and seven sites in year 2 contained all five vegetation types, while one or two vegetation types (dry and wet) were absent on the remaing two sites in year 2. Behaviour was recorded over 24 h on three occasions in year 1, and on one occasion in year 2. During observation hours, animal behaviour (grazing/resting/other) and vegetation type grazed were recorded at 5-minute intervals and time and location of defecation and urination were recorded continuously. Vegetation types were sampled for herbage analysis directly after behaviour observations by cutting the vegetation in three random plots per type. Relative preference for grazing, resting and fouling was calculated for each vegetation type by dividing proportion of behaviour observations spent on a specific vegetation type by proportion of total area occupied by this vegetation type. The results showed that during both years, animals showed the greatest relative preference for the naturalised vegetation type when grazing or fouling (urination and defecation). The naturalised vegetation type also had the greatest content of metabolisable energy (from 9.8 to 10.1 MJ/kg DM) and crude protein (from 131 to 157 g/kg DM) and the least content of neutral detergent fibre (from 453 to 456 g/kg DM)

Real-time monitoring the electrical properties of pastes to map the hydration induced microstructure change in cement-based materials

The effect of the supplementary materials (SCMs) on the moisture content and ion diffusivity at different hydration time is important for the service life modelling of modern concrete. This study designed a simple but valid method to monitor the microstructure change in pastes during hydration. A procedure easy to implement was proposed to detect the water content in pastes. The electrical conductivity of pore solution was evaluated by the evaporable water content in pastes and chemical composition in the binders. Results show that the electrical properties of pastes (conductivity, formation factor and its growth rate) can effectively indicate the hydration reactivity of binder, pore connectivity and volume of pore solution in the hardened pastes. The effect of waterbinder ratio and SCMs on the structure of pastes are effectively indexed by the formation factor which is the conductivity of pore solution divided by that of paste. The inflection point of average growth rate of formation factor is a good index for the final setting of pastes. The relation between volume of evaporable water and formation factor is well demonstrated by the extended percolation theory. The real-time monitored electrical conductivity and formation factor of pastes can be used to calculate the chloride migration coefficient in hardened cement pastes

Moisture and ion transport properties in blended pastes and their relation to the refined pore structure

This paper presents a study of the\ua0moisture transport\ua0properties in blended pastes measured by a new procedure and setup. The dependence of moisture transport coefficient on relative humidity (RH) is confirmed. The differences in the moisture dependency may be due to discrepancies in the critical RH for the\ua0percolation\ua0of liquid. Fly ash and slag increase the percentage of mesopores or “ink-bottle” pores with a\ua0mesoscale\ua0neck and they strongly reduce the pore connectivity in pastes. These effects cause the evident reduction in the moisture and chloride diffusivity. The additional replacement with\ua0limestone filler\ua0has little effect on the pore connectivity. The formation factor controls the moisture transport at the high RH interval, but the volume of small pores (middle capillary and mesopores) is the major determinant at a low RH interval. The relationship between water-binder ratio,\ua0pore structure\ua0and moisture transport or chloride migration coefficient is discussed

Using water vapour and N2 isotherms to unveil effects of SCMs on nanopores and evaluate hydration degree

Nanopores are critical for the durability of cement-based materials, but the refinement of these pores by SCMs is yet to have a clear understanding. This paper studied effects of the water–binder ratio, SCMs and the drying on the distribution of nanopores using water vapour and N2\ua0sorption isotherms. Results show that data of water vapour sorption can be used for a practical evaluation of the hydration degree of SCMs with thermodynamic simulation. Fly ash increases the volume of large gel and capillary pores. It lowers the difference between the sorption of water vapour and N2. Slag evidently refines the nanopores by increasing the volume of ink-bottle gel pores with an interlayer-size neck. A higher\ua0w/b\ua0produces more large pores to reduce the effect of drying. Removal of water induces contraction of interlayer and reduces gel pores volume, which causes large difference between sorption of water vapour and N2

Multifaceted value profiles of forest owner categories in South Sweden: The river helge å catchment as a case study

Forest landscapes provide benefits from a wide range of goods, function and intangible values. But what are different forest owner categories\u27 profiles of economic use and non-use values? This study focuses on the complex forest ownership pattern of the River Helge å catchment including the Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve in southern Sweden. We made 89 telephone interviews with informants representing the four main forest owner categories. Our mapping included consumptive and non-consumptive direct use values, indirect use values, and non-use values such as natural and cultural heritage. While the value profiles of non-industrial forest land owners and municipalities included all value categories, the forest companies focused on wood production, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency on nature protection. We discuss the challenges of communicating different forest owners\u27 economic value profiles among stakeholders, the need for a broader suite of forest management systems, and fora for collaborative planning. © 2013 The Author(s)

Parents' assessment of parent-child interaction interventions – a longitudinal study in 101 families

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of the study was to describe families with small children who participated in parent-child interaction interventions at four centres in Sweden, and to examine long term and short term changes regarding the parents' experience of parental stress, parental attachment patterns, the parents' mental health and life satisfaction, the parents' social support and the children's problems.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this longitudinal study a consecutive sample of 101 families (94 mothers and 54 fathers) with 118 children (median age 3 years) was assessed, using self-reports, at the outset of the treatment (T1), six months later (T2) and 18 months after the beginning of treatment (T3). Analysis of the observed differences was carried out using Wilcoxon's Signed-Rank test and Cohen's d.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results from commencement of treatment showed that the parents had considerable problems in all areas examined. At the outset of treatment (T1) the mothers showed a higher level of problem load than the fathers on almost all scales. In the families where the children's problems have also been measured (children from the age of four) it appeared that they had problems of a nature and degree otherwise found in psychiatric populations. We found a clear general trend towards a positive development from T1 to T2 and this development was also reinforced from T2 to T3. Aggression in the child was one of the most common causes for contact. There were few undesired or unplanned interruptions of the treatment, and the attrition from the study was low.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study has shown that it is possible to reach mothers as well as fathers with parenting problems and to create an intervention program with very low dropout levels – which is of special importance for families with small children displaying aggressive behaviour. The parents taking part in this study showed clear improvement trends after six months and this development was reinforced a year later. This study suggests the necessity of clinical development and future research concerning the role of fathers in parent-child interaction interventions.</p