304 research outputs found
The development of feeding and management strategies for milk production systems with very contrasting milk supply patterns.
End of Project ReportsIn Experiment 1, three systems of milk production with
contrasting calving patterns, namely 100% autumn (A); 100%
spring (S) and 50% autumn: 50% spring (AS), were compared
over a two year period. The average milk yield was 6,532, 6,358
and 6,142 kg/cow for systems A, AS and S respectively. The
difference in yield was not statistically significant. Fat yield, fat
content and protein yield for system S was significantly lower than
those with the other two systems. The autumn-calving cows (A) had
reduced reproductive performance.
Experiment 2 compared grazed grass with grass silage as a
forage source for autumn-calving cows in early lactation; it
showed that the cows on grazed grass had significantly higher milk
protein yield and milk protein content. The cows on the grass silage
had significantly lower dry matter intake and a significantly higher
bodyweight loss post-calving.
The aim of this project was to develop low-cost systems of milk
production which lead to an improved milk supply pattern of quality
milk for the food industry. In particular, the objective was to
research the role which grazed grass can contribute to the feed
requirements of cows calving at different times during the year.European Union Structural Funds (EAGGF
Winter Housing and Feeding System for Small to Medium Sized Dairy Farms
End of Project ReportA survey of 190 dairy farms in a co-operative area in the south of
Ireland served as the main source of data in the present study. Eight
farms representative of the different types of dairy farms were chosen
and their data were analysed using the Finpack financial analysis
program. These eight case studies were analysed using alternative
funding strategies to determine the effect of alternative funding
strategies for farm buildings on net farm income.
The data obtained were extrapolated to the national dairy herd.
There are some 14,050 dairy farms with quotas of less than 15,000
gallons and 40% of these were classified as non viable. The
corresponding figures for other quota categories are as follows: 8,150
farms with quotas of 15,000-25,000 gallons with 40% non-viable;
7780 farms with quotas of 25,000-40,000 gallons with 20% nonviable;
and 8,535 farms with quotas >40,000 gallons with 10% nonviable.
Non-viable dairy farms were those with low income, low contact
with advisory services, low household dependence on farm income, a
poor attitude to development and expansion and generally inadequate
farm facilities. Non-viable dairy farms should consider changing from
dairying into a suckler and/or beef enterprise and should be assisted
to do so by the advisory service. They should be considered for a
suckler quota unit for each 987 gallons of milk they had been
producing. They should consider using income assistants, e.g., REPS,
Early Retirement Scheme and/or unemployment benefits as relevant.
Training schemes should be targeted at young farmers and their
spouses who are not working so that they have a better chance of offfarm
employment, when relevant.
Potentially viable and viable dairy farms should be assisted on a sliding
scale depending on their quota size, as follows: Grant aid for upgrading
milking facilities, grant aid for milking and milk cooling equipment,
interest subsidies on interest payment on money borrowed for
agricultural development, the smallest milk quota farms should be
considered the priority for milk quota reallocation, quota purchase
should be subsidised if possible, quota leasing should be subsidised
for the smallest quota category (<15,000 gallons), installation Aid
should be introduced for all viable and potentially viable dairy farms.Dairy Farmer Levy Fund
Overview of Animal Production from Pastures in Ireland
Key points
The importance of grassland to agriculture in Ireland is indicated by the fact that: Sixty percent of agricultural output is from grassland as cattle, milk and sheep products. Over 90% of the total farmed area is in grass. Livestock are almost entirely dependent on grazed grass for 200 to 235 days of the year. Grass conserved as silage is the main source of fodder in winter. To improve competitiveness changes are continuously taking place, which include: increased suckler herd size and a movement to late maturing continental cattle breeds; movement in the dairy herd towards Holstein with increased production per animal; increased importance, post CAP reform, of technical efficiency to maintain competitiveness in a more market-orientated era, and greater influence on future livestock systems of agri-environmental support schemes and environmental legislation
Coincident count rates in absorbing dielectric media
A study of the effects of absorption on the nonlinear process of parametric
down conversion is presented. Absorption within the nonlinear medium is
accounted for by employing the framework of macroscopic QED and the Green
tensor quantization of the electromagnetic field. An effective interaction
Hamiltonian, which describes the nonlinear interaction of the electric field
and the linear noise polarization field, is used to derive the quantum state of
the light leaving a nonlinear crystal. The signal and idler modes of this
quantum state are found to be a superpositions of the electric and noise
polarization fields. Using this state, the expression for the coincident count
rates for both Type I and Type II conversion are found. The nonlinear
interaction with the noise polarization field were shown to cause an increase
in the rate on the order of 10^{-12} for absorption of 10% per cm. This
astonishingly small effect is found to be negligible compared to the decay
caused by linear absorption of the propagating modes. From the expressions for
the biphoton amplitude it can be seen the maximally entangled states can still
be produced even in the presence of strong absorption.Comment: Updated to journal version. 10 Pages, 8 figure
tert-Butyl 2-benzoyl-2-methylpropanoate
The title compound, C15H20O3, is bent with a dihedral angle of 67.28 (9)° between the mean planes of the phenyl ring and a group encompassing the ester functionality (O=C—O—C). In the crystal, molecules related by inversion symmetry are connected by weak C—H⋯O interactions into infinite chains. On one side of the molecule there are two adjacent interactions between neighbouring molecules involving the H atoms of methyl groups from the dimethyl groups and the O atoms of the ketone; on the other side, there are also two interactions to another adjacent molecule involving the H atoms on the phenyl rings and the carbonyl O atoms of the ester functionality
Atomic multipole relaxation rates near surfaces
The spontaneous relaxation rates for an atom in free space and close to an
absorbing surface are calculated to various orders of the electromagnetic
multipole expansion. The spontaneous decay rates for dipole, quadrupole and
octupole transitions are calculated in terms of their respective primitive
electric multipole moments and the magnetic relaxation rate is calculated for
the dipole and quadrupole transitions in terms of their respective primitive
magnetic multipole moments. The theory of electromagnetic field quantization in
magnetoelectric materials is used to derive general expressions for the decay
rates in terms of the dyadic Green function. We focus on the decay rates in
free space and near an infinite half space. For the decay of atoms near to an
absorbing dielectric surface we find a hierarchy of scaling laws depending on
the atom-surface distance z.Comment: Updated to journal version. 16 page
MWAX: A New Correlator for the Murchison Widefield Array
We describe the design, validation, and commissioning of a new correlator
termed "MWAX" for the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) low-frequency radio
telescope. MWAX replaces an earlier generation MWA correlator, extending
correlation capabilities and providing greater flexibility, scalability, and
maintainability. MWAX is designed to exploit current and future Phase II/III
upgrades to MWA infrastructure, most notably the simultaneous correlation of
all 256 of the MWA's antenna tiles (and potentially more in future). MWAX is a
fully software-programmable correlator based around an ethernet multicast
architecture. At its core is a cluster of 24 high-performance GPU-enabled
commercial-off-the-shelf compute servers that together process in real-time up
to 24 coarse channels of 1.28 MHz bandwidth each. The system is highly flexible
and scalable in terms of the number of antenna tiles and number of coarse
channels to be correlated, and it offers a wide range of frequency / time
resolution combinations to users. We conclude with a roadmap of future
enhancements and extensions that we anticipate will be progressively rolled out
over time.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASA. 22 pages, 14 figures, 2 table
tert-Butyl 2-(4-chlorobenzoyl)-2-methylpropanoate
The title compound, C15H19ClO3, is bent with a dihedral angle of 72.02 (9)° between the mean planes of the benzene ring and a group encompassing the ester functionality (O=C—O—C). In the crystal, molecules related by inversion symmetry are connected by weak C—H⋯O interactions into infinite chains. These interactions involve H atoms from a methyl group of the dimethyl residue and the O atoms of the ketone on one side of a molecule; on the other side there are interactions between H atoms of the benzene ring and the carbonyl O atoms of the ester functionality. There are no directional interactions between the chains
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