Sows are usually fed a single diet during lactation regardless of factors that affect nutrient requirements such as parity, milk production, and litter growth rate. Precision feeding through diet blending can be used to target an individual sow’s nutrient requirement and decrease diet costs compared to traditional feeding strategies.

Vitamin D (VD) plays an important role in bone mineralization and animal reproductive performance. As a metabolite of VD in the liver, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25OHD3) is gradually becoming a substitute for VD3. However, reported effects of administering 25OHD3 to sow diet instead of VD3 are inconsistent.

Acacia fiber is a soluble dietary fiber derived from the gum exudate of acacia trees. This fiber is commonly used in the pet food industry as a gelling and emulsifying agent, though its effects on feline gastrointestinal health are not well understood. The current experiment used a batch in vitro system and feline fecal inoculum to mimic the colonic bacterial fermentation process and assess the fermentation characteristics of an acacia fiber blend, inulin, pectin (positive control), and cellulose (negative control).

Direct-fed microbials (DFM), such as Bacillus spp., can enhance digestion and support the immune function of cattle. Nutritional management of beef cows during gestation and early lactation may enhance future offspring performance by multiple mechanisms, including modifying maternal and offspring blood metabolites.

Vitamin D3 (VD3) is essential for calcium and phosphorus absorption and bone development. However, endogenous synthesis of VD3 in poultry is insufficient to meet growth requirements, necessitating dietary supplementation. NRC (1994) recommended VD3 requirements for both starter and growing White Pekin ducks were 400 IU/kg. With the increasing growth rate of meat ducks, NRC recommendations may be inadequate for the growth of modern meat ducks.

Accurate measurements of enteric methane emissions are becoming increasingly relevant to cattle production. This study evaluated how environmental, animal, and equipment factors influence enteric emissions and their repeatability over time when measured through automated head chamber system devices.

Mathematical modeling and data analytics are two critical components for achieving sustainability in livestock production. While scientific knowledge remains the most crucial step in model-building (Tedeschi, 2023), educating and training students and researchers in modeling techniques are essential first steps to developing the necessary discipline and skills for successful mathematical model development (Ellis et al., 2020; Tedeschi, 2019). Due to limited opportunities for students and researchers to understand the underlying principles of mathematical modeling, the Modeling Committee of the National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP; https://animalnutrition.org) was tasked with enhancing modeling skills for future generations in animal science programs by providing training venues for quantitative and qualitative modeling approaches to data and predictive analytics.

Rumen fluid from 6 cannulated Angus crossbred steers (experimental unit) was utilized to assess CH4 production and other ruminal fermentation parameters, such as gas production, pH, concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and ammonia nitrogen, and in vitro organic matter digestibility under controlled laboratory conditions via the ex vivo model. To determine the effects of SCFP supplementation in vivo, rumen fluid from each steer was collected over a 24 h period to evaluate the dynamics of ruminal fermentation, and feed and fecal samples were collected to estimate the in vivo apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients.

Yeast is well known for its immunomodulating and gut stimulating effects, but its effects on postprandial amino acid (AA) absorption in dogs has not been measured. This study used 20 dogs allocated to 1 of 2 dietary treatment groups. Treatment dogs received the yeast supplement for 10 wk, and control dogs no supplement.

Mealworms serve as an alternative protein source for pet food. Because the amino acid (AA) content and protein quality of yellow mealworm-based ingredients may vary depending on their husbandry, harvest, and processing procedures, testing of each is required. Our objective was to measure the AA composition, AA digestibility, and protein quality of the following ingredients using the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay: 1) defatted yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) flour without cuticles (TM); 2) defatted yellow mealworm flour with cuticles (TMc); and 3) whole yellow mealworm pulp (TMp).

The rising popularity of equestrian sports has led to an increased demand for road transport to competitions. Research conducted in temperate climates indicates that this transport can be stressful for horses. A study in tropical climates discovered that horses experienced heightened acute stress during the initial loading and at the onset of unloading during the outbound journey, whereas increased stress was noted only during the initial loading in the inbound journey.

The integration of beef-on-dairy crossbred calves into feedlots remains a challenge due to their heightened susceptibility to disease. Calves raised on commercial dairies are commonly exposed to greater amounts of copper than calves raised in conventional beef production systems, which may contribute to increased inflammation and immune dysfunction.

On July 24th, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins released Secretary Memorandum: SM 1078-015 which outlines the Department of Agriculture’s Reorganization Plan. Secretary Rollins had indicated such a plan was being developed earlier in the year. While NIFA and ERS were relocated during the first Trump administration, it is expected that the changes will impact all of USDA’s research agencies.

The hypothesis for the experiment was that feeding intact protein from soybean meal (SBM) to growing pigs instead of a combination of corn, SBM and synthetic amino acids (AA) results in greater nitrogen retention and digestible energy without affecting metabolizable energy in the diet. Feeding diets differing in SBM and synthetic AA to growing pigs placed in metabolism crates, it was possible to collect urine and feces from pigs and based on that, the digestibility of energy and nitrogen was calculated.

Mare milk is the primary source of nutrients for neonatal foals and contains various carbohydrates. The primary carbohydrate is lactose, which is an important source of calories for foals. Milk also contains carbohydrates referred to as oligosaccharides. Oligosaccharides are chemically and structurally more complex than lactose and are believed to be important in the gastrointestinal development of neonates.

Cottonseed (CS) is a readily available resource in the southeast of the United States and has been used by farmers for decades to supplement their livestock. Nevertheless, there is conflicting evidence about the negative or positive effects this resource can have on their animals.

Beef cattle breed societies worldwide maintain pedigree information on their registered animals tracing back many generations. This extensive data facilitates the estimation of the expected relationship between individual pairs. Concurrently over recent decades, advancements in genotyping technologies have allowed for precise calculations of the actual relationships among any given pairs and the genetic diversity in the entire population.

Selection for larger litter sizes has heightened sow milk production demands, increasing metabolic heat production and sensitivity to heat stress, particularly during hotter summer months. This can compromise both sow welfare and piglet growth. Genomic selection for enhanced heat tolerance offers a promising solution, but past approaches have often reduced productivity by focusing on lowering heat gain resulting in decreased metabolic activity.

Enhancing the sustainability of pasture-based sheep systems by reducing methane emissions and increasing production is a global priority. In the current study, lambs grazed one of 5 differing sward types, namely, a perennial ryegrass monoculture or one of 4 binary sward mixtures, perennial ryegrass and white clover, perennial ryegrass and red clover, perennial ryegrass and chicory or perennial ryegrass and plantain.

The interest in natural antioxidants has increased because they are considered to be safe, and have greater application potential for consumer’s acceptability of milk products. Polyphenol compounds being a source of natural antioxidants, which have received substantial attention because of their antioxidant activities for consumers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of red yeast rice polyphenol extract on apparent digestibility, antioxidant activity, milk production, and fatty acid in lactating dairy goats.