Featured Articles

  • Feb
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of supplementing a Bacillus subtilis-based probiotic on performance, intestinal integrity, and serum antioxidant capacity and metabolites concentrations of heat-stressed growing pigs


    High ambient temperature provokes heat stress in animals, and pigs are highly affected showing low performance, and intestinal integrity and microbiota compromised. Probiotics could help pigs to maintain a healthy intestinal environment.

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  • Feb
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Daily dosing of cannabidiol (CBD) demonstrates a positive effect on measures of stress in dogs during repeated exposure to car travel


    Pet dogs often experience stress during routine car travel which can negatively affect both dogs and humans. A range of management and treatment options exist to address this, such as behavior modification, drug therapy, and supplements, yielding mixed results.

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  • Feb
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Is there a right time for dairy Alpine goat kid weaning: How does the weaning age of dairy Alpine goat kids affect their growth and behavior?


    In dairy goat kids, there is limited literature available on weaning management practices, despite this period being one of the most stressful events for kids and being associated with measures of poor welfare. This study aimed to compare weaning of dairy goat kids at 6-, 8-, and 10-wk of age to maximize outcome measures of welfare related to growth, feed intake, and behavior.

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  • Feb
    08
    Interpretive Summary: Rehydration post-transport: duration of oral fluid therapy on behavior, biochemical measures of hydration, and health of neonatal dairy calves


    Most male calves are sold and transported from the dairy farm soon after birth. Typically, calves are transported without access to milk and/or water, and they often arrive at calf-raising facilities with varying degrees of dehydration.

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  • Feb
    01
    Interpretive Summary: FDA releases antimicrobial report


    The United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) published the 2022 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals. This year, the FDA published the results in an interactive dashboard that allows users to interact with the data and create data visualizations using criteria such as antimicrobial drug class, species, and year.

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  • Feb
    01
    Interpretive Summary: Some states looking to ban cell-cultured meat


    A House bill introduced in Arizona would prohibit cell-cultured animal products. House Bill 2121 would restrict the production and sale of cell-cultured animal products, citing public health concerns and harm to the ranching industry and state economy. If law, those who violate the legislation would face a penalty of up to $25,000.

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  • Feb
    01
    Interpretive Summary: USDA launches the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer


    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that 35 states, along with five United States territories, and four Tribes plan to be the first to launch the new, permanent summer grocery benefits program for children in summer 2024. The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) will serve over 20 million children and provide nearly $2.5 billion in grocery benefits, accounting for 70% of the children in the United States eligible to participate in the program.

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  • Feb
    01
    Interpretive Summary: Judge upholds FSIS new swine inspection system


    In a recent legal battle, a federal judge has ruled in favor of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), upholding the adoption of the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS). Several animal rights and environmental organizations challenged the final rule, which addresses the modernization of inspection at market hog slaughter establishments.

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  • Feb
    01
    Interpretive Summary: House passed Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act


    The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act was recently passed by the United States House. The bill would allow whole and low-fat percentage milk to be included in the National School Lunch Program. The legislation passed with a 330-99 vote and will now move on to the Senate for consideration.

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  • Jan
    25
    Interpretive Summary: Rumen fermentation of meal-fed sheep in response to diets formulated to vary in fiber and protein degradability


    We estimated apparent appearance, apparent disappearance, appearance, and disappearance rates of rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) of sheep in response to the different degradability of nutrients using time-series fermentation indicators with regular meal feeding.

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  • Jan
    25
    Interpretive Summary: Exploring zinc deficiency using serum Zn levels: consequences and potential solutions in suckling pigs


    At weaning, young pigs may experience a decrease in serum Zn levels which can predispose them to diarrhea, particularly when fed diets with nutritional Zn levels. For several decades, this gap has been covered by using therapeutic levels of Zn. However, due to the negative collateral effects of these supra doses, from June 2022 in the EU the maximum level of Zn allowed in piglet diets is 150 mg/kg.

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  • Jan
    25
    Interpretive Summary: Variability in feed intake the first days following weaning impacts gastrointestinal tract development, feeding patterns, and growth performance in nursery pigs


    Poor adaptation to solid feed after weaning is often associated with a reduced digestive function and growth in nursery pigs. The reasons driving an early acceptance of feed and its consequences are still largely unknown. We investigated the effects of high and low feed intake between d1-3 after weaning on gastrointestinal development and morphometrics 1-wk after weaning and growth performance and feeding patterns in the nursery phase.

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  • Jan
    25
    Interpretive Summary: A revised model of energy transactions and body composition in sheep


    Based on prior work by Oltjen et al. (2006), a revised dynamic, mechanistic model was developed to improve the prediction of the composition of protein and fat in the body of growing ruminants. The revised model calculates heat production (HP) internally as a function of fasting HP, heat associated with feeding, and HP from changes in fat and protein within the body.

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  • Jan
    25
    Interpretive Summary: Combined purebred and crossbred genetic evaluation of Columbia, Suffolk, and crossbred lamb birth and weaning weights: systematic effects and heterogeneous variances


    Combining multiple breeds in a genetic evaluation allows for their direct comparison. However, differences in management and other systematic effects among breeds may affect the evaluation. Estimates of genetic merit of sires may also be biased by heterosis in crossbred progeny.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: The effect of chronic, non-pathogenic maternal immune activation on offspring postnatal muscle and immune outcomes


    Maternal inflammation or immune activation impacts fetal development and subsequently the offspring’s postnatal performance. In particular, maternal immune activation may be detrimental to fetal muscle development and alter postnatal immune responses, both of which are vital in determining livestock efficiency.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: Short-term responses of meat ewes facing an acute nutritional challenge in early-mid lactation


    Climate change is imposing unexpected nutritional challenges to livestock (in time and magnitude). In this context, the individual adaptive capacity to respond to, and recover from those environmental fluctuations is an increasingly important trait to be considered in the daily management operations by the farmer and in future selection programs.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: Dietary of different forms of Humulus scandens on growth performance and intestinal bacterial communities in piglets


    Humulus scandens (Hu), also referred to as Humulus japonicus, is an herb. Hu is reported to possess multiple biological functions, such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antimycobacterial, antioxidative, antimutagenic, and antitumor. Moreover, Hu contributed to improving the production performance of livestock.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: Effect of litter management systems on incidence and severity of footpad dermatitis among broilers at finisher stage


    Pododermatitis (FPD) is the inflammation of the paw of chickens affecting some performance characteristics of chickens negatively. To assess the impact of different litter management systems on the incidence and severity of pododermatitis on broiler finishers raised in a humid tropical environment, an experiment was conducted using 180 male broilers divided among 3 groups.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: Copper metabolism and its implications for canine nutrition


    Copper nutriture of the dog has recently received increased attention in the USA and European Union due to reports of apparent copper-associated hepatitis (CAH). Recent trends in canine nutrition have led to new questions regarding proper dietary copper concentrations in canine diets.

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  • Jan
    17
    Interpretive Summary: Effects of monensin and cashew nut-shell extract on bacterial community composition in a dual-flow continuous culture system


    Methane emissions from ruminants constitute an important environmental concern to society and hold particular relevance within the dairy industry. Antibiotics such as monensin and secondary plant metabolites such as cashew nut-shell extract (CNSE) are used to manipulate the ruminal microbiome to improve energy efficiency and to reduce methane emissions from ruminants.

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