ASAS Foundation Week - Taking Stock - Special Edition
May 21, 2025

Cattle-fed diets with insufficient forage fiber concentrations may be predisposed to various digestive disorders. It has been suggested that there is a minimal fiber requirement for high-grain diets that is influenced by fermentability of the feed, forage particle size, and grain processing.

Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is the predominant digestive disorder in feedlot cattle, but the exact timing and ruminal pH parameters associated with SARA are still debated. The need for continuous monitoring of ruminal pH to help define SARA has led to the development of indwelling pH monitoring boli.

Recently, a new variety of high-oil soybean patented as PHOTOSEED has been developed, but there are no data for the nutritional value of the de-oiled co-product from this variety. The hypothesis of this experiment was that the digestibility of energy and nutrients in soybean expellers produced from the new variety of high-oil soybeans (SBE-HO) is not different from that of soybean expellers produced from conventional soybeans (SBE-CV).

The use of antibiotics as growth promoters has been phased out due to concerns over microbial resistance, creating a demand for alternatives in pig feed. Benzoic acid (BA) has gained attention through its antimicrobial effects in the intestine, potentially improving nitrogen utilization, reducing diarrhea, and ultimately enhancing growth and carcass characteristics in pigs.

Sheep milk is in increasing demand worldwide for its unique nutrients. Mammary physiological processes and lactation performance are regulated by hormones, and studies have shown that estrogen has the ability to regulate autophagy during mammary development, but the specific mechanism is not clear.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly omega-3 fatty acids, play a crucial role in various body functions related to reproduction, health, and growth in livestock. This study focused on supplementing omega-3 fatty acids to first-calf beef heifers during the last trimester of gestation. The results showed that omega-3 supplementation had a positive impact on immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration in colostrum and offspring circulation, indicating improved maternal antibody transfer.

Body reserves (BR) are vital for ruminants, enabling them to adapt to energy demands during key physiological stages (PhySt) and changing environments. This study assessed how farming systems (FS; indoor vs. outdoor) affect BR dynamics in Romane meat ewes with shared genetics.

ASAS Foundation Week - Taking Stock - Special Edition
May 22, 2025

ASAS Foundation Week - Taking Stock - Special Edition
May 21, 2025

ASAS Foundation Week - Taking Stock - Special Edition
May 20, 2025

ASAS Foundation Week - Taking Stock - Special Edition
May 19, 2025

Farm animal production has undergone significant transformations in the last 60 years, associated with globalization, population growth, increasing affluence, and the resulting demand for animal products. Altogether, this has driven a significant growth in the global number of animals and continuous changes in the production systems in response to different environmental, social, and economic challenges.

Pasture-based dairy systems aim to match feed demand with home-grown feed supply by maximizing the amount of pasture in the cows’ diet. This is achieved through concentrated (or ‘compact’) seasonal calving where cows are typically dried off together in autumn and calve in late winter/early spring within a short timeframe (e.g., 78% within 6 wk) so that peak milk production coincides with peak grass growth and by maintaining cows at grass for extended periods (Kelly et al., 2020). While such systems were traditionally seen as extensive, intensification has occurred, leading to discussions about welfare challenges (Mee and Boyle, 2020).

Societal scrutiny of animal welfare in food production systems is intensifying. In the dairy sector, the impact of heat stress on cow productivity, health, and welfare is a growing global concern, particularly with increasing temperatures and weather variability predicted to become more extreme (Nguyen et al., 2016). Excessive heat can negatively impact biological functioning including milk production, health, and reproduction (Kadzere et al., 2002), and in severe circumstances, it can cause suffering, reduce quality of life, or even lead to death (Polsky and von Keyserlingk, 2017).

Gilt selection has always been a critical task in the global pig industry. From local breeders within herd book farms to selection specialists within large integrated multisite producers, having a quality selection of incoming great-grand-parent, grand-parent, and parent animals is a core baseline requirement and fundamental for generational success. Key aspects of solid selection have changed over the years, mainly driven by the increased understanding that selection as an outcome of youngstock development achieves desired production results (Patterson and Foxcroft, 2019).

There is growing societal concern for farm animal welfare and interest in production conditions (European Commission, 2022). In many countries, quality assurance labels have been established to communicate that products have been produced from animals reared on higher welfare-certified farms. In this way, consumers can choose to play a role in driving farm animal welfare improvements through their product purchases (Christensen et al., 2019).

At least nine of the 27 EU member states have national food labeling schemes with animal welfare claims, and there is a growing plethora of private animal welfare labels (AWL), e.g., as part of the marketing strategy of retail companies (Lundmark et al., 2018; EC, 2022; Stygar et al., 2022). The impact of these labels on the welfare of farmed animals is generally considered disappointing (but see Mullan et al., 2016, 2022). The multitude of labels often confuse the consumer, and there seems to be a clear need for simplifying the existing state of play of these labeling schemes (BEUC, 2021; Forbes, 2021; Promarket, 2021; EC, 2022).

Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace mineral that plays a crucial role in maintaining intestinal barrier function and structure. This research aimed to expand our understanding of the role of the rumen epithelium in Zn metabolism in ruminants. Using 4 ruminally fistulated steers, 2 experiments were conducted to evaluate Zn’s disappearance from the rumen.

Reducing the ecological footprint of animal agriculture is crucial for sustainable precision agriculture. Accurately predicting dry matter intake (DMI) in cattle is a key strategy to achieve this goal. In this study, we utilized animal intake data with climatic data to predict the dry matter intake using advanced machine learning (ML) models including Gaussian Process Boosting (GPBoost).