The March Edition of The Giving Herd, an ASAS Foundation Newsletter

Pregnant females develop hormonal adaptations throughout pregnancy to change how their body uses nutrients and allow those nutrients to redirect to their growing offspring. One of these hormonal adaptations is that the mother becomes less responsive to insulin to redirect sugars from her own tissues to that of her offspring.

Diets for nursery pigs use highly digestible feedstuffs, such as animal protein supplements and enzyme-treated soybean meal (SBM) to help pigs adapt to solid diets, but their use can be limited by their high cost. SBM is widely used as a cost-effective protein supplement with a balanced amino acid profile. However, SBM contains anti-nutritional compounds...

The addition of feed-grade amino acids replacing a portion of intact protein sources, such as soybean meals, reduces feed costs, nitrogen excretion, and environmental impact of swine production. However, replacing too much of the intact protein source may compromise growth performance, possibly due to limited nitrogen available to synthesize non-essential amino acids.

Diarrhea in calves is one of the key factors affecting the lactation performance of dairy cows. This study offers brand new insights into the short-term and long-term effects of diarrhea in calves on subsequent lactation performance in Holstein cows.

Betaine is a natural compound found in plants and animals with bioactive properties that help cells tolerate environmental stress. Studies in rats and humans have shown it has anti-inflammatory properties and can support gut health including barrier integrity. While its benefits for humans and livestock are well-known, its effects on pets are less studied.

Food labels often include statements about how animals were raised or the environmental impact of production. For example, shoppers may see labels on meat and poultry packages that claim to be “cage free,” “raised without antibiotics,” or “sustainably farmed.” These voluntary claims are intended to differentiate food products and enhance marketability, but some question whether they are accurate.

Identifying factors that influence a sow’s lifetime productivity is difficult and time-consuming as you must wait for the female to transition completely through the swine breeding herd to gain accurate and complete production information. You must also keep females that produce fewer piglets than commercial standards so physiological and biological differences can be determined between high and low lifetime producers.

Virtual fencing consists of wearable neck collars for precision animal tracking and delivery of auditory warnings, reinforced by mild electric pulses, to contain cattle. This study evaluated how Angus-Hereford (AH) and Rarámuri Criollo (RC) cows during the training to virtual fencing collars responded to a feeding challenge, where access to feed was dynamically included or excluded by the fencing collar.

Pigs at risk of growth retardation or poor survival pose a significant management challenge and can cause economic losses for pig producers. Early identification of risk factors associated with survival and growth performance during the initial stages of the production cycle is essential for the timely implementation of effective preventive strategies.

Growth performance and gas flux in winter conditions were determined for Bos taurus indicus (BI; Brahman) and Bos taurus taurus (BT; Angus) steers managed with (GPT+) and without (GPT−) the use of growth-promoting technology (GPT). During the first 84 d, despite BI having heavier initial body weight (IBW), BT had greater dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (G:F), and average daily gain (ADG), corresponding to greater final body weight (FBW).

This study highlights the value of genome-wide analyses, particularly runs of homozygosity and heterozygosity-rich regions, in understanding the genetic architecture and adaptive diversity of livestock populations. The results observed across the sheep breeds reflect differences in their demographic histories, management practices, and selection pressures.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are byproducts of energy production that have the potential to detrimentally interact with cellular components, creating damage or dysfunction within the body. In small quantities, ROS are important signaling molecules, essential for stimulating adaptation to stimuli such as inflammation and exercise.

On Friday, February 13th, the House Agriculture Committee released its version of Farm Bill Legislation, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. The legislation, also known as Farm Bill 2.0, builds on the Farm Bill provisions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in 2025.

In response to sustainability and ethical pressures, the poultry industry continually explores strategies to enhance animal performance, health, and welfare while reducing feed costs and environmental impact from nutrient excretion. One promising approach is the adoption of low crude protein (CP) diets.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the digestibility of energy and amino acids (AA) in pistachio blanks and wheat middling fed to growing pigs. In Experiment 1, the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) were determined and results indicated that pistachio blanks had greater apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter and gross energy, as well as greater DE and ME compared with wheat middlings.

Strategies to reduce the incidence of disease and subsequent usage of antibiotics in dairy cattle are highly desirable. One strategy that warrants additional research is the prolonged feeding of colostrum during the early pre-weaning phase of life.

Understanding the role of the microbiota—the collection of microorganisms living in and on animals—is becoming increasingly important in livestock breeding. However, because these microbial communities are highly complex and influenced by many factors, studying their effects can be difficult. To help address this challenge, researchers developed a new software tool called HoloSimR...

Mortality and early removal of breeding female rabbits reduce farm productivity and animal welfare. We tracked the fecal microbiota in does, comparing healthy females with those that later died or were culled for infertility. We also followed how a mother’s mortality/culling and microbiota might affect the survival of her kits.

Pigs can be fed diets in meal or pelleted form using different delivery methods (dry, wet/dry, or liquid). Pellets are fed (typically via dry or wet/dry feeding) to improve feed efficiency, while liquid feed, which maximizes growth rate and is associated with poorer feed efficiency, is generally prepared with meal. Research is required on how these feed forms and delivery methods influence the bacterial communities (bacteriome) of feed...