Livestock

Question 1

3 Feed Types

Answer 1

• Forages
• Concentrates
• Waste/Co-Products

Question 2

3 Digestive Types

Answer 2

Monogastric
Ruminent
Pseudo-Ruminent (ie. camel)

Question 3

Ruminents

Answer 3

• 4 chambered stomach
• feed goes to rumen, microbes digest into cud, cud regurgitated to mouth for further chewing
• high pH + anaerobic environment for microbes for fermentation

Question 4

Energy Requirement Chain

Answer 4

Gross Energy –> Digestible Energy –> Metabolized Energy –> Net Energy

Question 5

Net Energy Maintanence Formula

Answer 5

NEmaintenance (t) = NEm x BW0.75 (t)

Question 6

NE requirements dependent on:

Answer 6

• Protein % in body tissue
• Lipid % in body tissue
• Energy efficiency for growth (synthesizing proteins and lipids)

Question 7

Feed Conversion Ratio

Answer 7

=(feed input (kg))/(product output (kg))

Question 8

Feed Efficiency Ratio

Answer 8

=(product output)/(feed input)

Question 9

Culling

Answer 9

Removing animal from herd

Question 10

Starting reproductive age of animal

Answer 10

2 years

Question 11

3 Livestock Performance Models

Answer 11

Animal Performance (meat + dairy productivity)
Herd Dynamics (herd evoluation)
Integrated Livestock Systems (whole livestock farms and their key components)

Question 12

Limitations Livestock Models

Answer 12

• Large errors on the prediction of feed intake in ruminants, especially under degraded pasture conditions and negligible supplementation.
• The majority don’t predict methane production or the effects of climate change on livestock systems
• The decision-making process of farmers needs to be better incorporated.
• Need to integrate both changes in productivity and likely economic responses to those changes to achieve accurate measure of the impact on families’ wellbeing.

Question 13

Manure Storage - Nutrient Losses

Answer 13

N Volatilization (N into Ammonia)
Organic matter, Methane & C02
Nitrification

Question 14

Management Options for reducing N Volatilization

Answer 14

• Urine and faeces segregation, less urease activity
• Cover manure storage (trapped under plastic sheet, tight cover – anaerobic conditions)  reduced leaching
• Air scrubbers: big unit attached to a stable and the air from inside the stable comes in, ammonia binds to acid water and ends up in a tank
• Reduce temperature (storage outside instead of inside)