LEGUME-GRASS SILAGE AS A ROUGHAGE FOR THE PREGNANT EWE

[摘要] Four rations with the roughage consisting of silage alone, two-thirds silage and one-third hay, one-third silage and two-thirds hay, and hay alone, were fed to pregnant ewes during the three successive winter periods, 1955, 1956, and 1957. All groups received 0.9 lb. grain per ewe per day during the last 6 weeks prior to lambing.In 1957, when the dry matter content of the silage was only 21.4 per cent, the weight losses of the ewes were high and varied directly with the amount of silage fed. In 1955 and 1956, the weight changes were comparable to those in the hay-fed groups. Silage feeding had no effect on birth weights, 28-day weights, or weaning weights of the lambs, and ewe fleece weights were not affected.At birth 75 per cent of the lambs from the silage lots graded good or better, while 97 per cent of those whose dams were fed hay alone fell in these categories. Seventy per cent of the lambs born to silage-fed ewes survived to weaning compared with eighty-eight per cent of the lambs from the hay-fed group. Some of the ewes on grass silage lacked sufficient milk to support their lambs for a period of two weeks after lambing. T.D.N. intakes of the ewes on the rations containing silage alone and two-thirds silage, one-third hay were below the levels recommended in recognized feeding standards.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] microRNA isolation;Clinical samples;Q-PCR;FFPE tissues