This book presents specially commissioned reviews of key topics in farm animal metabolism and nutrition, such as repartitioning agents, near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and digestibility and metabolisable energy assays, where major advances have recently been made or which continue to represent issues of significance for students and researchers. Authors include leading researchers from Europe, North America and Australia.

Although there is extensive literature in the field of behavioral ecology that attempts to explain foraging of individuals, social foraging--the ways in which animals search and compete for food in groups--has been relatively neglected. This book redresses that situation by providing both a synthesis of the existing literature and a new theory of social foraging. Giraldeau and Caraco develop models informed by game theory that offer a new framework for analysis. Social Foraging Theory contains the most comprehensive theoretical approach to its subject, coupled with quantitative methods that will underpin future work in the field. The new models and approaches that are outlined here will encourage new research directions and applications. To date, the analysis of social foraging has lacked unifying themes, clear recognition of the problems inherent in the study of social foraging, and consistent interaction between theory and experiments. This book identifies social foraging as an economic interaction between the actions of individuals and those of other foragers. This interdependence raises complex questions about the size of foraging groups, the diversity of resources used, and the propensity of group members to exploit each other or forage cooperatively. The models developed in the book will allow researchers to test their own approaches and predictions. Many years in development, Social Foraging Theory will interest researchers and graduate students in such areas as behavioral ecology, population ecology, evolutionary biology, and wildlife management.

As members of the public becomes more concious of the food they consume and its content, higher standards are expected in the preparation of such food. The updated seventh edition of Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle explores the impact of cattle's biological, production, and environmental diversities, as well as variations on nutrient utilization and requirements. More enhanced than previous editions, this edition expands on the descriptions of cattle and their nutritional requirements taking management and environmental conditions into consideration. The book clearly communicates the current state of beef cattle nutrient requirements and animal variation by visually presenting related data via computer-generated models. Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle expounds on the effects of beef cattle body condition on the state of compensatory growth, takes an in-depth look at the variations in cattle type, and documents the important effects of the environment and stress on food intake. This volume also uses new data on the development of a fetus during pregnancy to prescribe nutrient requirements of gestating cattle more precisely. By focusing on factors such as product quality and environmental awareness, Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle presents standards and advisements for acceptable nutrients in a complete and conventional manner that promotes a more practical understanding and application.

This widely used reference has been updated and revamped to reflect the changing face of the dairy industry. New features allow users to pinpoint nutrient requirements more accurately for individual animals. The committee also provides guidance on how nutrient analysis of feed ingredients, insights into nutrient utilization by the animal, and formulation of diets to reduce environmental impacts can be applied to productive management decisions. The book includes a user-friendly computer program on a compact disk, accompanied by extensive context-sensitive "Help" options, to simulate the dynamic state of animals. The committee addresses important issues unique to dairy science-the dry or transition cow, udder edema, milk fever, low-fat milk, calf dehydration, and more. The also volume covers dry matter intake, including how to predict feed intake. It addresses the management of lactating dairy cows, utilization of fat in calf and lactation diets, and calf and heifer replacement nutrition. In addition, the many useful tables include updated nutrient composition for commonly used feedstuffs.

NorFor is a semi-mechanistic feed evaluation system for cattle, which is used by advisors in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This book describes in detail the system and it covers five main sections. The first is concerned with information on feed characteristics, feed analysis and feed digestion methods. The second section describes the digestion and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract and the supply and requirement of energy and metabolizable amino acids. The third section considers the prediction of feed intake and physical structure of the diet. The fourth section focuses on model evaluation and the final section provides information on the IT solutions and feed ration formulation by a non-linear economical optimization procedure. This book will be of significant interest to researchers, students and advisors of cattle nutrition and feed evaluation.

Animal Agriculture: Sustainability, Challenges and Innovations discusses the land-based production of high-quality protein by livestock and poultry and how it plays an important role in improving human nutrition, growth and health. With exponential growth of the global population and marked rises in meat consumption per capita, demands for animal-source protein are expected to increase 72% between 2013 and 2050. This raises concerns about the sustainability and environmental impacts of animal agriculture. An attractive solution to meeting increasing needs for animal products and mitigating undesirable effects of agricultural practices is to enhance the efficiency of animal growth, reproduction, and lactation. Currently, there is no resource that offers specific knowledge of both animal science and technology, including biotechnology for the sustainability of animal agriculture for the expanding global demand of food in the face of diminishing resources. This book fills that gap, giving readers all the necessary information on important issues facing modern animal agriculture, namely its sustainability, challenges and innovative solutions. - Integrates new knowledge in animal breeding, biotechnology, nutrition, reproduction and management - Addresses the urgent issue of sustainability in modern animal agriculture - Provides practical solutions on how to solve the current and future problems that face animal agriculture worldwide