prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page i Dairy Sheep Nutrition prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page ii prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page iii Dairy Sheep Nutrition Edited by G. Pulina Department of Animal Science, University of Sassari, Italy Technical reader of English translation R. Bencini University of Western Australia, Australia CABI Publishing prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page iv CABI Publishing is a division of CAB International CABI Publishing CABI Publishing CAB International 875 Massachusetts Avenue Wallingford 7th Floor Oxfordshire OX10 8DE Cambridge, MA 02139 UK USA Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 617 395 4056 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 Fax: +1 617 354 6875 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.cabi-publishing.org ©CAB International 2004. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Alimentazione degli ovini da latte. English Dairy sheep nutrition / edited by Giuseppe Pulina; technical proofreader, Roberta Bencini. p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-85199-681-7 1. Sheep--Nutrition. 2. Sheep--Feeding and feeds. 3. Ewes--Nutrition. 4. Ewes--Feeding and feeds. 5. Sheep milk. I. Pulina, Giuseppe. II. Bencini, Roberta. III. Title. SF376.A46 2004 636.3´08´5--dc22 2004006555 ISBN 0 85199 681 7 Typeset by MRM Graphics Ltd, Winslow, Bucks Printed and bound in the UK by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page v Contents Contributors vii Acronyms xi 1 Milk Production 1 Giuseppe Pulina and Anna Nudda 2 Mathematical Modelling of Milk Production Patterns in Dairy Sheep 13 Aldo Cappio-Borlino, Nicolò P.P. Macciotta and Giuseppe Pulina 3 Energy and Protein Requirements 31 Antonello Cannas 4 Dietary Intake of Vitamins and Minerals, and Water Requirements 51 Giovanni Annicchiarico and Luigi Taibi 5 Feed Intake 65 Marcella Avondo and Lucio Lutri 6 Feeding of Lactating Ewes 79 Antonello Cannas 7 Nutrition and Reproduction 109 Salvatore Pier Giacomo Rassu, Giuseppe Enne, Sebastiano Ligios and Giovanni Molle 8 Nutrition and Milk Quality 129 Anna Nudda, Gianni Battacone, Roberta Bencini and Giuseppe Pulina 9 Feeding Dairy Lambs 151 Paolo Brandano, Salvatore Pier Giacomo Rassu and Alfio Lanza 10 Digestive Disturbances and Metabolic–Nutritional Disorders 165 Massimo Morgante v prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page vi vi Contents 11 Grazing Management and Stocking Rate with Particular Reference to the Mediterranean Environment 191 Giovanni Molle, Mauro Decandia, Sebastiano Ligios, Nicola Fois, Timothy T. Treacher and Maria Sitzia Index 213 prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page vii Contributors Giovanni Annicchiarico ([email protected]) has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Naples. After working on the metabolic profile of farm animals and improving the productive and reproductive efficiency of the Mediterranean buffalo, he became a researcher at the Istituto Sperimentale per la Zootecnica di Roma, sezione di Foggia, Segezia (Experimental Institute for Animal Husbandry of Rome, Foggia Section, Segezia). He is presently working on the nutritional requirements of dairy sheep, their welfare, the quality of their milk, and the chemical, physical and sensorial characteristics of the typical dairy products Canestrato Pugliese and Caciocavallo Podolico. Marcella Avondo ([email protected]) is Professor of animal husbandry at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Catania, Italy. Her main areas of research are: biochemical and management techniques for improving silage quality and produc- tion from forages and animal by-products; and feeding behaviour of dairy sheep raised in extensive and semi-extensive farming systems, with particular attention to the factors that influence intake capacity and pasture selection. Gianni Battacone ([email protected]) has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Sassari, Italy, and a PhD in Animal Husbandry from the University of Perugia, Italy. His research focuses on the relationship between animal feeding and mycotoxin carry-over into animal products, and on the quality of sheep and goat milk. He is a researcher at the Animal Science Department of the University of Sassari. Roberta Bencini ([email protected]) has 12 years of experience in research on sheep milking. Her career in this area started in 1988 when she commenced her PhD on lactation in sheep at the University of Western Australia. Previously, she had grad- uated in Agriculture at the University of Milano (Italy) and had been a tenured lecturer in Dairy Science and Technology at the Professional Institute for Agriculture of Villa Igea, Lodi, Italy. She successfully directed to completion several research projects on sheep dairy research funded by the Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (RIRDC, Australia). Currently she is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia. Paolo Brandano ([email protected]) is Professor of Animal Science of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Sassari, Italy. His main areas of research are: charac- teristics and management of rustic cattle and sheep breeds; techniques of raising rumi- nants; artificial feeding of lambs and kids; and grazing models for farms. At present he lectures in Animal Husbandry. Antonello Cannas ([email protected]), Associate Professor of Animal Science at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Sassari, Italy, has a degree in Agricultural vii prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page viii viii Contributors Science from the same University, and a MSc and PhD in Animal Science from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. He works on several aspects related to feeding and nutri- tion of small ruminants: feed evaluation techniques and energy and protein require- ments, with the focus on the development of prediction equations and models for estimating requirements and animal performances; ruminal turnover and its prediction; urea as a nutritional indicator; and comparative nutrition of small and large ruminants. He teaches ‘Sheep and goat production’ and ‘Feed processing and evaluation’ at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Sassari. Aldo Cappio-Borlino ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Sassari. His main scientific interest lies in the mathematical modelling of the regular and continuous component of dynamic processes in the field of Animal Science, such as the temporal evolution of milk production and ruminal degradation of feeds. He proposed an original model for the mathematical description of the lactation curve of dairy sheep, which has been cited in several international scientific papers and has also been used by many researchers. Recently he developed a methodology to analyse time series of milk yield and quality in order to disentangle deterministic and stochastic components. Mauro Decandia ([email protected]) has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Sassari and has been an animal husbandry researcher at the Istituto Zootecnico e Caseario per la Sardegna (IZCS) (Sardinian Institute for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Farming) since 1991. He specialized in the feeding of farm ani- mals at the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INAPG) (National Agronomy Institute of Paris-Grignon, France). He has carried out research on the intake and feed- ing behaviour of grazing sheep and goats. In particular, he has worked on the tannin content of Mediterranean maquis and the feeding behaviour of goats. Giuseppe Enne ([email protected]) is Professor in the Animal Husbandry Department of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Sassari. He works mainly on: techniques for raising farm animals and their reproduction; environmental impact of farm animals; and the quality of the products of farm animals. He is coordinator of numerous national and international research groups. He is a member of committees involved in evaluat- ing European research projects and is President of the Istituto Sperimentale Italiano ‘Lazzaro Spallanzani’ per la Fisiopatologia della Riproduzione, Milan (The ‘Lazzaro Spallanzani’ Italian Experimental Research Institute for the Physiopathology of Reproduction, Milan). Nicola Fois ([email protected]) has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Sassari and has been a researcher at Istituto Zootecnico e Caseario per la Sardegna (IZCS) (Sardinian Institute for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Farming) since 1991. He has carried out research on the nutrition of grazing sheep, estimation of their pasture intake, measurement of their body composition, and their grazing behaviour. At pres- ent he is working on the problems involved in raising dairy sheep in the Mediterranean environment, with a focus on organic farming. Alfio Lanza ([email protected]) is Professor in Animal Husbandry at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Catania. He works on feeding and nutrition of farm animals, with the following main interests: the suitability of using agri-industrial products and by-products as feeds; new feeding techniques for sheep and goats; ani- mal physio-climatology; the demography of animal husbandry; optimizing systems for raising sheep and goats; and the possibility of introducing high-quality genetic material into Sicilian cattle and sheep. He was President of the Società Italiana di Patologia e Allevamento degli Ovini e dei Caprini (SIPAOC) (Italian Society for the Pathology and Husbandry of Sheep and Goats) until 1998. Sebastiano Ligios ([email protected]) has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Sassari and has been a researcher at Istituto Zootecnico e Caseario per la prelims00.qxd 14/9/04 8:47 AM Page ix Contributors ix Sardegna (IZCS) (Sardinian Institute for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Farming) since 1988.