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Monitoring the ingestive behavior, especially rumination and eating, is important to assess animals’ health, welfare, needs, and to estimate production efficiency. In this paper, the myographic response of masticatory muscles was acquired from cows to directly access ingestive information (grazing and ruminating patterns) with high accuracy and time precision. Myographic signal processing is usually based on the same framework and optimal feature combinations have been extensively researched. However, recognition rates of hand-crafted feature based classifiers may be sensible to data deviation. In order to avoid the aforementioned issues and improve robustness, we propose an approach using sparse representation based classifiers which dismiss the need to select the best feature combination and classifier for the application. Also, we present a novel segmentation protocol to select chew related signal windows on cows. Four state-of-the-art multi-feature sets combined with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were compared to a sparse representation based classifier called Fisher Discriminant Dictionary Learning (FDDL). Results suggest a significantly better performance of FDDL (p

The demand for quality control and environmentally acceptable animal production are important requirements in livestock monitoring and control. Monitoring the ingestive behaviour of grazing ruminants has applications in measuring animal welfare, detection of animal diseases and modelling the animal production system. In this work, a non-invasive method for fibre intake estimation on ruminants is presented using a surface electromyography (sEMG) based sensor system. In order to acquire bite/chewing sEMG signals, superficial disposable electrodes were placed on three uncastrated male goats’ masseter muscle, housed in individual pens, and data was sampled during eating using an analogue-to-digital converter. Feed samples and-left-overs were weighed before and after the experiment, respectively, to estimate the total intake. Electromyographic preprocessed data was sent to a computer, where seven signal features were extracted. Feed intake was modelled by fitting sEMG features as a predictor by means of a linear model. Results indicate that fibre intake could be successfully predicted in goats eating several forages (Tifton 68 and Tifton 85 grass hay, bad quality Tifton hay, and forage oat hay) with coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) higher than 0.867, using the signal feature called Slope Sign Change (SSC) as a predictor, which expresses signal frequency characteristics and indicates physiological aspects of bite/chewing. The present work demonstrates that sEMG based systems can be used as a non-invasive feed fibre intake estimation tool.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of slaughter body weight (SW) on the performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of Jersey bulls in feedlots from weaning to slaughter. Eighteen Jersey bulls (125.7±15.9 kg; 5±0.6 months old) were used in the study. The treatments corresponded to three slaughter-weights: L360 – light weight, SW of 360 kg, M390 – medium weight, SW of 390 kg, and H420 – heavy weight, SW of 420 kg (n = 6/treatment); the animals were slaughtered at 368, 392, and 422 kg, respectively. The average daily gain was not influenced by SW. The M390 and H420 groups remained in feedlot, on average, 6 and 51 d longer, respectively, to reach a similar SW in relation to the L360 group. The increase in SW did not influence dry matter intake. However, the L360 group exhibited greater dry matter intake relative to body weight compared with the other two groups (29 vs. 26 g/kg). The increase in SW resulted in heavier and longer carcasses, with higher hot carcass yields. However, animals with greater SW had lower fat thickness. In addition, the increase in SW led to greater pistol cut, bone, and muscle weight for the carcasses. Although the meat color of Jersey bulls was darker in the H420 group, the meat was considered softer and more palatable by the consumer panel compared with the meat from the L360 group. The L360 group exhibited less fluid loss during thawing and cooking. Shear force measured by Warner Blatzer Shear was lower for H420. Animals slaughtered in the L390 group had an intermediate carcass weight, similar carcass yield, better cover fat and meat quality (color and shear) than animals slaughtered in the H420. Combining these factors with a shorter feedlot time compared with that of heavier animals, the SW of feedlot Jersey bulls is recommended at 390 kg.

This experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of including glycerin in kid goats diet on intake, performance and carcass traits. Twenty intact male kid goats Boer crossbred were used, with body weight of 25.06±4.15kg and 8.00±0.66 months old, allocated in block design, with four treatments and five replicates. The treatments consisted on including dry matter basis (DM) of the diet of four levels of glycerin: zero, five, 10 and 15%, in replacing corn. It was not reported influence (P>0.05) of level of glycerin on intake of forage and feed conversion of animals. The concentrate and total DM intake were affected (P0.05) of level of glycerin on weight gain, carcass yield and percentage of cooling losses. However, the hot and cold carcass weight was lower (P

O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever a estrutura do dossel e o comportamento ingestivo de caprinos em pastos de papuã manejados sob lotação contínua. Os tratamentos corresponderam a quatro alturas de manejo (10, 20, 30 e 40 cm) mantidas através de taxa de lotação variável. As variáveis analisadas foram: composição morfológica, massa e densidade dos componentes; comprimento de lâminas foliares; valor nutritivo por simulação de pastejo; tempos de pastejo, ruminação e atividades complementares. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância e teste de contrastes de polinômios ortogonais. Os principais resultados foram: i) com o aumento da altura de manejo, houve um aumento da massa (total e dos componentes morfológicos) e uma inversão na composição morfológica (redução na proporção de lâminas foliares e aumento na de colmos + material morto); ii) o comprimento de lâminas foliares aumentou com a altura de manejo; iii) os animais dedicaram mais tempo ao pastejo com a redução da altura de manejo, embora aparentemente tenham abdicado do pastejo no tratamento 10 cm ao final do experimento. Baseado nos dados de estrutura do dossel e comportamento ingestivo, concluiu-se que pastos de papuã sob lotação contínua devem ser manejados próximos de 40 cm. As razões são discutidas ao longo do artigo. Palavras-chave: Brachiaria; integração lavoura-pecuária; manejo; Urochloa plantaginea; valor nutritivo.

This work presents a non-invasive method to identify the ingestive behavior in ruminants using Surface Electromyography (sEMG) of the masseter muscle. It was evaluate whether the rumination and intake process could be distinguished using sEMG signal features and machine learning techniques. To collect chewing sEMG signal, superficial Ag/AgCl electrodes were placed on two ruminant animals masseter muscle and the data was sampled during eating with an analog-to-digital converter. Three segmentation techniques was explored and applied to automatically subdivide the chewing movement signal. Five classifiers (k-nn, LDA, SVM, NB and DT) were evaluated using four features (RMS, SSC, ZC and WL) extracted from the signal. We found and accuracy over 93% using a fixed length segmentation method and k-nn for classification with \( k > 7 \). Future works may explores the implementation of time series analysis to improve the classifier performance.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of protected fat from palm oil on body weight and milk production and composition of lactating Lacaune ewes. Four treatments (0, 20, 40, and 60 g kg−1 as fed) of protected fat from palm oil were used to feed nine animals in each group. Isoproteic and isoenergetic diets were formulated and adjusted for each animal after milk weighing. Corn silage was used as roughage on the same proportion of concentrated to feed all animals. Milk samples were collected weekly for chemical analyses up to the seventh week of the lactation period and every other week after that until the end of the lactation period (182 days). Increased levels of protected fat in the diet of lactating ewes resulted in lower body weight gain and poor animal body condition. The production peak showed differences and was higher in the treatment of 40 g kg−1 of palm oil, but milk production during lactation was higher in animals that received 60 g kg−1 of protected fat supplementation. Animals fed 60 g kg−1 of protected fat showed the highest milk yield. We observed a positive linear effect on milk fat content, whereas the effect on milk protein, lactose, and nonfat solids was linearly negative after dairy sheep fed protected fat from palm oil. There were no changes in the amount (kg) of milk fat, protein, lactose, total solids, and nonfat solids in any of the treatments. Therefore, protected fat from palm oil is efficient to increase milk production and fat content.

Monitoring grazing ruminants ingestive behaviour has applications in measuring animal welfare, animal diseases detection and animal production system modelling. Current monitoring methods are mostly laborious, time expensive or invasive. In this work, it is presented a non-invasive method for chewing activity identification on goats by masseter muscle surface Electromyography (sEMG). Short-term chewing/resting time and chewing count were successfully predicted on male goats comparing to visual observation.

A transferência de imunidade passiva colostral é muito importante tanto para a saúde do neonato quanto para o seu desempenho. Com o objetivo de estudar a relação entre a eficiência ou não no estabelecimento da imunidade passiva colostral em neonatos e a suas interrelações com aspectos de desempenho e produção destes animais foram colhidas amostras de sangue de 354 bezerras com 30 horas de vida (24 a 36 h) em 10 propriedades localizadas no centro leste do Estado do Paraná, Brasil. Determinações bioquímicas do soro das amostras foram realizadas para avaliar a qualidade de transferência de imunidade passiva. A proteína sérica total foi determinada pelo método do Biureto e a albumina pelo método do verde de bromocresol para o cálculo das taxas de globulinas obtidas pela diferença entre os teores séricos de proteína e albumina. A fração gamaglobulina foi determinada por eletroforese. Uma análise multivariada, incluindo os teores séricos de proteína total, globulinas e gamaglobulinas, foi utilizada para determinar três grupos conforme à qualidade da transferência de imunidade passiva colostral apresentada (Proc cluster, SAS), a saber: baixa, moderada e alta. Durante o estudo, os produtores anotaram as informações referentes a práticas de manejo adotado na atenção a vaca (parturiente) e ao bezerro, incluindo os dados que poderiam ter influência sobre a transferência de imunidade passiva colostral. Os dados das bezerras, enquanto neonatas e depois quando adultas foram colhidos para a determinação da influência a curto e a longo prazo da falha da transferência de imunidade passiva (FTIP) colostral. Observou-se que os dados de escore de condição corporal da mãe da bezerra, da quantidade de colostro ingerida na primeira mamada e o momento em que ela foi realizada, da morbidade e da mortalidade das bezerras estavam relacionados com a FTIP (P0,05). Mas quando se correlacionou por regressão os dados de produção de leite das vacas que quando bezerras apresentaram teores de gamaglobulinas menores que 1,6 g/dL obteve-se valores de r2=0,47 (P=0,0005). Com os resultados desta pesquisa pode-se afirmar que práticas muito simples de manejo como fornecer pelo menos 2 L de colostro até 2 horas após o nascimento e a vaca parir numa boa condição corporal (ECC = 3 ou 3,5) podem prevenir a falha na transferência de imunidade passiva. A FTIP tem como conseqüências: maiores taxas de morbidade e mortalidade, primeiro parto mais tardio e diminuição do número de novilhas de reposição, podendo ainda estar correlacionada a menores produções leiteiras. Adequate passive transfer of maternal immunoglobulin is important for optimal health and performance in newborn calves. Blood samples were collected from 354 dairy calves, ranging from 24 to 36 hours of age, between July 2005 and May 2006 on 10 farms in the middle-eastern region of the state of Parana, Brazil. The objective was to study the relationship and effectiveness of the transfer of colostral passive immunity and its contributing factors as related to the development and production of animals. For each sample collected, total serum protein was determined by the biuret method and albumin by bromocresol green method, and the difference was used to evaluate the globulins. Electrophoresis was used to determine the -globulin fraction of the sample. A multivariable analysis, including total serum protein, globulins and gamma globulin, was used to create 3 groups to classify the quality of the transfer of colostral passive immunity (cluster procedure, SAS): failure or inadequate group, marginal group and adequate group. During the study, breeders were asked to provide information on calf and pre-partum cow management practices, including details on colostrum feeding. Data from the calves while newborn and as heifers was gathered to determine the long and short term effect of the failure of passive immunity transfer (FPIT). Body condition score of the mother at calving, quantity of colostrum ingested, timing of ingestion, morbidity and mortality of calves and age at calving time were related to FPIT (P0,05). However, when a regression was performed based on data of milk production from calves that had serum gamma globulins levels below 1,6g/dL, a correlation was identified (r2=0.47; P=0.0005). Basic management practices can prevent failure of passive immunity transfer by feeding calves 2 L of colostrum within 2 hours of life and ensuring that the cow calves with a good body condition score (BCS = 3 or 3.5). FPIT is responsible for higher morbidity and mortality rates, a delay in first parturition, a decrease in the number of replacement heifers and it can also be responsible for less milk production.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos de sexo, tipo de parto, peso da mãe ao parto e período de gestaçãosobre pesos tomados ao nascer, aos 30, 60 e 90 dias de idade e os ganhos de peso do nascimento aos 60dias de idade e entre 60 e 90 dias de idade de cabritos mestiços Boer. No modelo, considerou-se como fixo oefeito de sexo e, como covariáveis, o efeito linear de tipo de parto (simples, duplo ou triplo); e do período degestação e os efeitos linear e quadrático do peso da mãe ao parto. Para peso ao nascer e aos 30 dias, apenas osefeitos de sexo e de tipo de parto foram importantes fontes de variação. Para os pesos aos 60, 90 dias de idadee ganho de peso pré-desmama, os efeitos de sexo, tipo de parto e peso da mãe ao parto foram estatisticamentesignificativos. Nenhum efeito ambiental estudado foi significativo sobre o ganho de peso pós-desmama. Osefeitos de sexo e tipo de parto devem ser considerados nos modelos para estimar os parâmetros genéticos para os pesos ao nascer e aos 30 dias de idade. Para peso aos 60 e 90 dias e para ganho de peso pré-desmama, além desses efeitos, o peso da peso da mãe ao parto também deve ser incluído no modelo de análise.

O presente estudo foi realizado no município de Campo Largo – PR, região metropolitana de Curitiba, em que as bezerras nascidas em duas propriedades leiteiras tiveram seu sangue colhido às 30 horas de vida e analisado para proteína sérica total (PT), albumina (ALB), globulina (GLOB), alfaglobulina (ALFA), betaglobulina (BETA), gamaglobulina (GAMA) e a enzima gamaglutamiltransferase (GGT). As correlações entre os diversos parâmetros foram verificadas com o objetivo de demonstrar que testes simples, como a proteína sérica total, são úteis no diagnóstico de falha na transferência de imunidade passiva colostral. A enzima gamaglutamiltransferase (GGT) também foi testada, observando-se que os seus níveis séricos muito baixos indicam falha no processo de transferência, apesar da grande variação no seu valor absoluto nos diferentes indivíduos, sugerindo mais estudos em relação a ela. As médias obtidas em gramas por decilitro de soro foram, para PT de 6,492, ALB 2,386, GLOB 4,107, ALFA 1,612, BETA 1,089, GAMAGLOBULINA 1,686 e GGT 1174,29.