School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemNutritional studies of the young lamb( 1967)This thesis is based on original research work in a subject approved by the Faculty of Agriculture and is submitted under regulation 3.28 Section 6(a) of the conditions relating to the degree of Master of Agricultural Science. The experiments presented have been published in the Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry or in the Proceedings of the Australian Society of Animal Production. They were conducted while the author was a member of the Victorian Department of Agriculture which provided the facilities for this work. The first chapter of the thesis is a review of the literature on the digestibility of milk and solid food by the young ruminant - more specifically the calf and the lamb. The second chapter describes two experiments on the apparent digestibility of ewes milk and dried pasture by young lambs and the third chapter comprises two experiments relating to the effect of milk intake on the pasture consumption of lambs. The fourth chapter reports observations on the diet selected by grazing lambs in relation to older sheep. I was responsible for the design of this experiment, was actively associated with the field work and prepared the manuscript for publication. The fifth chapter is a paper on the effect of nutritional restriction during pregnancy on the reproductive performance of crossbred ewes and the subsequent growth of their lambs. The sixth chapter provides summaries of the experiments presented.
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ItemNutritional studies with the young ruminant( 1971)This thesis outlines a study of the calcium requirements of the young lamb (Part 1) and a comparison of the nutritional efficiency of the young lamb with the young pig (Part 2). Part 1 was carried out in co-operation with Dr. N. Palmer of the Department of. Pathology, School of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne. The section includes a review of the methods which have been used to determine the calcium requirements of animals. The experimental work involved continuous calcium, phosphorus and magnesium balance studies of lambs from about 1 to 10 weeks of age. Dr. Palmer collected blood samples, killed the animals and prepared selected bones and liver samples for analysis. He was responsible for the calcium, phosphorus and magnesium analysis of the blood and bones and for the liver copper analysis. I was responsible for the design 'of the experiment, the collection and chemical analysis of all other material and the statistical analysis of the data. The interpretation of the results and the preparation of each section (including the review) have been my responsibility. Part 2 includes a literature review on aspects of the voluntary intake of animals and data on the comparative nutritional efficiency and body composition of the young Iambs and pigs when fed reconstituted whole cows' milk. Nutritional efficiency was expressed in terms of the voluntary intake of energy, digestibility, food conversion efficiency and the percentage retention of the nitrogen and energy contained in the milk. I was responsible for all aspects of the work appearing in this section.