School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemSome effects of botanical composition of pasture on the liveweight and wool production of sheep( 1972)Until recently, the main evidence on which to base pasture mixture. recommendations in Victoria, has been district experience and the results from dry matter ( "mowing") experiments. The grazing experiments described in this thesis, were initiated by Messrs. R. Twentyman, R. Newman, R. Allen and K. Maher of the Department of Agriculture during the period, 1960-196. Their aim was to develop some objective appreciation of the relative value for animal production of some of the sown and unsown species in Western district pastures. In addition to pasture species evaluation, they sought information on the relationship between pasture growth and animal production. Such information is needed so that Agrostologists can better evaluate the many pasture management factors (such as fertilizers, seeding rates, seed. treatments, herbicides, insecticides and defoliation treatments) that affect pasture growth and for which advice is frequently sought.
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ItemOestrogens, isoflavones and the oestrous cycle of the ewe( 1972)The experimental work presented in this Thesis was carried out while the author was a recipient of a Commonwealth Post Graduate Scholarship. The supervision of the experimental work in Chapters 3 to 6 inclusive was delegated to Mr. I.A. Cumming and his willing help, advice and collaboration is gratefully acknowledged. Material contained in these Chapters was obtained from experiments carried out at the S.S. Cameron Laboratory, State Research Farm, Werribee, Victoria. Chapters 7 and 8 report results of Field Trials conducted in collaboration with Mr. J.M. Obst and the Officers of the S.A. Department of Agriculture, and Drs. R.J. Lightfoot and J.F. Smith and the Officers of the W.A. Department of Agriculture, respectively. The experimental programmes in the latter two chapters were mainly financed by the Australian Wool Board Funds allocated to my supervisor, Dr. J.R. Goding. The material presented in Chapters 4, 6 and 8 has been presented to the meetings of the Australian Society for Reproductive Biology (ASRB), 1971, and the Fourth Asia and Oceania Congress of Endocrinology, N.Z., 1971. The abstracts are listed at the end of the Preface. The general facilities of the State Research Farm, Werribee were made available for these studies and the author wishes to thank the Officer in Charge of the S.S. Cameron Laboratory, Dr. P.D. Mullaney and the past Acting Officer in Charge, Mr. A.D. North. Thanks must also be offered to Mr. J.B. McPherson, Manager of the State Research Farm and his staff for assistance in the purchase, feeding and general management of the flocks of sheep used for these studies. I would like to acknowledge the help and support received from my supervisor, Dr. J.R. Goding during the past two years, but particularly to thank him for his invaluable assistance and encouragement during the preparation of this manuscript. Dr. J.M. Brown and her technical assistants Misses J. Fratantaro and E. Renden generously performed the majority of the LH assays. The progesterone assays were done with the assistance of Miss B. Sinnott and under the guidance of Mr. J.M. Obst of the S.A. Department of Agriculture. Mr. G.J. Gyory of the Victorian Department of Agriculture carried out the isoflavone analyses, and Mr. R. Jardine also of the Victorian Department of Agriculture carried out the statistical analyses. Most of the experimental procedures required labour 24 hours a day and this was willingly provided by Agricultural Officers of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. My thanks and appreciation to Messrs. R.W. Baxter, T. Howard, W.B.H. McGregor, A.W. Makin, R.A. Parr and A.H. Williams. Assistance for these experiments was also given to me by my colleagues, Dr. M.A.deB. Blockey, Mr. L.P. Cahill, Dr. M. Cain, Mr. J. Cerini, Mrs. M.E.D. Cerini, Mr. W.A. Chamley, Mr. I.A. Cumming, Miss M.A. Curtis and Miss B.J. Mole. Invaluable technical assistance was given by Mesdames D. Baxter, M. Perry and Misses J. Fratantaro, E. Renden and E. Wilson. A special thank you must be offered to Mr. P. Langdon for the outstanding technical assistance and generous help which made so much of this work possible. The photographic work was done by Mr. W. Douglas and Mr. D. Rizzoli. Mrs. H. Constable typed all the drafts of the Thesis and the final manuscript was typed by Mrs. Adele Dowling. My thanks to all who have assisted me over the last two years.
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ItemThe ability of sheep and goats to utilize crop by-products( 1977)Two digestibility trials and one feeding experiment were implemented. In the first digestibility trial sheep were fed rations of hay to which was added (w/w} 10%, 20% and 30% of rice bran, soybean meal and cassava respectively. The results showed that changes in digestibility were not directly proportional to the amount of the ingredient added, thus the individual analysis or digestibility of a single food does not necessarily indicate its feeding value in mixed diet. In the second trial the digestive efficiency of sheep and goats was compared when fed low, medium and high quality diets as represented by oat straw, meadow hay and sheep fattening pellets. For all practical purposes the sheep and goats were similar in their ability to digest all diets but there was some evidence to show that the goats made better use of crude protein in the oat straw and crude fibre in the pelleted diet. In the feeding experiment the same by-products that were used in the first digestibility trial were variously combined to investigate the best mixture for fattening sheep. The best liveweight gains were obtained from diets D2 and D3. D2 contained 33% hay, 30% rice bran, 25% cassava and 12% soybean meal.' D3 comprised 40% hay, 15% rice bran, 30% cassava and 15% soybean meal.
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ItemThe behaviour of sheep in narrow lane-ways( 1977)This thesis presents a study into the behaviour of sheep with particular emphasis on sheep movement and behaviour in narrow lane-ways. It is divided into five sections. The first section consists of a review of the behavioural implications associated with domestication. This review topic gives the reader a brief synopsis of previous work and conjecture on the behavioural and physiological responses of sheep. Although this review is only indirectly related to the experimental work it does emphasise the importance and relevance of behavioural studies to the agricultural industry. The second section describes an experiment aimed at investigating some of the factors which affect movement of sheep through races and to provide information required for the design of future work. The movement of flocks of sheep through races (narrow lane-ways) was observed and the effect of (1) forced or voluntary movement (2) whether the sides were open, partially covered or totally covered and (3) flock size, were examined. Differences in the movement of individual sheep were also investigated. Flock size (10 or 20) had very little effect on the movement of sheep in races. When sheep were forced through the race they ran faster, were more bunched and held their heads higher than when moving voluntarily. The race type effect on sheep movement was greatest when sheep were moving voluntarily. This suggests that forcing sheep masked the race type effect. A relatively consistent order of sheep through the race suggests that sheep maintain similar positions when running through races. This effect was reduced when the sheep were forced. Sheep moved faster through open or partially covered races than through totally covered races. They were also more bunched and held their heads higher as the race was increasingly covered. The remaining sections discuss experiments concerned with the evaluation of the current folklore or principles of sheep handling and behaviour. The third section discusses the movement of sheep around corners. The movement of flocks of 20 sheep through races (narrow laneways) incorporating an angle was observed, and the effect of (1) width of race, (2) whether the sides were open or covered and (3) the angle of corner, were examined. Sheep ran faster through races 1.5 m. wide than through races 0.5 m. wide, because they could move as a group rather than being constrained to move in single file. In both narrow and wide races sheep ran faster and were more spread out when the sides were covered, than when the sides were open. Corners acted as an impediment to sheep flow because the spacing between sheep decreased before the corner and increased after it. In wide races the time taken to run through the race increased as the angle of the corner increased. However, in narrow races the corner appeared to have an overall acclerating effect, despite the increased spacing between sheep. The findings in section three have been accepted for publication by the Journal of Applied Animal Ethology. The fourth section discusses the movement of sheep up or down inclines. The movement of flocks of 15 sheep through narrow ramps and of 14 sheep through wide ramps was observed and the effect of (1) movement up or down the ramp (2) whether the floor type was slats, a solid surface or steps and (3) the angle of incline, were examined. In both narrow and wide ramps sheep ran faster and were more bunched when moving up the ramp, than when moving down the ramp. Steep slopes acted as an impediment to sheep flow, slowing the rate of movement of the flock and increasing the spacing between sheep at the end of the ramp. Floor type had no effect on sheep movement in the narrow ramp. In the wide ramp, the solid floor increased the sheep's rate of movement going up the ramp, but decreased it when sheep were descending the ramp. The fifth section discusses the movement of sheep through or into differing light intensities. The movement of flocks of 14 sheep through narrow and wide races (narrow laneways) was observed. A partition across the race allowed the light intensity to be varied independently on each side and the effects of four levels of light intensity i.e. 1.4, 88, 350, and 1,400 lux (dark, low, medium and bright respectively) were examined. The effect of different light intensity on the movement of sheep was not great. There was little evidence to suggest that contrast was important. The results suggest that sheep move more readily through or into brightly lit areas, but that this response is clearly dependent upon the first sheep's behaviour. From the results of these trials, revised "principles" of sheep behaviour have been obtained which have important implications for the design of yards, sheds and races.
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ItemEffects of some management factors on sheep and wool production( 1970)It is difficult to be precise about the importance of the contributions made by the many people involved in this work. On a government research station and on private farms, field experiments inevitably involve many people. However, in each chapter presented in this thesis I made a major contribution in the planning, supervising and conducting of the experiment and in preparation of the results for publication. Where authorship has been shared, this is indicated at the beginning of each chapter. Some indication of the relative importance of contributions to this work is as follows:- Chapter I: The experiments were done on two sites, and at one of them Katamitite) I was directly responsible for the work. Chapters II, III: This work undertaken jointly with Mr. J.G. Bath, Chapters IV, V: This work was my responsibility. Chapter VI: The observations on sheep were my responsibility whereas those on pastures were the responsibility of Mr. J. Avery and Mr. I. Cameron. I prepared the manuscripts for chapters I to V and contributed to the preparation of that for chapter VI.
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ItemThe pathophysiology of Trichostrongylus colubriformis in sheep surgically modified to incorporate a Thiry-Vella loop( 1977)The results of the current experiment indicate the apparent absence of systemic stimuli in the disease mechanisms of T. colubriformis infection. While infection of Thiry-Vella loops in 2 sheep was associated with severe atrophy and a marked increase in secretory activity of such loops, the remaining intestine in continuity with the alimentary tract (functional intestine) appeared normal. Similarly, per os infection, which produced varying degrees of disorders of functional intestine, was not accompanied by any changes in the secretory function or mucosal morphology (other than those resulting from the isolation procedure) of Thiry-Vella loops. In one severely affected sheep (per os infection), the secretory function of the Thiry-Vella loop was diminished. However, it would appear that the reduction was associated with a water stress rather than being a direct effect of parasitism. The absence of anorexia in loop infected sheep despite the severe lesion might indicate the unimportance of gut pain as a mediator of anorexia in parasitisms. However, this aspect requires further work since the by-pass procedure and the environment in by-passed intestine may diminish the manifestation of gut pain.
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