@conference {40493,
	title = {Does intensive pig farming have a viable future? - Concerns over housing and welfare},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {53},
	year = {1993},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {219-222},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Progesterone (P4), oestradiol benzoate (ODB) and prostaglandin F2a (PGF) have been used separately and in combination to synchronise oestrus in cattle by reducing the luteal phase of the cycle or delaying pro-oestrus after luteolysis. This latter mechanism can result in precise synchrony but with reduced fertility. In the process of attempting to improve synchrony and fertility, a series of four trials was completed with dairy heifers. Each trial was based on the use of a CIDR-B device for 7 to 10 days with or without 10 mg ODB in a gelatin capsule and with an injection of PGF from 2 to 4 days before device removal or at device removal. The results of these trials showed that injecting PGF before device removal could improve synchrony (in terms of animals inseminated at 48 h after device removal) but reduced pregnancy rates to first insemination by 5\% to 10\%. Incorporating ODB delayed the post-treatment interval to oestrus and insemination with a 7-day CIDR regime but improved synchrony with a 9 or 10 day CIDR regime. If the use of ODB was combined with an injection of PGF 4 days before CIDR device removal as part of a 10-day CIDR programme, the 48 h post-treatment synchrony rate was 93\% and the pregnancy rate was 56\%. Excluding the ODB from this programme reduced the 48 h synchrony rate to 87\% and the pregnancy rate to 45\%. These results are additional evidence that combing ODB with P4 is altering ovarian follicle wave patterns with consequent effects on synchrony patterns and fertility.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Barnett JL and Hemsworth PH and Cronin GM}
}
@conference {40491,
	title = {Improving productivity with better stock handling},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {53},
	year = {1993},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {211-213},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {The ingestion of pasture with a high infection rate of endophyte may cause a variety of pathological conditions in livestock, such as ryegrass staggers, diarrhoea, hypothermia and gangrene. This experiment was designed to ascertain the function of the immune system under such conditions. Mixed age ewes were grazed during the summer months, on either high endophyte or low-endophyte ryegrass pastures. Lymphocytes were separated from peripheral blood samples by density gradient centrifugation, and subjected to an in vitro lymphocyte proliferation (lymphoblastogenesis) assay, using the mitogens phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), concanavalin-A (Con-A) and intestinal nematode (Trichostrongylus colubriformis) antigen. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the response to selected mitogens, between the group grazing high versus low endophyte pasture at 14 days (PHA) and 21 days (PHA and Con-A) after the commencement of differential grazing. The animals on high endophyte pasture showed higher stimulation indices. LPS or nematode antigen had no effect on the cultured lymphocytes. As LPS is stimulatory for Bursal-derived (B) lymphocytes and PHA and Con- A for Thymic-derived (T) lymphocytes, it would appear as if material from the high endophyte pasture affected the latter cell population. It is unknown as to whether these effects on the immune system are important, in vivo.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Hemsworth PH and Barnett JL and Coleman GJ}
}
