@conference {3672,
	title = {The incidence of liver abscessation in slaughtered beef bulls in the South Island of New Zealand},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {76},
	year = {2016},
	month = {07/2016},
	pages = {114-118},
	address = {Adelaide},
	abstract = {There has been anecdotal evidence of increasing liver abscessation on bull-beef farms across New Zealand from meat processors
for more than a decade, but to date, no quantitative data has been published in the field. This study objective was to establish the
incidence of liver abscessation in pasture- based beef bulls, the seasonality and breed differences, the impact on carcass weight,
and to compare this with published data from feedlot cattle internationally. The study used a database of 137675 bulls slaughtered
in the South Island between 2000-2005. The database included breed, farm location, carcass weight, liver abscess presence and
abscess grading score (absent, mild, moderate, severe). The annual incidence of liver abscessation calculated was a mean of 9.5\%.
This recorded value is greater than other observed incidences from pasture-based systems and reduced compared with those observed
in non-medicated feedlot systems internationally. There were significant variations in all measured parameters across years,
and a clear and significant seasonal variation was observed. Incidence of liver abscessation peaked across November- December
(11.3 and 11\% respectively) and then declined as the slaughter season progressed. The typical NZ beef industry approach to rearing
bulls for slaughter makes it likely that age at slaughter is a key influence on the seasonal incidence rate, with most cattle born in
spring and slaughtered after 18 months, suggesting the late spring and summer peak in incidence is due to bulls older than two
years. The percentages of abscesses graded were: severe (66.4\%), moderate (12.8\%), and mild (20.7\%). Friesian and dairy crossbreed
bulls had an incidence approximately twofold greater than that females beef breeds (10.3\% and 4.7\% respectively). There
was a significant difference in the mean carcass weights of bulls graded, with those moderate with abscessation having a mean
heavier carcass weight than those graded severe, minor and no abscess.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Trotter CG and Gibbs SJ}
}
@conference {41615,
	title = {Sheep and deer grazing of pasture close to cattle dung pats},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {66},
	year = {2006},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {59-63},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Napier},
	abstract = {An experiment compared the grazing of deer and sheep on pasture with or without contamination by cattle dung pats. Sheep (35 ewes) and deer (24 hinds) separately grazed 0.4 ha plots of a ryegrass/white clover pasture. Half of the area (4 subplots) was contaminated with artificially applied cattle dung pats (DP), 30 cm in diameter, using fresh cattle dung at an application rate of 1 dung pat per 4 m2. The remaining four subplots were left uncontaminated (NDP). Mean pasture mass was estimated daily (rising plate meter) on DP and NDP plots. In addition, pasture height (sward stick) was recorded daily at 10 cm intervals from 0 to 100 cm from pre-marked dung pats and from pegged point sources in NDP plots. The experiment lasted 10-11 days and mean pasture mass declined from 2850 to 1500 kg DM/ha. Grazing pressure was controlled by altering numbers of livestock to maintain < 250 kg DM/ha difference between each species plot. There was no difference in the mean pasture mass of the sheep or deer grazed plots at any stage of the experiment. However both species grazed pasture near pegs (NDP plots) to a lower mean height (P<0.001) than near dung pats although the difference was greater for deer (7.4 and 9.0 cm near pegs and near dung pats respectively) than sheep (8.0 and 8.3 cm near pegs and dung pats respectively). Sward height of pasture at 10-20 cm from dung pats grazed by deer was higher than sheep grazed pasture for days 1, and 3-7 of the trial (P<0.001). The results from this experiment indicate that although deer graze pasture around cattle dung pats, they show more of a preference for grazing further away from dung pats than do sheep. This finding should help to establish the potential for deer to substitute for sheep under mixed grazing situations involving cattle. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Trotter CG and Nicol AM and Ridgway MJ}
}
