Browsing by Author "Garry, Franklyn, committee member"
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Item Open Access 2022 National Lamb Quality Audit: Phase I: Supply chain perceptions of the U.S. lamb industry. Phase II: In-plant survey of carcass characteristics related to quality and value of fed lambs and mutton(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Newman, Lauren, author; Stackhouse-Lawson, Kim, advisor; Place, Sara, committee member; Nair, Mahesh Narayanan, committee member; Garry, Franklyn, committee member; Finck, Jessica, committee memberThe U.S. sheep and lamb population has slowly declined over the last eight decades, from 56 million head in 1942 to five million head in January of 2023. Sheep, often referred to as mutton in the meat industry, are mature animals that have at least two permanent incisors, spool joints, and are typically over 24 months of age. Lambs are considered young animals that lack permanent incisors, have at least one break joint, and are usually less than 14 months (USDA,1992). The U.S. lamb industry faces competition from imported lamb from Australia and New Zealand that is less expensive. This imported product increases the lamb supply within U.S. wholesale and retail stores, which, along with increased production costs, has raised concerns about the future viability of the U.S. lamb industry. In response to this pressure, the lamb supply chain can prioritize attributes that both reduce production costs and promote consumer demand. The first step in this process is to measure data from production through lamb carcass quality characteristics, especially data captured in the manufacturing settings. Benchmarking is necessary to identify needs to drive quality enhancements and to ultimately drive improvement and profitability of the lamb industry. The current National Lamb Quality Audit (NLQA) seeks to fill this gap by capturing baseline data from broad scope of the supply chain through perception surveys and in-plant audits. This baseline information will inform the lamb value chain on the current perceptions and lamb quality characteristics that may aid in identifying attributes to reduce costs and increase consumer demand. The NLQA, conducted three times since 1992, assesses the industry's progress on various quality characteristics that ultimately affect consumer demand for lamb. The most recent audit, conducted in 2015, primarily focused on the foodservice segment of the industry. As sheep genetics, management practices, available resources, and consumers' needs and expectations constantly evolve, more frequent audits that capture the entire supply-chain should be considered. The 2022 NLQA audit is designed to repeat successful portions of the 2015 audit, including a new supply chain survey to assess perceptions about the U.S. lamb industry and in-plant carcass characteristics. In phase I, 155 surveys were conducted from May 2022 through September 2022 to understand and quantify perceptions of the U.S. lamb industry. The survey was administered using a software package (Qualtrics®, Provo, Utah) customized to develop a structured order of questions for each industry segment. The survey was distributed via in-plant visits, social media, and email. Survey respondents remained anonymous, each taking approximately ten minutes to complete. Statistical analysis was conducted in Microsoft Excel and the Qualtrics® software. Thirty-two states were represented, with 88 percent of respondents identifying as the owner/operator of their respective business or operation and 86 percent representing commercial breeding operations. Respondents were asked to rank topics based on importance to their operation from 1 (least important) to 10 (most important). Animal welfare (8.9), lamb quality (8.4), and sustainability (7.6) were of most importance to producers. Respondents were also prompted to rank significant challenges in the industry (1=most important and 10=least important). The most significant challenges identified were operation costs (3.04), market volatility (3.70), and labor (4.08). Open-ended responses for defining sustainability were sorted and narrowed in terms of descriptions to find commonalities between respondents. Central themes from respondents included environmental stewardship, profitability, and producing high-quality lamb products. Results from the survey will provide valuable insight to discern gaps and opportunities between producers' viewpoints and data collected in plants to develop educational material to improve lamb quality. For phase II, in-plant assessments were conducted in four of the largest U.S. commercial lamb processing facilities across six production days from June to September 2022. On each production day, 50 percent of carcasses harvested and chilled were surveyed. Both hide-on and hide-off carcasses (n=2,605) and chilled carcasses (n=2,464) were surveyed. On the harvest floor, trained auditors collected data on mud scores, breed type, presence of horns, sex, wool length, and physiological age indicator data. Additionally, hot carcass weight (HCW), measured fat thickness (MFT), and reported USDA yield and quality grades were collected in the cooler. The distribution and summary functions of JMP® Software were used to determine the frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, and minimum and maximum values. Data was analyzed using the Type III ANOVA procedure, and a pairwise comparison was analyzed for dependent variables by treatment using the least squared means procedure in the 'lsmeans' package, of R© with the Tukey HSD adjustment. Dependent variables were YG, calculated YG, HCW, and MFT. Significance was determined at P-value ≤ 0.05. Phase II used in-plant assessments to benchmark current carcass quality characteristics related value of the fed lamb and mutton industry in the U.S. Among the carcasses (n = 1,605) that were audited for sex, 63.2 percent were wethers, 31.5 percent ewes, and 5.3 percent rams. Two percent of the carcasses were presented with horns. Of the 2,604 carcasses evaluated, 40.2 percent were speckle-faced (white-face and black-face cross), 38.8 percent were white-faced, 18.3 percent were black-faced, 1.46 percent had natural characteristics, and 1.72 percent were hair sheep. The average mud score was 2.12, and the average wool length was 5.03 cm. Additionally, 87.1 percent of the 2,437 carcasses presented two break joints indicating lamb, 5.70 percent with one break joint indicating yearling mutton, and 7.18 percent with no break joints indicating mutton. The average HCW (n=2,464) was 39.9 kg, whereas the MFT was 0.97 cm. The USDA stamped yield grade was 2.71 and 68.5 percent graded choice (CH), 22.6 percent graded prime (PR), and 8.9 percent were not graded. The 2022 NLQA in-plant survey of carcass quality characteristics will provide a current benchmark for carcass characteristics of lamb processed in the U.S. The data from this study can help industry segments to understand and develop strategic initiatives to improve the quality of fed lamb and mutton.Item Open Access Dairy heifer habituation to the milking routine: stress in the primiparous cow and its impacts on behavior and production(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Kness, Danielle, author; Grandin, Temple, advisor; Pinedo, Pablo, committee member; Edwards-Callaway, Lily, committee member; Garry, Franklyn, committee memberThe transitional period surrounding parturition and onset of lactation is undoubtedly a stressful time in the life of a dairy cow. This is especially true for primiparous cows, who have no previous experience to the milking routine and must become accustomed to increased contact with human caretakers as well as the host of novel sights, sounds, smells and sensations in the milking parlor. Behaviors stemming from acute stress have the potential to increase risk of injury to parlor employees, who must be located close to the cows in order to perform their duties. Even so, the specific changes in cow behavior in the parlor over the course of the first lactation are not well documented, presenting a challenge to farm managers who wish to train employees in primiparous cow management. The main focus of this thesis is to present current research on this topic, as well as present new research regarding specific, daily changes in primiparous cow behavior during the first lactation. Chapter one is a review of the current literature regarding sources of stress in first-lactation heifers and their impacts on various aspects of cow behavior and production, as well as on worker safety and wellbeing. The roles of precision livestock farming technologies on modern dairy farms are also discussed in this chapter, as well as the potential of these technologies for dairy cow welfare management and research. The objective of chapter two is to describe the dynamics of milking unit kick-off in primiparous and multiparous cows during the first three months of lactation. Data were collected from 199 primiparous (PRI) and 670 multiparous (MUL) cows who calved between August and November of 2020. From 3 days in milk (DIM) until 90 DIM, data were downloaded daily for each cow from the farm's software program. The main variables of interest were parity category and milking machine kick-offs (KO), which were reported by the milking system when an abrupt interruption in the milk flow occurred. KO events were used in our analysis as a proxy for habituation to the milking routine, and were analyzed by DIM. We found that proportions of KO were greater in PRI than in MUL throughout the monitoring period, and that when analyzed by DIM, first-lactation cows showed a non-linear trend of kick-offs. This indicated that changes in behaviors displayed during the habituation process are not linear, but instead are more complex. Chapter 3 is an analysis of additional data that were collected during the study presented in chapter 2. Study participants were the same, but our goal in this chapter was to investigate any possible relationships between rates of machine kick off, daily changes in milk yield, and occurrence of mastitis during early lactation. Cows with varying frequencies of machine kick-offs were categorized into quartiles. Quartiles were then analyzed for potential interactions with milk yield and mastitis occurrence. Overall, we found no differences in milk yield between KO quartiles, but both primiparous and multiparous cows in the quartile with the highest KO rates had higher rates of mastitis.Item Open Access Effects of trace mineral source and concentration on production parameters throughout one cow-calf production cycle(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Hallmark, Harrison, author; Engle, Terry, advisor; Ahola, Jason, advisor; Garry, Franklyn, committee memberAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Cu, Zn, and Mn supplementation on mineral status, production parameters, and cattle performance in a rangeland environment throughout a one -year period in eastern Colorado. One hundred and eighty multiparous crossbred (Angus and Angus x Hereford) beef cows were blocked by body weight, age, and gestational status and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 free-choice mineral treatments (n = 60 cows per treatment). Treatments were then assigned to 1 of 9 replicates (n=20 cows per replicate), resulting in 3 replicates per treatment. Treatments consisted of, 1) 1X NASEM (2016) sulfate base source, 2) 1X NASEM (2016) Intellibond source, or 3) 0.5X NASEM (2016) Intellibond source. Treatments 1 (1X Sulfate) and 2 (1X Intellibond) contained 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 mg/kg DM of Cu, Mn, and Zn, respectively. While treatment 3 (0.5X Intellibond) contained 500, 1,000, and 1,500 mg/kg DM of Cu, Mn, and Zn. All free-choice mineral supplements were formulated to provide 0.15% supplemental S, 15 mg/kg Co from Co carbonate, and 55 mg/kg I from Ca iodate (Hubbard Feeds; Mankato, MN). Supplement consumption was formulated for 113 g·animal-1 ·d-1. Supplement intakes were determined every 28 d. Liver biopsies and blood samples were obtained before the experiment was initiated (d -45), after calving (d 158 and 159), and after weaning (d 294) at the end of the first production year. Each replicate was rotated to a different pasture every 2 to 4 weeks to minimize pasture effects. Cows were weighed during each liver biopsy event and at each scheduled handling events. A two-day calf weaning weight was collected during weaning (d 260 and 261). Over the first year of the experiment, cow BW, BCS, mineral status, mineral intake, and calf weaning weight were collected. There was no impact of treatment on any of the response variables measured during the first year of the experiment.Item Open Access Impact of growth implants and tannin supplementation on enteric methane emissions and estimated nitrogen excretion in grazing stocker steers(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Kutz, Mesa, author; Stackhouse-Lawson, Kim, advisor; Garry, Franklyn, committee member; Finck, Jessica, committee member; Place, Sara, committee memberThe objective of this experiment is to evaluate the effects of a growth-hormone implant (Revlor-G, Merck Animal Health., Rahway, NJ; 40 mg of trenbolone acetate and 8 mg of estradiol) and tannin supplementation (Silvafeed BX, Silva Team, San Michele Mondovi CN, Italy) on enteric methane (CH4) emissions and estimated nitrogen (N) excretion in stocker cattle. Grazing stocker steers (n = 20; initial BW = 343 ± 14 kg) were trained for three weeks to use a portable automated head-chamber system (AHCS; C-Lock Inc., Rapid City, SD) and SmartFeed Pro automated feeder (C-Lock Inc., Rapid City, SD) for dietary supplementation. After the training period, steers were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: 1) no tannin and no implant (Control [CON]); 2) tannin supplement and no implant (Tannin [TAN]); 3) implant and no tannin (Implant [IMP]); and 4) tannin supplement and implant (Implant + Tannin [IMP + TAN]). The tannin was offered at 0.30% DM tannin intake through 0.5 kg/hd/d sweetfeed mix (Sweetfeed Mix, AgFinity., Eaton, CO). Treatment groups without tannin (Control and Implant) received the same sweetfeed mix ration at 0.5 kg/hd/d without the tannin supplementation. Daily forage intake was estimated using the NRC (1996) forage intake prediction equation. Total intake included the estimated forage, bait (alfalfa pellets from AHCS), and sweetfeed mix. Across the experiment, no animal consistently consumed all 0.5 kg/hd/d of the offered sweetfeed mix. On average, the CON cattle consumed 0.32 kg/hd/d, the TAN group consumed 0.41 kg/hd/d, the IMP cattle consumed 0.44 kg/hd/d, and the IMP + TAN group consumed 0.36 kg/hd/d. Moreover, the lack of a tannin x implant interaction (two-way ANOVA; P=0.24) also suggested sweetfeed mix intake did not depend on either treatment level. In response, we evaluated the effect of tannin supplementation and a growth-promoting implant in a separate analysis and data were analyzed with treatment levels as follows: I1) NO-IMP: All animals that did not receive growth implant; I2) IMP: All animals that did receive growth implant; T1) NO-TAN: All animals that did not receive tannin supplement; T2) TAN: All animals that did receive tannin supplement. The sample size for the evaluation of the tannin effect included: NO-TAN (n = 9; 5 animals were implanted with growth promotant) and TAN (n = 9; 5 animals were implanted with growth promotant), while the growth implant effect included: NO-IMP (n = 8; 4 animals were supplemented tannin) and IMP (n = 10; 5 animals were supplemented tannin). Supplementation with tannin did not impact, animal performance metrics (initial body weight, final body weight, and ADG) across the entire study or within early or late study periods (P ≥ 0.33). Steers supplemented with the NO-TAN supplement tended (P ≥ 0.10) to have greater dry matter intake (DMI) and less CH4 yield (MY) compared to cattle supplemented with TAN. There was no effect of tannin supplementation on enteric CH4 production (g/d; P = 0.24) and EI (P = 0.23). N utilization as measured through blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urine N, fecal N, or fecal P was not different among TAN and NO-TAN animals (P ≥ 0.12). Growth-promoting implants did not affect initial body weight (P = 0.86) or final body weight (P = 0.51). There was no effect of growth hormone implant on average daily gain (ADG) during the 90-d of the study (P = 0.80). However, IMP steers tended (P = 0.10) to have greater ADG during the first half of the study (d 0 to 45). Implanted steers also had greater forage (P = 0.05) and bait intake (P = 0.02), and numerically greater total DMI (P = 0.13) over the 90-d study. For IMP steers, there was no effect (P > 0.19) of growth implant on methane (CH4) production or emission intensity (EI; g CH4/kg gain) during the 90-d study. However, IMP steers had decreased (P = 0.03) EI during the first period. Additionally, the IMP steers tended to have less CH4 yield (MY; g CH4/g DMI, P = 0.09) and BUN (P = 0.08) than NO-IMP steers. There was no growth-promoting implant effect (P > 0.30) on cattle urine and fecal N, creatinine, or fecal P. In summary, supplementing tannin in the diet of grazing stocker steers tended to reduce total estimated DMI but did not affect enteric CH4 emissions compared to steers that received no tannin supplement. Implanting steers with Revalor-G tended to 1) increase total DMI in the 90 d study, 2) increase ADG in the early period (d 0 to 45) and 3) decrease CH4 EI in the first 45 d post-implantation.Item Open Access Physical and molecular characteristics of day 75 nuclear transfer cloned bovine conceptuses(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) De Lille, Alexandra, author; Seidel, George, advisor; Anthony, Russell, committee member; Clay, Colin, committee member; Garry, Franklyn, committee memberThis study was designed to measure fetal and placental characteristics in bovine day 75 nuclear transfer and control pregnancies. Responses included mRNA concentration of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system [IGF-1, IGF-2, IGF1R, IGF2R, IGFBBP-1, -2, -3] and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) system [VEGF, PlGF, VEGF1R, and VEGF2R]. Fetal attrition of the cloned pregnancies up to day 75 was high (89%, 63 out of 71 frozen embryos transferred; 8 of 16 cloned conceptuses present on day 30 survived to day 75, as did 5 of 5 controls). No significant differences in mean weights of large and medium placentomes were observed between 8 clones and 5 controls. However, the variance of mean weight of large placentomes was greater in clones than in controls; one gestation had placentomes six standard deviations larger than controls. Interestingly, the mean umbilical cord weight/length ratio was significantly greater for clones (P < 0.05). Mean fetal length, fetal weight, fetal weight/length index and mean weights for heart, brain, liver, kidneys and the mean brain/liver index did not differ between cloned and control day 75 conceptuses, but numbers per group were limited. Northern blot analysis, revealed the presence of three transcripts of 3.7kb, 2.2kb and 1.7kb for VEGF and one 1.7 kb transcript for PlGF mRNA in the cotyledons and allantochorion of day 45 cloned and control gestations. All three VEGF bands were present in both cloned and control day 75 cotyledons and caruncles, but the PlGF transcript was barely detectable, except for the cotyledons of one clone. mRNA for all of genes studied could be detected with real time PCR in day 75 cotyledons and caruncles, and fetal livers contained mRNA for all IGF's and IGFBP's evaluated. In all placentomal tissues, PlGF mRNA concentration was 100-fold less than VEGF mRNA, which seems to be the driving force for placentomal vascularization at day 75. There was a trend for a reduction by half of the PlGF mRNA concentration in caruncle of clones vs. controls (P = 0.06). VEGF2R (KDR) mRNA was abundant, but VEGF1R (Flt-1), was only present in very low concentrations; our primer set did not distinguish between soluble versus membrane bound receptor mRNA for VEGF1R. Four of the cloned conceptuses contained substantially less cotyledonary IGF1R mRNA than the other clones and controls. IGFBP-3 mRNA concentrations were very high in placentomes; IGFBP-1 and -2 mRNA concentration on the other hand was very low for clones and controls. mRNA for IGFBP-1, -2, -3, however, was abundant in day 75 fetal livers, while IGF-1 mRNA was scarce in this tissue. Fetal livers from cloned pregnancies contained 4-fold more IGF-2 mRNA than controls (P<0.01). We observed that liver IGF-2 mRNA concentration and liver weight increased with weight of the largest placentome; in clones these increases were associated with a decrease in cotyledonary IGF-2 mRNA, while the opposite occurred with controls. Interestingly, there was a trend to lower IGF2R mRNA concentrations (P = 0.09), and IGF-1 mRNA was twofold higher in cotyledons of clones (P= 0.03) compared to controls. For many measurements, means were not significantly different (P > 0.1) between clones and controls. However, unequal variances were common, and data points with statistical outlier behavior were observed for clones, which highlights the heterogeneity of the cloned population. This variation in gene expression may exacerbate abnormal placentation later in gestation, and might explain some of the increased morbidity and mortality seen in calves resulting from cloning by nuclear transfer.Item Open Access Strategies to maintain market access for pork and enhance functionality of beef proteins(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Cochran, Hannah, author; Martin, Jennifer, advisor; Bosco-Lauth, Angela, committee member; Garry, Franklyn, committee member; Roman-Muniz, Noa, committee memberAfrican swine fever is a high-consequence foreign animal disease endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and the island of Sardinia. The U.S. is the world's third largest pork producer, and ASF introduction would severely disrupt the pork supply chain, emphasizing a need to protect market access for U.S. proteins. However, niche producers raising swine intended for exhibition may not follow stringent biosecurity protocols and livestock show circuits may promote untracked animal movement across the country, potentially exacerbating virus spread in the event of ASF incursion into the U.S. Two Qualtrics surveys designed to evaluate knowledge, understanding, and perceptions of ASF and biosecurity principles of youth swine exhibitors and adults involved in the exhibition swine industry were distributed via flyers, emails, and canvassing at livestock shows. Youth exhibitors (age 21 and under) answered questions assessing their knowledge and provided basic demographic information, including their home state and states to which they traveled for exhibitions. Adult respondents answered the same questions assessing their knowledge and provided information on their time involved in the swine industry and number of shows attended by the youth they advise (if any). Youth respondents (n = 127) lived in 14 states and exhibited in 23 states, with 35% and 28% holding membership in state and national swine organizations, respectively. When provided with a list of ASF clinical signs, 34 individuals (26.9%) correctly identified all symptoms. Twenty-nine individuals (23%) incorrectly responded that ASF has been found in the U.S., and ten (7.9%) believed the virus cannot spread between pigs. Increased biosecurity understanding in youth exhibitors showed a significant relationship with an increase in years involved (p<0.05). Adult respondents (n = 211) had been involved in the swine industry for an average of 21 years, and the youth they advised attended 14 exhibitions in an average year. Nearly all adults (90.5%) identified direct contact with infected animals as a method of ASF transmission, while far fewer (36.39%) identified animal feed as a possible mechanism of transmission. These responses indicate highly varied knowledge of symptoms, routes of transmission, and biosecurity recommendations. Youth membership in state or national swine organizations offers a route for outreach and educational activities to enhance foreign animal disease preparedness, and adult presence at swine exhibitions allows for a wide variety of programming for all ages to better serve all levels of understanding. Fluctuations in the beef supply chain due to COVID-19 triggered discussions on methods to fully utilize edible proteins from beef carcasses, such as collagen. One potential method is the addition of collagen powder to beef frankfurters to replace a fraction of lean grind. The inclusion of NOVAPRO® collagen powder to beef franks at three hydration levels resulted in no significant differences (p>0.05) in water activity, pH, or shear force values between the treatment groups. Additionally, trained sensory panelists did not discern differences between treatment or control samples when asked to rate attributes that included beef flavor intensity, seasoning intensity, springiness, and mouth coating, indicating that NOVAPRO® powder could be added to processed meat products to reduce costs without compromising product quality.