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Production and economic traits of purebreed and crossbred animals in diary herds of mountain areas
Full text linkBeef production from dairy herds represents an alternative source to improve the farm profitability. The use of beef semen to mate cattle not destined to breed replacement represent an interesting source of income for dairy farmers particularly due to the greater price and value of crossbreed calves respect purebred calves at sale. Unfortunately this practice has been decreasing in the last years in the more specialized herds of the Po valley mainly due to fertility and longevity problems of the high productivity dairy cattle. However, on the mountain area, were farms are characterized by less productivity but high longevity and fertility of their cattle, the low replacement rate permitted each year the use of beef sire to mate a considerable number of cattle not destined to breed replacement.
In the Trentino area (North of Italy) every week the breeding federation collected calves from associated dairy herds and the best of these for beef traits, following weaning at specialized farms, were fattened at local associated fattening farms. After fattening, young bulls and heifers are slaughtered at the same abattoir and the meat are sold at the central butchers and to the entire cooperative wire markets of the Province. This meat is sold with a certified mark that guarantee birth, fattening and slaughtering of the animals in the same area. Moreover, weekly, the breeding Federation of Trento province collected cull cows from associated dairy herds too and these cattle are sold to an associated abattoir.
The aim of the present thesis were to study production and economic traits from the whole beef output from dairy herds in mountain area; the first contribute of the thesis analyzed production and economic traits of slaughtered cull cows while the second and the third contributes analyzed production and selling traits of calves at sale (average 24 days of age). Finally the last contribute studied production and economic traits of young bulls and heifers at slaughter respect the purchase beginning value of calf.
Results of first contribute evidenced that the value of cull cows at slaughter represents a significant source of income for the dairy farm and the large differences among different breeds for cull cow value suggests its possible inclusion in the selection objectives of these breeds. Holstein-Friesian cows were younger at slaughter, yielded lighter carcasses and received a lower price and total value than Brown Swiss cows while dual purpose breeds were older, heavier and received a greater price and value at slaughter than both dairy breeds.
Results from the study that analyzed calves traits had evidenced that the dual-purpose purebred calves received, on average, greater price and value at sale than purebred dairy calves. Furthermore, among crossbreed calves, the progeny from Belgian Blue sire and Simmental dam evidenced the greatest live weight and selling values. Moreover, results evidenced that the majority of purebred calves from dairy dams were most likely destined for veal production while many dual-purpose calves were most likely destined for beef production as well as the vast majority of beef crossbreed calves.
Results from the final contribute evidenced that crossbred young bulls and beef heifers from Belgian Blue sires and Simmental dam achieved the highest carcass weight and the best daily gain and carcass value. The best economic revenue was achieved by Simmental bulls among purebred animals, and by Belgian Blue sire x Holstein Friesian dams, among crossbreed animals. This is mainly related to less purchase value of calves at the beginning of the fattening period.
Results might be useful for the farmers as guideline to quantify an alternative source of income and to improve the farm profitability obtained from beef production in dairy herds
Produzione del vitellone di razza Rendena con metodo biologico: primi risultati di una sperimentazione in Val Rendena
No full textOrganic meat quality of dual purpose young bulls supplemented with pea (Pisum sativum L.) or soybean
No full textBACKGROUND: One of the main constraints established by organic legislation that limits the development of the rearing of young bulls is the ban on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO). Most of the worldwide cultivated soybean is GMO, therefore the use of alternative protein sources should be evaluated. The effect of the dietary substitution of soybean with pea (Pisum sativum L.) on carcass characteristics and meat quality of dual purpose young bulls reared following the organic method was investigated.
RESULTS: Twenty-four young bulls of Rendena breed were randomly assigned to 2 diet treatments differing in protein supplement (soybean, SB, vs. pea, FP). Carcass characteristics and the meat chemical composition, color, cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force were not difference between groups. Regarding the fatty acids composition of meat, SB showed higher concentrations of C18:0, C18:1t, and lower C16:1n-9c, C14:0, C17:1n-9c, C18:1n-9c than FP. Trained judges, in the descriptive sensory analysis, were not able to differentiate meats from SB and FP that had also similar overall liking expressed by consumers.
CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that FP can substitute SB in the diet of dual purpose young bulls with a minor influence on fatty acids composition, and no effect on carcass characteristics and meat quality
Animal husbandry as a tool for post-war recovery and reconciliation. An update from The Transhumance of the Peace project.
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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