Abstract

Ruminants are born with an underdeveloped forestomach (Warner et al., 1956) and as such operate as a monogastric animals until the reticulorumen (RR) and omasum have developed. The development of the rumen from birth to weaning has been well studied in dairy cattle (Heinrichs & Lesmeister, 2005), but not farmed red deer. Understanding pre-weaning rumen developmental processes is required for feeding programmes aiming to maximise pre-weaning growth rates of young red deer calves for early venison production. This preliminary study aimed to document the changes in rumen growth and papillae development ...Continued

BR, Thompson, G Hofstra, KJ Hammond, CG Mackintosh, SO Hoskin, RP Littlejohn, and DR Stevens

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 68, Brisbane, Australia, 47-48, 2008