This study investigated the effects of AM/PM feeding on free-range laying hens via several welfare, behaviour and health parameters. The AM diets (12.5 MJ AME/kg, 20.1% CP, 2.5% Ca) were provided from 08:00 hours to 16:00 hours, and the PM diet (10.8 MJ AME/kg, 17.5% CP, 5.6% Ca) from 16:00 hours to 08:00 hours. AM/PM feeding demonstrated possible benefits for laying hen welfare, including the reduction in feather pecking and improved outdoor activity and bone health.

Catastrophic spontaneous humeral fractures in young dairy cows have introduced significant challenges to New Zealand’s dairy industry, affecting animal welfare and farmers’ livelihoods. This review identifies poor bone formation and excessive bone removal as likely key risk factors leading to osteoporotic bones that fracture. Ensuring cows receive proper nutrition during key growth periods might help prevent these fractures and support a healthier, more productive dairy industry. Further research is essential to fully tackle this issue.

This article belongs to the collection: Australasian Dairy Science Symposium 2024.

The inclusion of carbon sequestration in trees and soils to offset greenhouse gas emssions (GHGe) in agricultural carbon accounts, also known as carbon insetting, is a rapidly growing area of interest. Through a livestock enterprise case study, we demonstrated that although soil and tree carbon sequestration can produce low net emissions systems, they cannot maintain zero net emissions indefinitely. Whereas GHGe are continuous over time, sequestration eventually plateaus, further establishing the need for methods that avoid GHGe.