@conference {40678,
	title = {Evaluation of {\textquoteright}CONFIRM{\textquoteright} as a method to verify pregnancy in dairy cows},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {55},
	year = {1995},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {91-93},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {A total of 24 mature rams and ewes (>2.5 yrs) from a line selected for  high backfat thickness and an unselected control line were used to investigate  the relationship between maintenance efficiency and body composition in  mature sheep. Over a 6 week period the sheep were fed daily a pelleted  ration at levels to maintain liveweight. At the end of this period the weights  of total fat, carcass lean, viscera and of the empty body (fleece free) were  estimated from X-ray computed tomographic images. After adjustment for  empty body weight the control line required 5\% more feed to maintain  liveweight (P<0.05) than sheep from the fat line and males required 19\%  more feed (P0.05) than females. After adjustment for differences in either  total fat or carcass lean weight, there were no significant difference (P>0.05)  in feed requirements between the lines. This indicated that although a  genetic change in body composition did alter maintenance feed requirements  at maturity, the efficiency of maintaining a unit weight of either fat or carcass  lean remained the same. After adjustment for differences in total fat and  carcass lean weight, rams still required 11\% more feed than ewes to maintain  liveweight. Adjusting for visceral weight had no effect on feed requirements  to maintain the mature sheep. It was proposed that differences in the  turnover rates of adipose tissue or carcass lean contributes to the higher  maintenance feed cost observed for the mature ram.  },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Henderson KM and Camberis M and Macmillan KL}
}
