termined the optimum protein level 

 for growing Cohos. 



Large animal nutrition research is 

 conducted by C. G. Schwab and J. B. 

 Holter. Schwab's major interest is 

 protein nutrition of young calves while 

 Holter's is primarily formulation and 

 testing of rations for the lactating cow 

 for more efficient milk production. 

 Schwab's research team includes vet- 

 erinarians W. A. Hylton and }. J. Moore, 

 animal nutritionist }. Nocek (Agway, 

 Inc.) and graduate research assistants. 

 Their research has revealed methi- 

 onine to be the first limiting amino 

 acid for the calf and that calves have 

 mature rumenal function by one week 

 after weaning. In a recent field experi- 

 ment, Schwab and graduate student C. 

 Bartlett gathered some 80,000 bits of 

 data necessitating the use of a com- 

 puter to store and efficiently analyze 

 the data. 



As a dairy nutritionist, Holter is 

 committed to improving the efficiency 

 of milk production because of high 

 costs of feed and labor in the Northeast. 

 Along with W. E. Urban, Jr., H. A. 

 Davis, W. A. Hylton, H. H. Hayes and 

 W. Johns, III he has researched the 

 nutritive value of corn silage, haycrop 

 silage and hay, singly and in combina- 

 tion, and examined ways to reduce the 

 amount of purchased protein in the 

 ration of high producing dairy cows. 

 More recently he has developed pro- 

 grammable electronic aids for formu- 

 lating dairy rations for dairymen. Ex- 

 tension and feed industry personnel. 



White-tailed deer in New Hamp- 

 shire are valued for aesthetics and 

 hunting, but according to Holter, in- 

 formation on the protein and energy 

 requirements for these animals is 

 scarce. Thus, Holter, W. E. Urban, Jr., 

 Station Associate Director and Statis- 



tician, H. Silver (N.H. Fish and Game 

 Department), H. H. Hayes and others 

 have determined the protein require- 

 ments of deer fawns, predicted meta- 

 bolic rate from telemetered heart rate, 

 and measured body growth under 

 varying levels of protein and energy. 

 The species thrives on land not well 

 adapted to agriculture, but if the herds 

 are to be intensively managed, esti- 

 mates will be needed of the carrying 

 capacity of habitats, which in turn, are 

 dependent on knowledge of nutrient 

 requirements. 



Reproductive physiologists at the 

 Station are investigating breeding 

 problems of dairy cows and horses. 

 The research of department chairman 

 W. A. Condon and associates is aimed 

 at regulating the length of the estrous 

 cycle of the cow as a way of better 

 controlling the time of breeding and, 

 ultimately, increasing the production 

 of milk and calves. Their major inter- 

 est is in the hormones progesterone 

 and prostaglandin. A question still 

 under scrutiny is why supplemenation 

 of the cow's ration with p-carotene, a 

 precursor of vitamin A, apparently 

 improves milk production. His re- 

 search is heavily dependent on use of 

 cell culture techniques. 



W. E. Berndtson, reproductive 

 physiologist, works primarily with 

 horses, both mares and stallions, but 

 also with beef and dairy bulls. Roughly 

 30 percent of pregnancies in mares are 

 aborted, many because of problems 

 associated with old age. He has per- 

 fected the technique of transferring an 

 embryo from one mare to another, an 

 important research tool which has 

 promise of improving reproduction 

 efficiency in horses. In other research 

 he is attempting to isolate factors which 

 have a direct role in sperm produc- 

 tion. 



59 



