In order to evaluate the year-round potential as the feed of rice bran (RB) which can be freely obtained in rural area of Japan, the chemical quality and goats' palarability of fermented rice bran (FRB) aded with bamboo humus and water were examined temporally. FRB was sampled at nine times during storage period (10 days), and the chemical quality was evaluated by the Fliegs' method and the V-score method which are chemical quality evaluation methods in silage. In addition, the cafeteria test with RB estimated the palatability of RRB in eight times during storage period, employing the 4 Saanen adult female-goats without eating experience of RB or fermented feed. Although the V-score of FRB slightly decreased from 100 (0 day of storage) to 94.4 (99^<th> day of storage), the Fliegs' score always maintained 100 except for 0 day of storage, and the highest quality was maintained during whole storage period. The goats' palatability of FRB was affected by their eating experience rather than the quality. Compared with RB, the eating latency of FRB was longer (P<0.05) till the 5th day of the test, and the intake of FRB was fewer (P<0.05) till the 6th day of the test. However, these significant differences among two feeds were lost after these days of the test. It was suggested that the FRB added with bamboo humus and water can maintain the good quality for a long period of time, and its feeding for about one week can also improve the palatability of FRB of the same extent of RB by goat which is inexperienced in eating of FRB.

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In order to examine the validity to the grazing goat of the fermented rice bran (FRB), the occurrence of diarrhea (days/goat) was compared between before (2003-2004) and during (2005-2007) FRB feeding period from the daily record over five years of a Saanen goats group (3-10 goats/year) in year-round grazing system on abandoned -cultivated field. Additionally, the rectal feces of a FRB feeding goat (G+FRB), a FRB non-feeding goat in this grazing gourp (G) and a FRB non-feeding goat kept under housing condition (H) (all goats were adult female) were collected at June, August and October of 2007, and the colony forming unit per gram (cfu/g) and the species of fecal bacteria was compared among these three goats. The colony forming unit per gram was counted after cultivation by BL agar, the eight colonies of bacterial species were collected at random from each agar which carried out limiting dilution (10^<-6>), and the bacterial species were identified by the homology between the base alignment of 16S rDNA of standard strain and our isolates. The occurrence of diarrhea per animal during FRB feeding period (2006: 0.06, 2007: 0.08 d/goat) were less than that of before period (2003: 0.75, 2004: 0.53)(P<0.05). The colony forming unit per gram (cfu/g) in rectal feces was 10-100 times in G+FRB goat (10^7 cfu/g) compared with that in G or H goats (10^5-10^6 cfu/g)(P<0.05). In the feces of G+FRB goat, Lactobacillus acidipiscis and Pediococcus pentosaceus of the FRB origin were isolated, and the isolated rate of pathogenic Staphyloccus spp. or Escherichia coli was lower than G or H goat. From these results, a potential that FRB had an intestinal tract function in a grazing goat was suggested.

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To contribute to make simple identification method for awake-sleep states in cattle, we examined the relationship of autonomic nervous balance with awake-sleep states categorized by behavioral observations. Six Holstein steers aged 8-10 months were used. The awake-sleep states were categorized by body posture, neck position, and eye status, into "awake" characterized by resting head lifted up and in motion with eye open, "drowsy" characterized by resting head lifted up and still with eye half-closed, "non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM)" characterized by resting head lifted up and still eye closed, "rapid eye movement sleep (REM)" characterized by neck relaxation with rapid eye movement, and "Uncategorizable sleep (UC)" characterized by neck relaxation without rapid eye movement. Power spectral analyses of R-R interval variability of electrocardiogram were performed to calculate the low frequency (LF, 0.04-0.1 Hz) and high frequency (HF, 0.1-0.8 Hz) powers. There were differences in LF/HF, which represents sympathetic activity(P<0.1) and HF in normalized unit (HF nu), which represents parasympathetic activity (P<0.05) among awake-sleep states. The autonomic nervous balance shifted toward parasympathetic dominant during NREM and UC and toward sympathetic dominant during awake and REM. Our findings about awake-sleep states dependent variation in autonomic nervous balance are in line with previous evidences in human. Since the autonomic nervous balance was similar between NREM and UC, UC could be categorized into NREM. Though further study utilizing electroencephalogram is needed, combined use of behavioral observation and autonomic nervous balance could be a useful identification method for awake-sleep states in cattle.

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To investigate the effects of shearing on the milk production and physiological status of dairy cows, we conducted an experiment during 3 consecutive 2-week periods (prd 1-prd 3) in summer hot season (July-August). Each dairy cow in the experiment belonged to one of 3 blocks, each consisting of 2 cows in the mid-to-late lactation stage with similar initial milk yield and days-in-milk. Cows were assigned to either the shearing (SH) or control (CON) treatments. The cows were sheared above the line from stifle to an elbow from the shoulder blade to tail head on the first day of each 2-week period using an electrical hair clipper set to a height of 1 mm. Milk production and physiological status including rectal temperature were measured and samples to test plasma metabolites were collected during the last 4 days of each experimental period. Dry matter intake (DMI) for prd3 was significantly lower than those for prd1 and prd2 (P<0.05). Rectal temperature for CON in prd3 tended to be lower than that in prd1 (P<0.16), and it was associated with a decrease in DMI. Rectal temperature for SH in prd2, when no decrease in DMI was observed, significantly decreased (P<0.05), suggesting increased heat loss with SH. Milk yields for CON decreased during prd2 and prd3 (P<0.05), but those for SH did not. It was suggested that the lower rectal temperature of SH cows might alleviate a decline in milk yield in the hot season. Changes in blood metabolites could not explain reasons for the alleviation of the decline for milk yield in SH cows, though a trend toward lower oxidative stress for SH cows (P<0.16) was observed. To clarify the effectiveness of SH as a measure for summer heat stress, energy metabolism associated with decline in milk production in the hot season must be investigated.

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