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The human-animal relationship in agriculture has been shown to be an influential factor affecting farm animal behaviour, welfare and productivity. It has been demonstrated that stockperson behaviour is related to animal fear and productivity and stockperson attitudes have been found to be strong predictors of stockperson behaviour. However, other job-related human factors may also be influenced by attitudes, thus affecting stockperson work performance. Inter-relationships between stockperson attitudes and behaviours and other job-related human factors were determined. The effects of human behaviour on the behavioural response of pigs towards humans was further investigated and the role of training to modify job-related factors, such as technical knowledge was examined. Stockperson behaviour was shown to influence the behavioural response of pigs towards humans and behavioural responses of pigs towards humans could be conditioned within 4 weeks of regular handling. Negative behaviour by the stockperson was shown to be the most aversive human-animal interaction, while injection treatments were moderately aversive in comparison. The negative effects of human behaviour and husbandry procedures were not found to be alleviated by positive handling or environmental enrichment. The behavioural response of pigs towards humans was found to be influenced by social learning processes and stimulus generalisation of the behavioural response of pigs to humans was found to be unaffected by location. Other job-related human factors, such as technical knowledge, empathy and job satisfaction were positively related to stockperson attitudes and behaviour. Due to established sequential relationships between stockperson attitudes and behaviour and pig behaviour and productivity, this was viewed as indicative of the effect of these job-related variables on pig behaviour and productivity.

The forces and pressures applied to the hooves of Friesian cattle during gait were investigated using a combined force plate and pedobaroscope. Studies included those concerned with changes in loads and pressure with increasing live weight, flooring surface, stages of pregnancy and differences in gait with lameness. The forefeet carried significantly greater loads (i.e. equivalent to 60 per cent of body weight) than the hind feet (i.e. equivalent to 50 per of body weight), but no difference in load was observed between contralateral limbs. In most cases no significant difference was observed in contact area between feet. However with increasing live weight hoof-ground contact area increased at a rate exceeding that expected from allometry. The obtained relationship between area (A) and live weight (m) was A = 10.96 m<SUP>0.96</SUP>. Pressure did not increase significantly with live weight. No significant decrease in contact area or increase in pressure was observed with a simulated slot, of 12 mm width, in the floor. During pregnancy the load distribution did not change significantly, though pressures were observed to increase slightly on all feet in the pre-partum period. The vertical ground reaction and horizontal fore and aft force-time curves of lame cows were different to those obtained from non-lame cows. The force-time curves of the non-lame limbs of the lame cattle were also modified. It was concluded that the heel region was compressed of the inter-digital space increased to increase the solear ground contact with increasing load, to reduce applied pressure. This would reduce the risk of pressure-induced injury and lameness. The load distribution during pregnancy did not explain the higher incidence of lameness on the hind feet at this time and other factors may be implicated. Changes in applied forces on limbs with lameness may act to alleviate pain. The forces applied to the non-lame limbs may compensate for the change in load on the lame foot or act to further alleviate pain. Further work is suggested to relate the risk of injury and lameness on different floor types to the applied loads and pressures.

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The results of five experiments are reported as tests of a theory of the growth and feed intake of sheep. An attempt is first made to describe potential growth in the sheep, that is, growth under non-limiting conditions, and to generalise this description across breeds. The two ways of providing non-limiting conditions are then considered. This approach necessarily confronts the problem of predicting the desired intake of feed resources required to fulfill the potential. Whilst ad libitum access to a single,nutrient-rich feed is found an acceptable method, data collected in three experiments, using a total of 64 Suffolk X Greyface lambs, lead to theconclusion that sheep can also attain their potential for growth when given free and continual access to more than one feed, a possible combination of which is non-limiting to growth. It is suggested that the technique may be applied as an independent test of other estimates of resource requirements for growth and to the prediction of feeding behaviour in sheep. The responses of sheep to limiting conditions for growth are studied on the assumption that sheep have rules for partitioning the feed's first limiting resource. The limits to this view are investigated by experiment using 73 Scottish Blackface wethers offered amounts of feed which provide similar crude protein allowances but different yields of energy. It is concluded that the body composition of sheep can be manipulated by nutrition, since the animals will partition scarce energyresources to protein growth before fattening, but that this effect is complicatedin ruminants because protein supply is not independent of feeding level. The theory is then applied to the problem of predicting the recovery of sheep from the effects of growth restraint. An experiment involving 30 Scottish Blackface wethers provides data which support the idea that sheep, following a period of underfeeding, will resume their known potential for growth and, only when necessary, restore their body composition to the state dictated by their inheritance. No compensatory growth is observed. Finally, the work as a whole is discussed in relation to animal science and the sheepmeat industry. Possibilities for future research are also suggested. The experimental data are published in full in the appendices.

A theory of growth and feed intake in the pig is proposed and the results of five experiments to test it are reported here. An attempt is first made to describe the potential growth in pigs, that is, growth under non-limiting conditions; the conditions needed to allow potential growth to be retained are then considered. Two ways of providing non-limiting feeding conditions are discussed: a single balanced feed and a set of feeds given as a choice. In addition, a model which predicts the voluntary feed intake of pigs is also developed and tested in experiments. The results from pigs offered single feeds in the first two experiments were consistent with the predictions of the model, which were that the rate of feed intake would increase as the protein content of the feeds was decreased. The size of the increase depended on the ability of the pig to lose heat. In these experiments, when pigs were offered a pair of feeds as a choice, a combination of which was non-limiting, the results suggested that this method cannot be successfully used to attain the potential growth of pigs. The diet selection results were characterised by a considerable variation in the diets selected by individual pigs, and only some pigs achieved what was estimated to be their potential rate of growth. It was suggested that pigs which failed to select a non-limiting diet did not have the necessary chance to choose. Experiment 3 evaluated a simple method of ensuring that pigs are given both the necessary choice, and the chance to choose. This was achieved by giving them the opportunity to sample the single feeds, which were to be offered as a choice, alone on alternate days for a short period of six days. Subsequently, pigs given a choice between two feeds were able to select a non-limiting diet. Experiment 4 incorporated the method established previously and consisted of a severe investigation into the rules of diet selection. It was concluded that pigs are able to avoid excess of nutrient, in this case protein, intake or to select the best possible diet in less favourable conditions, ie. a choice between two limiting feeds. The last experiment consisted of an extended test of the theory that a pig will select a diet which is a reflection of its degree of maturity, state and sex. Pigs made fat and delayed in growth in one period were subsequently given the opportunity to recover on a pair of feeds offered as a choice. The diets selected by the fat pigs satisfied their requirements for compensatory protein gain allowing only a slow rate of lipid gain. In addition, they met the different growth and fattening requirements by the two sexes. All these findings are discussed in relation to the use of choice-feeding as an independent test of other estimates of resource requirements, as a feeding technique when the potential growth of pigs is to be observed and as a help in predicting the feeding behaviour in pigs.

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