Objective: To determine the impact of a free-choice diet on nutritional intake and body condition of feral horses. Animals: Cadavers of 41 feral horses from 5 Australian locations. Procedures: Body condition score (BCS) was determined (scale of 1 to 9), and the stomach was removed from horses during postmortem examination. Stomach contents were analyzed for nutritional variables and macroelement and microelement concentrations. Data were compared among the locations and also compared with recommended daily intakes for horses. Results: Mean BCS varied by location; all horses were judged to be moderately thin. The BCS for males was 1 to 3 points higher than that of females. Amount of protein in the stomach contents varied from 4.3% to 14.9% and was significantly associated with BCS. Amounts of water-soluble carbohydrate and ethanol-soluble carbohydrate in stomach contents of feral horses from all 5 locations were higher than those expected for horses eating high-quality forage. Some macroelement and microelement concentrations were grossly excessive, whereas others were grossly deficient. There was no evidence of ill health among the horses. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Results suggested that the diet for several populations of feral horses in Australia appeared less than optimal. However, neither low BCS nor trace mineral deficiency appeared to affect survival of the horses. Additional studies on food sources in these regions, including analysis of water-soluble carbohydrate, ethanol-soluble carbohydrate, and mineral concentrations, are warranted to determine the provenance of such rich sources of nutrients. Determination of the optimal diet for horses may need revision.

Cryptosporidium spp. was detected in 3 cows from rectal pinch
samples. Direct smear stained with Acid Fast and Kinyoun stain was used to detect the organism. Subsequent samplings also indicated positive for Cryptosporidiosis, whereby one of the animals died due to dehydration and severe clinical signs of diarrhea. The farm had contaminated water supply where two out of the four ponds were
positive for Cryptosporidium spp. whereas the municipal water supply was negative. The management of the farm was poor in terms of nutrition and cleanliness which led to Cryptosporidium spp. infection in the cattle compounded by stress factors. The mortality of the adult dairy cattle and calves was also high reaching up to
40%. The most common cause of death was leg weakness, severe dehydration and pneumonia in calves as a result of severe infections. Cryptosporidiosis is zoonotic and thus needs to be controlled to prevent outbreaks in the human population.

The scarcity of green during summer months imposes nutritional stress on farm animals. In this study we examined the effect of nutritional stress on various biochemical parameters of rabbits.Control and green deprived groups each of 20, weaned New Zealand White rabbits, of either sex, were randomly placed and observed for two months. Then green was re-introduced in deprived group for again two months. Blood sera harvested at every 15th day and analyzed using RA 50 Chemistry auto analyzer. Significant (p0.05) decrease of alkaline phosphatase (AKP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and increase in gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and serum cholesterol was observed in rabbits green deprived group.