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"Freeman, R. B"
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Browse or browsing: Investigating goat preferences for feeding posture, feeding height and feed type
Goats naturally browse different forages in various postures; this differs from typical farm practice, thus there are opportunities to improve goat welfare by understanding what and how they like to eat. We investigated if feeding preference was related to posture, feeder height relative to the ground, and type of feed. Sixteen adult, Saanen cross females participated in two experiments comparing a floor-level feeder (grazing posture; farm standard), with an elevated feeder (browsing posture; Exp1) and a platform-level feeder (raised, grazing posture; Exp2), when two forages (leaves, grass) were offered. Measurements included feed intake (g of DM/feeder), feeder switching frequency, first feeder visited, latency to visit first feeder and exploration and non-feeding activity time. Effects of posture (Exp1), height (Exp2) and feed type were analyzed. Type of feed affected preference for feeding posture and height. All goats consumed leaves over grass (Exp1: POP: 188 ± 6.52 g, GRA: 20.3 ± 7.19 g; Exp2: POP: 191 ± 6.15 g, GRA: 0.231 ± 6.91 g; P < 0.001), and the feeder containing leaves was often visited first (Exp 1: GRA/POP: 94% of visits, P < 0.001, POP/GRA: 53%, P = 0.724 ; Exp 2: GRA/POP: 91%, P < 0.001; POP/GRA: 69%, P = 0.041). When goats received only leaves, they consumed more from the floor-level (162 ± 22.2 g) vs. elevated level (102 ± 21.9 g) feeder ( P = 0.039). When goats received only grass, there was no posture or height preference; however, they changed feeders more frequently (at least 4x (Exp1) and 2x (Exp2) more than other combinations; P > 0.01). Feed intake was negatively affected by exploring time (Exp1 only: r = −0.541; P < 0.001) and performing non-feeding activities (Exp1: r = −0.698; P < 0.001; Exp2: r = −0.673; P < 0.001). We did not identify a preference for elevated feeding posture; however, we suggest that our short test (compared to previous work) encouraged goats to make choices based on line-of-sight and also that the elevated feeder design (replicated from previous work) made leaf access harder. Nonetheless, we highlight that some goats actively used the elevated feeder; this coupled with the clear preference for leaves over grass, suggests that offering feed type and presentation diversity would allow individuals to express their natural feeding behavior more fully.
Journal Article
The Labour Market in the New Information Economy
The extension of information and communication technologies (ICT) to economic activity is changing the labour market in important ways, This article shows that computerization and use of the Internet are associated with greater hours worked as well as higher wages; that ICT occupations are rapidly increasing their share of employment; that job search and recruitment are moving rapidly to the Web, with consequences for matching employers and employees; and, possibly most important of all, that trade unions have begun to use the Internet as a tool for servicing members and carrying their messages to the public, raising the possibility of a major change in the nature of the union movement.
Journal Article
Marketization of household production and the EU-US gap in work
Employment rates and hours worked per employee are very different in the EU and the US. This paper relates the greater time worked in the US to greater marketization in the US of traditional household production: food preparation, childcare, elderly care, cleaning houses. Since women do most household work, marketization is particularly relevant to the EU-US difference in hours worked by women. We suggest that to raise employment rates the EU should develop policies that make it easier for women to move from the household to the market and to substitute market goods and services for household production. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Journal Article
How Much Do Immigration and Trade Affect Labor Market Outcomes?
\"This paper provides new estimates of the impact of immigration and trade on the U.S. labor market... We examine the relation between economic outcomes for native workers and immigrant flows to regional labor markets... We...use the factor proportions approach to examine the contributions of immigration and trade to recent changes in U.S. educational wage differentials and attempt to provide a broader assessment of the impact of immigration on the incomes of U.S. natives.\" Comments and discussion by John DiNardo, John M. Abowd, and others are included (pp. 68-85).
Journal Article
What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and Employment Among Young Black Men in the 1980s
This paper shows a widening in black-white earnings and employment gaps among young men from the mid-1970s through the 1980s. Earnings gaps increased most among college graduates and in the Midwest, while gaps in employment-population rates grew most among dropouts. We attribute the differential widening to shifts in demand for subgroups due to shifting industry and regional employment, the falling real minimum wage and deunionization, the growing supply of black to white workers that was marked among college graduates, and to increased crime among dropouts. The different factors affecting subgroups highlight the economic diversity of black Americans.
Journal Article
Geographic Favoritism in Liver Transplantation
To the Editor:
In their Sounding Board article, Ubel and Caplan (Oct. 29 issue)
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identified many important ethical issues with respect to organ allocation. Unfortunately, they included some factual errors and erroneous assumptions.
The adoption of a single national list for liver transplantation is not feasible. The statement that livers can be “stored for . . . 20 hours without serious damage” is scientifically incorrect. With every hour of storage, the rate of dysfunction of transplanted livers increases. Fortunately, virtually all programs have adopted a policy of prompt transplantation to avoid the loss of livers, reduce morbidity and mortality among . . .
Journal Article
The Minimum Wage as a Redistributive Tool
The goal of a minimum wage is not to reduce employment, but to redistribute earnings to low-paid workers. The redistributive effects of a minimum wage depend on the labor market and redistributive system in which it operates, on the level of the minimum, and on its enforcement. It is argued that the goal of the minimum wage is to redistribute earnings to the lower paid in response to the massive increase in earnings inequality of the 1980s and 1990s. Whether the minimum can accomplish this goal is addressed, and the efficacy of the minimum compared with other redistributive polices, such as means-tested-in-work benefits, is examined. Because the benefits and costs of the minimum wage and other redistributive policies depend on the conditions of the labor market and the operation of the social welfare systems, the same assessment calculus can yield different results in different settings. It is suggested that an appropriately set minimum can be a modestly effective redistributive tool in the UK and the US, particularly if it is linked with other redistributive policies.
Journal Article
Dunning Delinquent Dads: The Effects of Child Support Enforcement Policy on Child Support Receipt by Never Married Women
Using data from administrative records, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and the Current Population Survey, we find that the proportion of never married mothers receiving child support rose sharply in the 1980s and 1990s. Using within-state variation over time, we estimate that increased government expenditures on child support are responsible for about one quarter of the upward trend in child support receipt. Our results show that child support expenditures and legislation work best in tandem. States that both increased expenditures and adopted tougher laws experienced the largest increase in the proportion of never married mother families receiving support.
Journal Article
Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable
The use of job satisfaction and other subjective variables in labor market analysis is evaluated. The answers to questions about how people feel toward their jobs convey useful information about economic life that should be considered by the economist. Satisfaction is a major determinant of labor market mobility because it reflects aspects of the work place not captured by standard objective variables. Subjective variables contain useful information for predicting and understanding behavior. Relations between some economic variables, such as unionism and satisfaction, appear to contribute to the subjective nature of the variable. Nonpecuniary factors are important to mobility, and further effort should be used to measure and analyze such factors.
Journal Article