The beef livestock system in Sardinia is based on suckler cows, often belonging to autochthonous breeds, such as the Sarda breed, and they often graze silvopastoral areas. Besides beef meat, silvopastoral systems (SPSs) provide several Ecosystem Services (ESs), such as timber provision, harvested as wood, and watershed protection. Livestock distribution is a critical factor for the sustainable use of SPSs (e.g., to avoid uneven grazing patterns) and information on patterns of spatial use are required. A study was conducted to determine: (i) the spatial distribution and (ii) the habitat selection of Sarda cattle grazing in a Mediterranean silvopastoral area. Over different seasons, 12 free-roaming adult Sarda cows were fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) Knight tracking collars to calculate an index mapping of the incidence of livestock in the landscape (LRI) and a preference index (PI) for different areas. Since the PI data were not normally distributed, the Aligned Rank Transform (ART) procedure was used for the analysis. LRI was able to represent the spatial variability in resource utilization by livestock as a LRI map. Overall, the areas where the animals drank and received supplementation were strongly preferred by the cows, reaching PI values in the summer of 19.3 ± 4.9 (median ± interquartile range), whereas areas with predominantly rocks were strongly avoided (the worst PI value in the spring was 0.2 ± 0.6). Grasslands were, in general, used in proportion to their presence in the area, with slightly increased use in the spring (PI 1.1 ± 0.5). Forest area was avoided by cows, except in the spring when it was used in proportion to their presence in the area.

The great majority of infant formula (FM) for neonate’s nutrition are produced using ingredients from cow milk. Recently, some countries, such as China and New Zealand, are turning their attention to the use of ovine milk ingredients for FM production. In this study, a pilot plant process has been set up to produce infant formula ingredients from Sarda sheep milk. To meet the nutritional needs of neonates (0–6 and 6–12 months of age) two different liquid milk-derived formulations (IF1 and IF2, respectively) obtained mixing whole milk, skimmed milk, and whey milk ultrafiltration concentrate (retentate) were produced. Compositional analysis of milk, retentate, and the final IFs showed that the two formulations contain elements of nutritional interest, such as well-balanced content of high biological value proteins (casein:whey proteins ratio of 30:70 and 60:40 for IF1 and IF2, respectively), vitamin A, E and B5, cholesterol, minerals, nucleotides, free amino acids and essential fatty acids (n–6:n–3 ~1), compatible with the growth and development needs of neonates. Therefore, the obtained IF1 and IF2 can be proposed as valuable ovine dairy ingredients for FM manufacturing. Further studies will be necessary to verify the adaptability of the developed process from laboratory to industrial scale application.

In this study, we investigated the sorption–desorption behavior of imazamox (IMZ) and 2,4-DB (DB) in two typical acidic Mediterranean agricultural soils and the impact of these herbicides on culturable soil bacterial populations, enzyme activities and functional diversity when applied at concentrations higher than recommended doses (10×, 50×, 500×). Herbicide sorption was similar in both soils and IMZ was less retained compared to DB (~0.5 vs. 40 µg g⁻¹ soil, respectively). IMZ desorption was remarkable (70–100%) while that of DB was more limited, i.e., ~40%. Three days after spiking (DAS), IMZ and DB significantly increased the number of soil-culturable heterotrophic bacteria, actinomycetes and Pseudomonas spp., soil respiration and the potential catabolic capacity of soil microbial communities. Soil dehydrogenase activity increased by ~56–70% in IMZ-treated soils while being reduced by ~33–41% in DB-treated ones. β-glucosidase activity showed a soil-dependent behavior, while the pattern of C source utilization suggested a change of soil microbial community structure after herbicide (especially DB) spiking. At 30 DAS, the herbicides’ impact on soil microorganisms, enzyme activity and functional diversity was still visible. Moreover, a toxic effect of DB (at 50× and 500×), but not IMZ, was recorded vs. Rhizobium sullae, the bacterial symbiont of Hedysarum coronarium. The obtained results indicated that IMZ and DB are poorly sorbed and highly desorbed by both soils. Moreover, at the tested concentrations, IMZ and DB can have short- and medium-term impacts on the microbial component and the related activity of the investigated soils, likely affecting a range of ecosystem services provided by soil microorganisms.

Seasonal variability in feed availability in Mediterranean dairy sheep systems can compromise animal performance and welfare, highlighting the need for reliable, high-frequency monitoring tools. Live weight (LW) is a key indicator of nutritional status, but conventional measurements are labour-intensive and poorly suited to dynamic conditions. Walk-over-weighing (WoW) systems integrated with electronic identification (EID) enable automated, continuous, individual-level LW monitoring. This study assessed the sensitivity of a WoW system to detect nutritionally driven LW changes in Sarda dairy ewes under indoor and grazing conditions. Two experiments were conducted: an indoor short-term nutritional challenge involving 24 non-lactating ewes and a grazing trial with contrasting pasture access times involving 48 lactating ewes. In both experiments, the WoW system detected consistent LW differences between nutritional treatments (p < 0.001), capturing both short-term responses and sustained LW dynamics. Differences were approximately 5%, indicating that the WoW system was sensitive to nutritionally induced LW variation under the experimental conditions of the present study, before marked changes in body condition score (BCS) became detectable. These results demonstrate that WoW systems can reliably capture LW trajectories in response to nutritional variation. However, LW responses should be interpreted cautiously, as short-term variation may also reflect gut fill and hydration dynamics, and intake information was not fully available at the individual level because some feed intake components were measured at the group level or estimated indirectly. Integrating automated LW data with production and management information may support group-level nutritional decisions and early detection of animals deviating from expected LW trajectories in precision dairy sheep systems.

This study evaluated the effects of replacing alfalfa hay with sulla [Sulla coronaria (L.) B.H. Choi & H. Ohashi] hay or sulla haylage in pasture-based diets for lactating Sarda ewes on milk production, milk composition, and nutrient utilization efficiency. Seventy-two mid-lactation ewes were assigned to three dietary treatments for 56 days—alfalfa hay (AH), sulla hay (SH), or sulla haylage (SHL)—all combined with 3 h/day grazing and a fixed amount of supplemental concentrate. The diets were formulated to be theoretically isoenergetic and isoproteic. Pasture nutritive value was generally comparable among the groups throughout the experimental period. Milk yield did not differ among treatments; however, fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM) and milk fat and protein concentrations were higher in AH compared with the sulla-based diets. Actual nutrient intake differed among treatments, with nitrogen intake (NI) being greatest in AH, consistent with the higher milk urea concentration observed in this group. Estimated apparent energy utilization efficiency (FPCM/UFL intake) showed treatment-associated differences in exploratory analyses, with lower values observed in SH compared with AH and SHL. Similarly, exploratory estimates of apparent nitrogen utilization efficiency (Milk N/NI) were highest in SHL, intermediate in SH, and lowest in AH (p < 0.001). Condensed tannins were not detected in the conserved sulla forages under the analytical conditions adopted in this study. Therefore, the observed responses were unlikely to be directly associated with detectable condensed tannin activity. Overall, the results suggest that forage conservation method may influence milk composition and estimated apparent nutrient utilization indices, with sulla haylage showing higher exploratory estimates of apparent nitrogen utilization efficiency without negative effects on milk yield under the conditions of the present study.

Accurate estimation of individual herbage intake in grazing ruminants is essential for improving feeding efficiency and animal performance, yet it remains challenging under field conditions. This study evaluated the association between live weight dynamics recorded by an automated walk-over-weighing (WoW) system and equation-derived herbage dry matter intake (HDMI) in dairy ewes and whether this association changed throughout lactation. The study was conducted over two years (2023–2024) using 92 Sarda dairy ewes managed under part-time grazing with two daily pasture access times (2 or 6 h day⁻¹). Live weight was recorded daily before and after pasture access, and daily live weight change was averaged weekly. HDMI was estimated using a published prediction equation based on milk yield, herbage neutral detergent fibre concentration, and pasture access time. Live weight change was partitioned into between-animal (DW_mean) and within-animal (DW_dev) components, allowing persistent differences among animals to be distinguished from short-term within-animal fluctuations, and analysed using linear mixed-effects models. In the pooled model, both components were positively associated with equation-derived HDMI (p < 0.001), while the significant DW_dev × days-in-milk interaction (p = 0.004) indicated that the association between within-animal live weight change and equation-derived HDMI decreased as lactation advanced. However, pasture access-time-specific sensitivity analyses showed that the associations with DW_mean and DW_dev persisted within AT-6h but were not detected within AT-2h, while adjustment for milk yield attenuated the within-animal association, which was no longer statistically significant, and also removed statistical support for the DW_dev × days-in-milk interaction. The mixed-effects model explained a substantial proportion of the variability in equation-derived HDMI (marginal R² = 0.64; conditional R² = 0.94), and equation-derived and model-fitted HDMI were positively correlated (r = 0.77). These findings indicate that WoW-derived live weight dynamics provide non-invasive information associated with equation-derived HDMI under the conditions of this study, but independent validation against directly measured individual herbage intake is required before their use for individual intake estimation.