Euthanasia for Gilts and Sows on Japanese Commercial Farms

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Yosuke SASAKI ◽  
Yuzo KOKETSU
Keyword(s):  
Commercial Farms

Automatic Milking Systems: an option to address the labour shortage on New Zealand dairy farms?

2002 ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
J.G. Jago ◽  
M.W. Woolford
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Dairy Industry ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Grazing Systems ◽  
Automatic Milking Systems

There is a growing shortage of labour within the dairy industry. To address this the industry needs to attract more people and/or reduce the labour requirements on dairy farms. Current milk harvesting techniques contribute to both the labour requirements and the current labour shortage within the industry as the process is labour-intensive and necessitates long and unsociable working hours. Automated milking systems (AMS) have been in operation, albeit on a small scale, on commercial farms in Europe for a decade and may have the potential to address labour issues within the New Zealand dairy industry. A research programme has been established (The Greenfield Project) which aims to determine the feasibility of automated milking under New Zealand dairying conditions. A Fullwoods MERLIN AMS has been installed on a protoype farmlet and is successfully milking a small herd of 41 cows. Progress from the prototype Greenfields system offers considerable potential for implementing AMS in extensive grazing systems. Keywords: automated milking systems, dairy cattle, grazing, labour

Land Crisis in Zimbabwe

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48
Author(s):  
James Cox
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Religion ◽  
University Development ◽  
Land Redistribution ◽  
Small Grant ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Zimbabwe

Earlier this year, I received a small grant from the Edinburgh University Development Trust Fund to determine the feasibility of formulating a major research project exploring the religious dimensions within the recent land resettlement programme in Zimbabwe. Since spirit mediums had played such an important role in the first Shona uprising in 1896–97 against colonial occu¬pation (the so-called First Chimurenga) (Parsons, 1985: 50-51) and again in the war of liberation between 1972 and 1979 (the Second Chimurenga) (Lan, 1985), I suspected that these central points of contact between the spirit world and the living communities would be affecting the sometimes militant invasions of white commercial farms that began sporadically in 1998, but became systematic after the constitutional referendum of February 2000. Under the terms of the grant, I went with my colleague, Tabona Shoko of the University of Zimbabwe, in July and August 2004, to two regions of Zimbabwe: Mount Darwin in the northeast, where recent activities by war veterans and spirit mediums had been reported, and to the Mberengwa District, where land resettlement programmes have been widespread. This article reports on my preliminary findings in Mount Darwin, where I sought to determine if evidence could be found to link the role of Traditional Religion, particularly through spirit mediums, to the current land redistribution programme, and, if so, whether increasing levels of political intolerance within Zimbabwean society could be blamed, in part at least, on these customary beliefs and practices

scholarly journals Characteristics of Models of Farms in the European Union

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4772
Author(s):  
Hanna Klikocka ◽  
Aneta Zakrzewska ◽  
Piotr Chojnacki
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Family Farms ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Standard Output ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu

The article describes and sets the definition of different farm models under the categories of being family, small, and large-scale commercial farms. The distinction was based on the structure of the workforce and the relationship between agricultural income and the minimum wage. Family farms were dominated by the farming family providing the labour and their income per capita exceeded the net minimum wage in the country. The larger commercial farms feature a predominance of hired labour. Based on surveys, it was found that in 2016 in the EU-28 there were 10,467,000 farms (EU-13—57.3%, EU-15—42.7%). They carried out agricultural activities on an area of 173,338,000 ha (EU-13—28.5%, EU-15—71.5%). Countries of the EU-28 generated a standard output (SO) amounting to EUR 364,118,827,100 (EU-13—17.2% and EU-15—82.8%). After the delimitation, it was shown that small farming (70.8%) was the predominant form of management in the European Union (EU-13—88.2% and EU-15—79.8%) compared to family farming (18.4%) (EU-13—10.5% and EU-15—29%). In most EU countries the largest share of land resources pertains to small farms (35.6%) and family farms (38.6%) (UAA—utilised agricultural area of farms).

scholarly journals Effects on Synchronization and Reproductive Efficiency of Delaying the Removal of the Intravaginal Progesterone Device by 24 h in the 5d Co-synch Protocol in Heifers

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 849
Author(s):  
Aitor Fernandez-Novo ◽  
Sergio Santos-Lopez ◽  
Jose Luis Pesantez-Pacheco ◽  
Natividad Pérez-Villalobos ◽  
Ana Heras-Molina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Reproductive Efficiency ◽  
Beef Heifers ◽  
Animal Management ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Beef Herds ◽  
Farm Economics

In beef herds, increasing animal welfare, improving reproductive performance and easing animal management are key goals in farm economics. We explored whether delaying the removal of the intravaginal progesterone device by 24 h in heifers synchronized with a 5d Co-synch 72-h protocol could improve reproductive efficiency of fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI). In experiment 1, we examined the total synchronization rate (TSR) in cycling Holstein heifers. Heifers (13.4 ± 0.69 mo.) were randomly assigned to the standard 5d Co-synch 56-h protocol (5dCo56; n = 10), 5d Co-synch 72-h (5dCo72; n = 17), or the modified 5d Co-synch 72-h protocol, in which removal of the progesterone device was delayed by 24 h (6dCo48; n = 19). In experiment 2, 309 cycling beef heifers on 18 commercial farms were subjected to the 5d Co-synch 72-h or 6-d Co-synch 48-h protocol and conception rate (CR) studied. In experiment 1, the three protocols led no differences on TSRs of 80.0% (5dCo56), 88.2% (5dCo72), and 89.5% (6dCo48). In experiment 2, the CR from the beef heifers, observed during two consecutive reproductive seasons did not differ: 59.7% for 5dCo72 and 62.0% for 6dCo48 (p = 0.907). Therefore, delaying removal by 24 h provides satisfactory results without reducing reproductive efficiency of heifers.

scholarly journals Classification of Cattle Behaviours Using Neck-Mounted Accelerometer-Equipped Collars and Convolutional Neural Networks

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4050
Author(s):  
Dejan Pavlovic ◽  
Christopher Davison ◽  
Andrew Hamilton ◽  
Oskar Marko ◽  
Robert Atkinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Ground Truth Data ◽  
Battery Lifetime ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Memory Footprint ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Using Data

Monitoring cattle behaviour is core to the early detection of health and welfare issues and to optimise the fertility of large herds. Accelerometer-based sensor systems that provide activity profiles are now used extensively on commercial farms and have evolved to identify behaviours such as the time spent ruminating and eating at an individual animal level. Acquiring this information at scale is central to informing on-farm management decisions. The paper presents the development of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that classifies cattle behavioural states (`rumination’, `eating’ and `other’) using data generated from neck-mounted accelerometer collars. During three farm trials in the United Kingdom (Easter Howgate Farm, Edinburgh, UK), 18 steers were monitored to provide raw acceleration measurements, with ground truth data provided by muzzle-mounted pressure sensor halters. A range of neural network architectures are explored and rigorous hyper-parameter searches are performed to optimise the network. The computational complexity and memory footprint of CNN models are not readily compatible with deployment on low-power processors which are both memory and energy constrained. Thus, progressive reductions of the CNN were executed with minimal loss of performance in order to address the practical implementation challenges, defining the trade-off between model performance versus computation complexity and memory footprint to permit deployment on micro-controller architectures. The proposed methodology achieves a compression of 14.30 compared to the unpruned architecture but is nevertheless able to accurately classify cattle behaviours with an overall F1 score of 0.82 for both FP32 and FP16 precision while achieving a reasonable battery lifetime in excess of 5.7 years.

scholarly journals Laying hen mortality in different indoor housing systems: a meta-analysis of data from commercial farms in 16 countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Schuck-Paim ◽  
Elsa Negro-Calduch ◽  
Wladimir J. Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Laying Hen ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Housing Systems ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Degree Of Maturity ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Average Drop

AbstractSocietal concern with the welfare of egg laying hens housed in conventional cages is fostering a transition towards cage-free systems in many countries. However, although cage-free facilities enable hens to move freely and express natural behaviours, concerns have also been raised over the possibility that cage-free flocks experience higher mortality, potentially compromising some aspects of their welfare. To investigate this possibility, we conducted a large meta-analysis of laying hen mortality in conventional cages, furnished cages and cage-free aviaries using data from 6040 commercial flocks and 176 million hens from 16 countries. We show that except for conventional cages, mortality gradually drops as experience with each system builds up: since 2000, each year of experience with cage-free aviaries was associated with a 0.35–0.65% average drop in cumulative mortality, with no differences in mortality between caged and cage-free systems in more recent years. As management knowledge evolves and genetics are optimized, new producers transitioning to cage-free housing may experience even faster rates of decline. Our results speak against the notion that mortality is inherently higher in cage-free production and illustrate the importance of considering the degree of maturity of production systems in any investigations of farm animal health, behaviour and welfare.

scholarly journals Relation between Feed Particle Size Distribution and Plumage Condition in Laying Hens on Commercial Farms

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 773
Author(s):  
Ruben Schreiter ◽  
Klaus Damme ◽  
Markus Freick
Keyword(s):  
Damage Control ◽  
Geometric Mean ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nutrient Analysis ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Model Animal ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
And Control ◽  
Feed Samples

In this cross-sectional study, 103 complete feed samples from laying hen herds affected by plumage damage as an indirect measure for severe feather pecking (affected herds; AH, n = 37) and control herds without plumage damage (control herd; CH, n = 66) of commercial German farms were examined by dry sieve and nutrient analysis. AH showed higher percentages of particles >2.50 mm (mean ± SD, CH: 11.0 ± 8.5%, AH: 24.9 ± 14.3%) and 2.00–2.50 mm (CH: 11.2 ± 5.3%, AH: 15.7 ± 5.7%), but lower proportions of fractions 1.01–1.60 mm (CH: 22.9 ± 4.9%, AH: 17.8 ± 5.7%), 0.51–1.00 mm (CH: 25.5 ± 8.2%, AH: 16.0 ± 6.8%) and ≤0.50 mm (CH: 15.4 ± 5.0%, AH: 11.0 ± 4.8%) (p < 0.001). Diets of AH had a higher geometric mean diameter (GMD) compared to CH (AH: 1470.8 ± 343.9 μm; CH: 1113.3 ± 225.7 μm) (p < 0.001). Contents of crude ash (CH: 130.3 ± 18.8 g/kg, AH: 115.9 ± 24.3 g/kg), lysine (CH: 8.2 ± 1.0 g/kg, AH: 7.7 ± 1.2 g/kg), methionine (CH: 3.4 ± 0.5 g/kg, AH: 3.2 ± 0.6 g/kg) and sodium (CH: 1.7 ± 0.4 g/kg, AH: 1.3 ± 0.4 g/kg) were lower in AH (p ≤ 0.041). In a logistic regression model, animal age (p = 0.041) and GMD (p < 0.001) were significant factors on the occurrence of plumage damage.

Nitrogen requirement of cereals: 2. Multi-level nitrogen tests with spring barley in south-western England

1976 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Needham ◽  
D. A. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Spring Barley ◽  
Summer Rainfall ◽  
Site Factors ◽  
Nitrogen Requirement ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
N Use

SummarySeventeen experiments with spring barley testing seven amounts of nitrogen were made on commercial farms in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall between 1965 and 1968. Crop measurements and determinable site factors were only partially successful in accounting for differences between sites and between years in optimal N and efficiency of N use below optimum.The actual optima were found to differ considerably from predicted N requirements based on past cropping and summer rainfall.

Pig-MAP and haptoglobin concentration reference values in swine from commercial farms

2009 ◽  
Vol 179 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Piñeiro ◽  
Matilde Piñeiro ◽  
Joaquín Morales ◽  
Marta Andrés ◽  
Elia Lorenzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reference Values ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Haptoglobin Concentration

Injectable α-tocopherol for control of oxidized flavour in milk from dairy cows

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Charmley ◽  
J. W. G. Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Fat ◽  
Tocopheryl Acetate ◽  
Tocopherol Concentration ◽  
Oral Supplementation ◽  
Stage Of Lactation ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Quadratic Response ◽  
Control Milk ◽  
And Control

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of intramuscular injections of d-α-tocopherol for control of spontaneous oxidized flavour (SOF) in milk. In exp. 1, 12 mid-lactation dairy cows were either not injected or given an intramuscular injection of 1500 or 3000 IU α-tocopherol on days 1, 8 and 15 of a 29-d experiment. Peak blood plasma and milk α-tocopherol levels were observed 1 and 3 d, respectively, after injection. In plasma there was a quadratic response (P = 0.02) in maximum α-tocopherol concentration to the level of α-tocopherol injected, but in milk the response was linear (P < 0.01). Milk fat concentration increased as level of α-tocopherol injected was increased (P < 0.01). Approximately 5% of the injected dose was excreted in milk over the 7 d following injection. In exp. 2, four commercial farms with a SOF problem in milk were used to test the efficacy of injectable α-tocopherol for control of SOF. Prior to the trial, cows with milk susceptible to oxidation were younger (P = 0.04), were at an earlier stage of lactation (P = 0.03) and tended to give more milk (P = 0.08). All cows were given an oral supplmement of 3000 IU dl-α-tocopheryl acetate per day and half were injected with 3000 IU α-tocopherol. Injection reduced the intensity of oxidized flavour (week 1, P < 0.01; week 2, P = 0.09) and elevated the levels of α-tocopherol in milk for up to 2 wk after injection (P < 0.01). α-Tocopherol injected intramuscularly can increase α-tocopherol levels in milk within 3 d and control milk oxidation. Subsequent oral supplementation can prolong these benefits. Key words: Oxidized milk, tocopherol, flavour, dairy cow

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