Reduction in feather pecking and improvement of feather condition with the presentation of a string device to chickens.

Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2005 | No Comments

Feather pecking remains a serious problem in commercial egg production. It has been argued that feather pecking occurs as a result of misdirected pecking, so a possible solution would be to increase the likelihood that such pecking was targeted at another object in the environment rather than to the feathers of conspecifics. Chickens of various strains and ages will readily peck at a device consisting of strands of white string but it is not yet known if pecking at that device would substitute for pecking at conspecifics. Therefore, the effects of providing string devices on feather pecking in an experimental situation (Experiment 1) and on feather condition under commercial conditions (Experiment 2) were examined. In experiment 1, 300 chicks of a high-feather pecking strain of white leghorn-type layers were housed in groups of five in litter-floor pens. The 60 pens were randomly allocated to one of five treatments: devices incorporated in the chicks’ pens continuously from 1 day of age till the end of the experiment at 57 days; devices presented for 4 h per day from 1 day of age; first presented from 22 days of age; first presented from 52 days of age; and finally, devices never presented. Feather pecking was virtually eliminated when the devices remained in the pens from 1 day of age or when they were presented for 4 h per day. Feather pecking was most pronounced among birds that had never received the device whereas its introduction at 22 or 52 days of age yielded intermediate results. This orderly pattern of more pecking at feathers when the device was added at later ages was significant (P < 0.005). In experiment 2, 768 Lohmann LSL laying chickens were housed in rearing cages and 720 were transferred in groups of three to conventional laying chickens when 16 weeks old. The birds were allocated to one of four treatments: devices present from 1 day of age; presented for 24 h every 4 weeks; continuously present from 16 weeks of age; and finally, devices never presented. At 35 weeks of age, hens with access to the device had significantly better plumage condition than those that had never received the device (P < 0.05).In conclusion, the addition of a simple string device to the hens of non-beak-trimmed high-feather-pecking birds decreased feather pecking behaviour (Experiment 1), and to the cages of non-beak-trimmed commercial layers significantly improved feather condition (Experiment 2).

A method for assessing the relative sociability of individuals within groups: an example with grazing sheep.

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Sociability is defined as the tendency to be close to companions and can be quantified by calculating nearest neighbours. A method was developed to quantify relative sociability, which works well for animals that are housed in groups and are easily visible and identifiable. The time an animal spends as the nearest neighbour of other animals is scaled to have an expectation of 1.0 under the null hypothesis of random mixing, which is referred to as the sociability index. Nearest neighbours were identified based on being associated pairs (more often than expected by chance). Independent observation periods are tested for consistency. There were 8 groups of 7 sheep observed for 10, one-hour periods

Second Oestrus Synchronization and Precocious Embryo Viability after Puberty Induction in Gilts by the Use of Gonadotrophin Treatment

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Critical checkpoints for a swine production system

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In order for a hog operation to run efficiently there needs to be an unbiased outline of essential checkpoints. Dr. Barry Kerkaert has identified six critical checkpoints that he finds deserving:

Ownership structure needs to be understood. What kind of company is it? What runs the company (e.g. – partnership, board, etc.)? Do members all share the same profit ideas?

Financials need to be checked. This includes sales, feed, labor, breeding herd replacement cost, and cash flow.

The system and logistics needs to be monitored. This includes pig flow, genetics, staff, etc.

Obviously, production needs to be checked. This includes monitoring the sow herd, grow-finish herd, and the entire farrow-to-finish system.

Different types of insurances need to be in place. This includes Business Interruption Insurance, management company insurance, and insurance on the pigs themselves. Details should be understood thoroughly.

Health and biosecurity are essential to any operation. This includes health, PRRS control, and biosecurity measures for disease prevention.

Implementing a National Traceability System – National Identification and Traceability System for the Canadian Hog Sector

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The Canadian pig industry has an excellent health status. However, it is high risk due to international travel and unprecedented international trade of animal and animal products. A national identification and traceability system could significantly reduce the impact of a crisis. Identification needs national livestock premises registry, national tattoo number classification system, swine slaughter database, and a national hog identification and movement reporting system. The registry will serve to locate each livestock premises in Canada. The tattoo number classification system should be linked with a premises location and applied to all market hogs before leaving premises for slaughter. The swine slaughter database should include swine movement information received from the packing plants and marketing boards in order to trace back to farms. The ID and movement reporting system should include all animal movement (from slaughter, auctions, etc.), trucker license, identification of animals (group ID for farm to farm movements), and is important for import/export. To implement these strategies the pig industry needs to work with the government to establish a program. The program would be mandatory for any and all producers.

How Management Promotes Disease Prevention/Control and Staff Success

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The goal of swine production companies is to achieve production targets by devising a system of raising pigs to give staff members the best opportunities to be successful. Upper management can make many decisions that will promote success in achieving health goals. Health can be protected via quarantine barn, minimizing herd additions, and proper cleaning methods. Effective vaccines exist for diseases such as erysipelas, leptospirosis, parvovirus, E. coli, and more. Barns and rooms need to be cleaned, disinfected, and dried between pig groups. This is a greater challenge in the wintertime. Proper control of ventilation (including fans and heaters) is essential for controlling disease outbreaks. Standardized procedures are essential for success (teaching, discussing, and reviewing these processes is key). With a properly built team of staff in a coordinated system, a successful hog operation can result.

Variance components and heritabilities for sow productivity traits estimated from purebred versus crossbred sows

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Genetic parameters were estimated for number of pigs born alive (NBA), adjusted litter weaning weight (ALWT), and the interval from weaning to first service (W2E) using 2002 purebred litter records and
14 583 crossbred litter records from a swine production unit with a defined great-grandparent, grandparent, and parent stock genetic system structure. Estimation of (co)variance components was carried out by REML methods. Heritability estimates from this study for NBA were 0.155, 0.146, 0.145 for the purebred, crossbred, and pooled data, respectively. Heritability estimates for ALWT were 0.162, 0.195, and 0.183 for the purebred, crossbred and pooled data, respectively. Heritability
estimates for W2E were 0.205, 0.239 and 0.202 for the purebred, crossbred and pooled data, respectively. Genetic correlations between NBA and ALWT were weak and positive for the three groups. The genetic correlation between W2E and ALWT were )0.158 for the purebred Yorkshires, 0.031 for the crossbreds and 0.051 for the pooled data. The genetic correlation between W2E and NBA was )0.027 for the purebred Yorkshires, 0.310 for the crossbreds and 0.236 for the pooled data. These
similarities suggest that pooling of purebred and crossbred data may be considered, which may potentially increase the accuracy of breeding value estimates, which would result in increased genetic progress.

Fact Sheet – Mycotoxins

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Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by a variety of moulds on several agricultural commodities under specific environmental conditions. It has been estimated that at least 25% of the grain produced each year worldwide is contaminated with mycotoxins. Canada’s indigenous mycotoxins occur mainly in cereal grains and corn, although occasionally there have been reports of contamination of other crops such as alfalfa and oilseeds, and foods such as coffee, cocoa, rice, beer and wine. As analytical techniques evolve to become more sensitive and widely available, the documentation of widespread contamination in a variety of commodities and of new mycotoxins no doubt, will increase. The toxicology of many mycotoxins, particularly those commonly encountered, has been well documented for several animal species including humans. The signs of the many mycotoxicoses are diverse, numerous and often dependent on species, sex, age, stress, reproductive and health status of the animal. They include: feed refusal and vomiting; impaired reproductive function and reduced fertility; nephrotoxicosis; neurotoxicosis; lung disease; hepatotoxicosis; cancer and death. If a livestock species that is tolerant to a particular mycotoxin is fed a contaminated diet, there is a potential for the “carry-over” of toxin into animal products, such as milk or meat, destined for human consumption. In addition, the by-products of certain food processes, have the potential for being highly contaminated with certain mycotoxins and may cause severe adverse effects if subsequently fed to a species particularly sensitive to the contaminating mycotoxin or toxins. In both these cases a certain degree of care and monitoring is required to ensure the safety of humans and animals. When contamination does occur, mould spores and mycotoxins are often concentrated in the fines and dust of grains as well as shriveled kernals. Use of masks to avoid inhalation and ingestion of dust by grain handlers is recommended. Contamination may be reduced by density segregation to remove dust and the lighter, more highly contaminated kernels. Soaking, dehulling, or high velocity air cleaning of kernels can be used to remove surface contamination. Roasting may reduce mycotoxin contamination by burning surface contaminants and removing volatile, heat labile toxins and other mould metabolites. Other approaches to reducing mycotoxin concentrations and effects on the animal are: improving the nutrient density of the feed; avoiding feeding contaminated commodities to sensitive animal species. Many countries have established regulations or guidelines to protect consumers from the harmful effects of AF in foods and feedstuffs, the maximum permissible levels vary greatly among countries as do the guidelines and/or regulations or lack thereof regarding other mycotoxins. Several international agencies currently strive to achieve universal standardization of regulatory limits for mycotoxins. This is an extremely difficult task because many factors have to be considered when deciding on regulatory standards. In addition to scientific factors, such as risk assessment (exposure and toxicological data), and analytical accuracy, economical and political factors, such as the commercial interests of each country, and the constant necessity of a sufficient food supply also play a role in the decision-making process. Nevertheless, despite these obstacles most countries within the European Union have come to a common agreement on a standardized policy for regulation of AF levels in different feedstuffs and feedstuff ingredients.

U.S.- Canadian Hog Trade Market: Integration at Work

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The United States is expected to import more than 8 million hogs from Canada in 2004, a far cry
from the 921,000 head imported just 10 years ago. Moreover, unlike 1994, hog imports this year will
likely continue to be skewed in favor of feeder pigs (see box, “Glossary of Production Terms”).
Ten years ago, 44 percent of imported Canadian hogs were feeder pigs, versus almost 70 percent in
2004, with slaughter hogs making up the balance in each case. What economic factors changed in
the past 10 years to create the demand for Canadian hogs, and, why has the trend developed
toward feeder pigs? As with most questions pertaining to agricultural issues these days, these
questions have no simple answers.

Pipeline Design Procedures for Cattle and Pig Slurries using a Large-scale Pipeline Apparatus

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A large-scale pipeline apparatus was built to investigate the turbulent flow properties of farm livestock slurries and to enable the development of a pipeline design procedure. The apparatus was designed to measure pressure gradients of liquid flows from 120 to 700 l/min in pipes of different internal diameters (38
1, 50
8, 76
2 and 102 mm). Results were obtained using water, pig slurries containing total solids concentrations Ts up to 4
4% and dairy cattle slurries with Ts values up to 5
5%. Measurements of pressure gradient and flow rate were converted into values of wall shear stress and nominal shear rate to produce characteristic relationships for each liquid in each pipe. Hence, it was shown that a three-parameter pipeline design procedure could provide a suitable basis for predicting pressure losses in pipes of other diameters, including surface roughness effects.
Experimental assessment of the design procedure revealed an intrinsic risk of systematic correlation between two of the three parameters. Hence, an approach was devised to alleviate this problem by reducing the number of parameters to two. It was found that the resulting two parameters could each be represented by a linear function of Ts, enabling convenient prediction of pressure losses for other slurries.