Physiological and behavioural changes in Holstein calves during and after dehorning or castration.

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

The behavioural and physiological effects of hot-iron dehorning or dehorning followed by scalpel castration were compared to control and sham procedures and to each other. Twenty-nine calves (17 bull and 12 heifer dairy) were studied. Each animal served as its own control. The control procedure for dehorning and castration involved collecting blood samples with minimal handling. The sham dehorning procedure involved restraint with a halter and being held immobile against a wall, and holding an unheated hot-iron dehorner around the horn bud for between 13-33 s. The actual dehorning procedure used the same method of restraint, but used a heated dehorner placed on the horn bud for between 19 and 52s. The control, sham and actual procedures were all performed on the same day by the same person without anaesthetic. The sham castration procedure was done to mimic the actual procedure except no incision was made. The tail was held upright and the scrotal area was disinfected. This procedure took between 13 and 70 s. The actual procedure was similar to the sham procedure, except there was an incision made into the scrotum and the testes were exposed and removed by manually applied traction. This procedure took between 21 and 79 s. For at least two hours after castration and for 30 minutes after dehorning, cortisol levels remained higher than controls. Initially, the cortisol responses did not differ between castration and dehorning. However, two to four hours after the procedure, cortisol levels were greater for castration than dehorning. Animals kicked and vocalized more during actual castration and dehorning procedures compared to sham procedures. More struggling occurred during actual dehorning than the sham procedure, but occurred less during castration than the sham. There was greater struggling and kicking among dehorned calves compared to castrated calves. Both sham and dehorned calves had higher heart rates compared to the control values. Dairy calves showed greater physiological and behavioural responses, with higher heart rates, cortisol concentrations, greater kicking, vocalizations and struggling compared to responses during the control and sham procedures. Handling differences and prior experience of dehorning could have caused the differences in responses to each procedure.

Impact of male-male competition and morphological traits on mating strategies and reproductive success in broiler breeders

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The goal of this experiment was to determine the effect of male-male competition on broiler breeder mating strategies and reproductive success and to identify behavioral and morphological traits associated with high fertility. Males were kept in groups with no competition (one male and 10 females; 1M), or high male-male competition (three males and 10 females; 3M). For each male we recorded the frequency of matings, forced matings, cloacal contacts and morphological traits (body weight, comb, wattle, tarsus and spur size), together with sperm quality and the reproductive success. Mating frequency consistently increased towards the end of the light phase. Significantly, higher mating activity occurred in 1 M groups compared to 3M groups. Mating frequency of 1M males, however, did not differ from the frequencies of the males with the highest mating frequency in 3M groups. After reducing the number of males from 3M to 1M in the second experimental phase we found significant increase in the mating frequency. This probably was a consequence of the reduction in the level of male-male competition or due to female response to a lower number of males. DNA fingerprinting results indicated that the males with the highest mating frequency did not always sire the most offspring within the group. The males with the highest sperm mobility or largest ejaculate volumes were equally successful. Frequency of forced mating was not affected by the level of competition, but was more likely used by heavier males or those with larger combs and wattles. We did not find any of the studied morphological traits to be reliable indicators of males reproductive potential, although this lack of association may have been affected by relatively low number of males available for this study.

Comparing two concentrate allowances in an automatic milking system

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In automatic milking systems, cows are attracted to concentrate food that is contained in a robot. This not only increases the number of milkings, but also the amount of concentrate food consumed. An increase in concentrate food consumption can affect the cow’s appetite, feeding behaviour and digestion and subsequent milk production. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of two concentrate allowances: 1) the ‘candy concept’ with a minimum amount of concentrate (1.2 kg) to attract the cow, and 2) the maximum of 7 kg of food concentrate per day. Cows in the first treatment consumed approximately 3.5 kg of concentrate per day, and cows in the second treatment consumed approximately 5 kg of concentrate per day. However, the number of voluntary milkings did not differ between the two treatments.

The role of the image of a conspecific in the regulation of stereotypic head movements in the horse

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Mirrors have been shown to decrease the weaving in horses. This study investigated whether it was the horse’s reflected image that caused the reduction or if it was some other property of the mirror. In order to answer this question, six weaving horses were shown three different posters and their responses were recorded. The posters included a life-size image of a horse’s face, the same image cut into 54 squares, which were randomly rearranged (pixilated image) and a white poster with no image. The results indicated that when horses were shown the poster of the horse’s face, weaving was significantly reduced compared to when they were shown the other two posters. Exposure to the poster of the horse’s face also resulted in a reduction of nodding compared to when they were shown the pixilated image. Horses were more alert and spent more time looking at the poster, when the poster of the horse’s face was presented. Greater activity and anticipation of specific events, which may or may not be associated with increased social contact, caused an increase in the intensity of stereotypic head movement. The authors concluded that the timing of stereotypic head movements might be associated with acute frustration as opposed to boredom/lack of stimulation.

Does the use of a device to measure heart rate affect the behavioural responses of lambs to humans?

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Devices used to measure cardiac activity in standardised behavioural tests could be stressful for the animals and therefore affects their responses. However, to date, the impact of carrying such devices has been poorly evaluated. The present experiment examined the impact of a device used to measure cardiac activity on the behavioural responses of handled and non-handled lambs in a standard human test. Furthermore this study evaluated the variations in heart rate in response to human presence and separation. Twenty-one lambs were separated from their dam 12 h after birth. 11 of them received no additional human contact (non-handled) and 10 received additional contact for 1 week and then 1 day a week until 6 weeks. At 6.5 weeks of age, each lamb was submitted twice to a behavioural test. The procedure comprised three phases: the lamb stayed alone for 2 minutes, then for 2 minutes with the familiar stockperson, and then alone for 2 minutes again. The tested lambs were equipped or not with a cardiac device. The results of this study showed that the device used to measure cardiac activity led to a decrease in vocalisations and locomotion. It had only a limited impact on the behavioural differences between handled and non-handled lambs. It reduced slightly the time spent near the stockperson for the non-handled lambs but no effect on the handled lambs. In summary, the device used to measure cardiac activity led to a general decrease in activity but did not affect the difference between handled and non-handled lambs. Consequently, this method seems to be appropriate for further exploring artificially reared lambs’ perception of humans, with few risks of behavioural alteration.

Impact of dried skim milk in production diets on Lactobacillus and pathogenic bacterial shedding in growing-finishing swine

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“Trouble shooting”– identifying a problem and the solution to it: An innovative approach to solving a mortality problem

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Management of dead pigs is an unpleasant part of business. In this paper, an example of problems with disposal of dead stock is considered. Assigning specific tasks to available labor can reduce the overall problem. As a manager you can assess your operation and explore alternative methods of disposal. These methods should be cost-effective, be able to work easily and throughout the year, and be user friendly. In response to problems like these, Puratone has created the Biovatorä. What this does is process carcasses into quality compost.

Competitiveness in the World Market

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The switch from local to international pork markets has resulted in the need for a transition to a global target market. Importers require safe, high quality products. The pork industry needs to go vertical in order for this to happen (that is, it must be involved in all stages of meat production). This will help reach consumers, fulfill their needs, capture opportunities, and overcome challenges. PigCHAMP has performed a survey in Europe to grasp producers’ feelings about the future and their main concerns. Producers appear to be optimistic about pig performance, and even more so about reproductive performance! These reflect their confidence in themselves and the products that they use (such as genetics, medications, feeds, etc.). 93% of producers plan to continue pig farming for the next 10 years. Nearly two thirds of the farmers are thinking about farm improvements or expansion within the next 5 years. 7% classified business success as a problem and 93% considered environment to be the main risk for business.

Novel Vaccine Delivery Technology

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Infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts are among the most common diseases of piglets worldwide and can cause large amounts of economic loss to swine producers. Vaccine formation and delivery to the areas targeted by the disease is still difficult to do. Delivery of vaccines orally or intra-nasally has the benefit of stimulating immunity on the mucus surfaces without the hazards of using a needle. This has been proven to increase the immunity directly at the site of infection. Modified live vaccines are dangerous because the pathogen can mutate back to an infectious state. There is work being done on alternate methods of vaccination. Improved technologies to deliver vaccines to the target location are important for both killed and live vaccines, and most of these are still in development.

High Porcine Parvovirus Antibodies in Sow Herds: Prevalence and Associated Factors

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Porcine parvovirus (PPV) is widespread among swine. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of loosely housed sow herds in Finland with at least one animal with high (infection level) PPV antibodies and to gather basic knowledge about vaccination practices. In addition, selected factors
associated with high antibody levels found in sows were examined. Altogether, 247 animals were sampled in 21 randomly chosen loosely housed sow herds. Samples were analysed with the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. PPV proved to be common; in 17 farms (81%) at least one animal
had a high titre (>1 : 512), and 44% of all animals sampled had a high titre. The vaccination programmes had many shortcomings. In the generalised estimation equations (GEE) population-averaged model developed, the factors found to have a significant (p £ 0.05) effect on HI titres were herd size, parity of two or greater and storage of the vaccine vial after use. Non-returning rate, re-breeding interval and litter size did not differ between herds with no high HI titres (n ¼ 4) and
those with at least one high HI titre (n ¼ 17).