Lying behaviour and adrenocortical response as indicators of the thermal tolerance of pigs of different weights.

Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2004 | No Comments

Optimal temperature ranges of fattening pigs at different weights were assessed by examining the behavioural and adrenocortical responses of pigs to a range of ambient temperatures. Cortisol concentration was analyzed by taking saliva samples from the pigs. Behaviours measured included lying behaviour. Depending on ambient temperature, pigs chose different areas for resting. When temperature increased, pigs would lie in the dung area away from penmates more often. Heavier pigs lied without contacting their penmates more often than their lighter counterparts. Lying without penmate contact occurred 5 to 7 °C lower than lying in the dung area. As temperature decreased, huddling behaviour increased. As pig weight increased, huddling occurred more at lower temperatures. For pigs over 85 kg body weight, there was a significant increase in cortisol levels when ambient temperature increased. The results of the present study indicated that, for pigs weighing 25 to 35 kg and housed on partially slatted floors, temperature range within the thermal tolerance of pigs was 19 to 21 °C. At 50 to 70 kg body weight, the range was 10 to 17 °C. For pigs over a body weight of 85 kg, temperature range within their thermal tolerance was 5 to 17 °C.

The effect of rearing regime on the development of the mammary gland and claw abnormalities in high genetic merit Holstein-Friesian dairy herd replacements.

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The effect of rearing regime on mammary gland development and claw abnormalities was assessed using Holstein-Friesian heifers. Treatments included 1) heifers reared to calve at 540 kg and offered grass-silage based diets during the winter and grass-based diets during the summer; 2) heifers reared to calve at 620 kg and offered grass-silage based diets during the winter and grass-based diets during the summer. They also received additional supplements; 3) heifers reared to calve at 620 kg and were offered a straw/concentrate diet during the winter and a grass-based diet during the summer; 4) heifers reared to calve at 620 kg and fed a straw/concentrate diet in both the winter and summer and were housed. By increasing the plane of nutrition, the weight of dissected udder fat increased, but there was no effect on the weight or chemical composition of dissected udder parenchyma. Fat deposition in the udder was reduced and the proportion of parenchyma in the udder was increased by offering straw- compared with silage-based diets. There were no effects on weight of fat when heifers were housed during the first summer and offered straw-based diets compared with those heifers turned out to grass, although there was a tendency towards a reduction in the proportion of parenchyma in the udder. Values for heel height, lateral claw length and heel erosion scores were lower for heifers reared on a low plane of nutrition. A higher plane of nutrition increased live weight/sole area, although it was only significantly higher for treatment 3 compared with treatment 1 heifers. Housing heifers the first summer increased the incidence of feet lesions in the white line and solear area relative to turning heifers out to grass that first summer.

Effect of duration of cold stress on plasma adrenal and thyroid hormone levels and immune responses in chicken lines divergently selected for antibody responses.

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There is increasing evidence that stress affects various immune processes. Some of these changes are due to hormonal changes involving corticosterone (CORT), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4). Effects of stress depend on the nature of specific stressors (e.g., thermal extremes, diet, pollutants), stress-modifiers (e.g., genetic make-up, duration and severity of the stressors). This study examined the effects of a specific stress (cold stress) with stress-modifiers (duration of stress and genotype of the bird) on immune responses and plasma adrenal and thyroid hormone levels in 3 layer-type chicken lines. Two lines were divergently selected for high (H line) or low (L line) antibody responses to SRBC, and the third line was a randombred control (C). Growing chicks of the 3 lines were feed-restricted at 80% of ad libitum consumption, and subjected to cold stress (CS) at 10oC continuously for 7, 5, 3, 1 or 0 d before immunization with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). Specific antibody titers to KLH, and in vitro lymphocyte proliferation (LP) upon mitogen stimulation were measured. In addition, adrenal and thyroid hormone levels were measured in the plasma samples collected at the end of CS. No significant effect of duration of CS on specific antibody titers was found in the 3 lines. A significant enhancing effect of CS was found on LP. A significant dose-dependent suppressive effect of CS was found on plasma CORT levels. The authors concluded that CS does not affect specific antibody responses, but may have a modulating effect on cellular immunity and plasma CORT levels, depending on the duration of stress. This is the first study that reveals an absence of significant differences in adrenal and thyroid hormone levels in the described selection lines.

Complexity of behavioural sequences and their relation to stress conditions in chickens: a non-invasive technique to evaluate welfare.

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This study examined the use of behavioural complexity as a potential to assess the stressfulness of an animal’s environment. Chickens were videotaped for 0.5 hr periods and the changes in behaviour analysed to yield a complexity value. This technique was then used to determine the effects on behavioural complexity when birds were exposed to different potential stressors. Differences were found in the behavioural complexity of locomotor and resting behaviours when birds were exposed to food restriction, social crowding through the addition of more birds, and when sand was provided. The direction of these changes was not consistent for all stressors, however, the authors conclude that behavioural complexity is a non-invasive means to assess different housing conditions.

Are cows that consistently enter the same side of a two-sided milking parlour more fearful of novel situations or more competitive?

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This study attempted to find a relationship between the consistency that a cow enters a one of two sides of a milking parlour with her behaviour in a novel environment and her ability to attain fed in a competitive situation. Two groups of twelve cows were chosen from a group of 70. Cows that demonstrated a preference for entering only one side of the parlour were classified as high consistency (HC) cows and entered in the preferred way, on average, 91% of the time. Cows that did not show a strong preference for either entry entered one side 60% of the time and were classified as low consistency cows (LC). For fifteen-minute period after milking, a cow was housed in a new empty pen and her behaviour was observed. Immediately after that set of observations, another cow was introduced to the pen and feed was provided in the bucket. The behaviour of the cow was recorded for 15 minutes or until the two cows stopped feeding or interacting with one another. When HC cows were introduced to the empty pen, they stood motionless longer than LC cows. However, HC and LC cows showed similar amounts of exploratory behaviours (time spent sniffing the pen, number of steps taken, number of vocalizations) when moved into the pen. The authors interpreted the difference in activity as indicating that HC cows were more fearful of the new environment. When a new cow and feed was introduced to the pen the HC cows were began to eat the food sooner and maintained control of the bucket longer than LC cows. HC cows were involved in more aggressive interactions and tended to push the other cow more than LC cows. During the feed competition test, the HC cows stood inactive longer than the LC cows. All cows likely develop some sort of a routine. There is, however, a difference in the social strategies between cows with strong and weak preferences. Those cows that are able to demonstrate a preference may be more capable of successfully executing their social strategy.

Organic livestock production in Europe: Aims, rules and trends with special emphasis on animal health and welfare

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In Europe, organic farming has increased during the last decade. However, the market share is still relatively low. The needs of animals are better met in organic farming systems than in conventional systems. The goal of organic farming is to ensure high standards of product quality, animal health and welfare. As a result, there are high demands on management qualifications. However, there are no guarantees that the high standards will be maintained. The development of quality assurance programs has been suggested in order to ensure that standards are maintained. The criteria for sustainability can only be realized if the standards for animal health and welfare and product quality and environmental security are maintained.

Relationship between Prenatal Survival Rate at 70 days of Gestation and Morphometric Parameters of Vagina, Uterus and Placenta in Gilts

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Swine uterine capacity affects litter size, and it could be used as a selection parameter of reproductive performance. Although there are some controversial results, evidences show that the catheter penetration length is positively correlated with litter size, and it could be used as a tool for predicting selection methods. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is any association between the prenatal survival rate and placental size at 70 days of gestation, the vaginal length [catheter penetration length during artificial insemination (AI)] and the uterine capacity in a homogeneous group of gilts. Sixty-six commercial-line gilts in pre-pubertal phase had their oestrus induced by hormonal treatment [600 UI of Equine Chorionic Gonadtrophin (eCG) i.m. and after a 72-h period 5 mg of luteinizing hormone (LH) i.m.], but only 40 gilts showed cyclicity after induction. The AI catheter penetration length was tested on these 40 gilts at the moment of AI using a
calibrated AI catheter. Four gilts returned to oestrus and the other 36 were killed at around day 69 of pregnancy. The uterine length and weight showed a significant and positive correlation with the prenatal survival rate (p < 0.05). The catheter penetration length was unable to predict the conceptus survival rate on 70 days of gestation; however, the uterine size influenced the survival rate positively. The mean placental area was positively correlated with the mean placental weight (p < 0.0001), and both with the mean foetal weight (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.001, respectively). The analysis of the results obtained showed that neither did the catheter penetration length measurement during AI, nor the prenatal survival rate on day 70 of pregnancy predict the uterine capacity, but the uterine and placental size had a significant influence on the prenatal survival and foetus weight, respectively.

Driving Costs Out of the Production System

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As recent history of the U.S. swine industry has evidenced, survival in today’s uncertain economic times depends upon a pig production business having either (1) marketing agreements that provide complete price protection against prolonged declines in both carcass and meat prices or (2) competitively low costs of production along with a marketing agreement that at least dampens declines in market prices. These proceedings offer one view on how cost management can be addressed in a contemporary pork production operation. Our ideas are offered as one approach for how costs can be managed. We do not believe that our method is the only, let alone the best, approach for managing costs. There are, no doubt, numerous approaches being used across the industry today to lower costs, as we all struggle to identify ways of surviving. Our approach has worked in one company, New Fashion Pork, Inc., dropping its costs by nearly $3.00/CWT liveweight over the last 3 years or so; so we know it works. Perhaps, there is something in our approach that will work for you.

Cost management occurs at two levels. The first level involves the control of the purchase price of inputs. The price of some inputs is established, often for long periods of time into the future, when the business structure is established; for example, whether barns are owned or contracted. The price of other inputs is established through the day-to-day purchasing practices of the company. Input purchasing is typically centralized, with responsibility being seated at the level of senior management or staff officers hired specifically to purchase the inputs used by the farms. The farm staff typically has no influence over the cost of the inputs that their farms consume. The second level of responsibility occurs at the farm level, where farm staff controls how many units of an input are consumed, called “unit use.” Office staff has little influence on the rate of use of inputs, unless they restrict how many units of an input are delivered to a farm. While it may seem intuitive, low production costs not only require that inputs be purchased competitively BUT ALSO that they be used sparingly. Because cost management occurs at two levels, the office and the farm must work in concert to drive out costs: the office working to purchase inputs as cheaply as possible, the farm staff working to use as few inputs as they can. If either group fails in their responsibility, cost creep occurs.

Pork Production Trends: Forecasting our Future & Trade Issues: The New Normal

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Canada’s pork export growth mirrors the overall growth in Canadian pork production. Over the past 24 years the industry has grown by 84%. This is due to the increase in exports. The top 3 countries that Canada exports to are the US (over 50%), Japan (about 20%), and Mexico (5%). Canada is even increasing its share in world export markets, while the US is steadily decreasing. Canadian slaughter capacity has grown by 45% over 10 years. It has gone from a capacity of 340,000 head per week in 1995 to 490,000 per week in 2004, but it has yet to reach the slaughter of 490,000. The US daily capacity is four times greater than Canadian daily capacity. In Canada there are only 3 slaughter plants that run double slaughter shifts. All major US packers tend to run double shifts, and Olymel and Maple Leaf in Canada have stated their intentions of running a double shift. Maple Leaf has even put in an application for environmental approval to run double shifts. Maple Leaf has purchased the likes of Gainers, Burns, Schneider and Mitchell’s, and Olymel has purchased the likes of Fletcher’s. This brings the Canadian participants to 27 plants owned by 20 different companies. The reason for fewer companies owning larger volumes is economies of scale (that is, they can lower cost of production, increase profit from the volume, and increase competitiveness in the world market). Since 1997, the number of hog operations in Canada has been steadily declining while the number of pigs per farm has been increasing. The leading production firm in Canada is Elite Swine ran by Maple Leaf (they had 122,000 sows in 2003). The leading cause for this is the poor financial returns that plague the industry and force the smaller operations to shut down.

Canadian Swine Identification and Traceability

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The purpose of the traceability system in Canada is to allow movement of pigs to continue at the occurrence of a major disease outbreak. The reason this system came about was because of the scare of the 2002 European outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease. It brought about the realization that Canada’s high health status is not well equipped to deal with a catastrophic outbreak. The initial objectives of this system were to reduce response time of a foreign animal disease outbreak, address the OIE’s guidelines for zoning, and to identify alternatives to these objectives. The principles of this system are to control disease, eradicate disease, enhance producers risk management programs, simplicity, producer-driven, and more. Geo-referencing provides information about where livestock and buildings are and what types and numbers of livestock are in the buildings. All livestock farms in Canada must be geo-referenced and data needs to be collected each time pigs change locations. Development, implementation of regulation, and readjustments are slated to begin in 2005-2006.