A probabilistic modeling approach to assess human inhalation exposure risks to airborne aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)

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

Le stockage des déjections du bétail

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Le gouvernement provincial a adopté des règlements particuliers qui régissent la construction et l’utilisation des installations de stockage des déjections du bétail. Les producteurs doivent être en mesure de stocker les déjections jusqu’à ce qu’elles puissent être épandues sur les terres agricoles.

Pig Trucking & Handling – Stress and Fatigued Pig

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Stress in the period during transport and around slaughter is known to influence the physiological and biochemical processes in pigs. Pigs that become unable to walk without obvious injury, trauma or disease are considered fatigued. Fatigued pigs tend to be of heavy muscled, high lean genetic types. Visual indicators of a stressed pig include open mouth breathing, muscle tremors, downed pigs, reddened areas of the skin, and increased body temperature. Within North America, normal appearing market-ready swine continue to die in transit or in a pen. Animal factors that could influence stress include the social environment (crowding, aggression, hierarchy, etc.), genetics, fear (characterized by a high pitched vocalization), exposure to handling (more exposure to handling by humans will result in less stress), nutrition (fasting prior to shipment will increase aggression and stress), health, facilities (pigs can wedge themselves in narrow corridors), and goading methods (do NOT use a prod). Human factors that could influence stress include the role of the handler (attitude of the handler and behaviour of the handler in regards to moving pigs) and role of training (be sure to not move more than 5 or 6 at a time and do not panic a fall-behind pig).

A review of the behavioural and physiological adaptations of hill and lowland breeds of sheep that favour lamb survival

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Survivability in harsh and unfavourable environments is especially critical during parturition and during the neonatal period, when there is a greater chance of ewe and lamb mortality. This is especially true for extensively managed animals such as hill compared to lowland (intensively managed) breeds of sheep. The extensively managed sheep have to have different behavioural and physiological adaptations that enable them to survive. Some of the differences between hill and lowland sheep are as follows: hill sheep have smaller average litter sizes than lowland sheep, but their litters are significantly heavier. Maternal experience and knowledge of the environment will affect isolation seeking at parturition. Domestication seems to have had an effect on isolation seeking. This behaviour has decreased in intensively managed breeds. The extensively managed breeds have a shorter labour, and an easier delivery than intensively managed breeds. The hill (extensive) breeds also lick their lambs more after birth and perform more low-pitched bleating than lowland ewes. These differences in behaviour result in hill breeds having better ewe-lamb recognition and closer spatial relationships. The hill ewes are also more aware of their during lactation, which could also be a useful protective measure against predators. Hill lambs stand and suck faster after birth and show greater maternal recognition than lowland lambs. Hill lambs are more tolerant of cold temperatures, due to birthcoat characteristics, higher thyroid concentrations and possibly due to the higher lipid content in the colostrum. Compared to lowland sheep, the behavioural and physiological mechanisms of hill sheep have evolved to ensure lamb survivability in harsh environments.

Development of a maze test and its application to assess spatial learning and memory in Merino sheep

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There is increasing interest in the concept that cognitive abilities of animals can provide clues to the types of situations that might cause suffering or distress. In the present experiment a maze test was developed to assess spatial memory and learning in Merino sheep. Total time to traverse the maze and times spent in cul de sacs (errors) were used to assess performance. Both total time and errors decreased when the performance of sheep was assessed on three consecutive days, indicating that sheep learnt to traverse the maze. Scopolamine hydrobromide, a drug known to impair memory, was administered to sheep to validate whether the maze could be used to assess deficits in learning and spatial memory. Sheep receiving scopolamine hydrobromide 30 min before maze testing on each of three successive days were significantly slower to complete the maze on day 3 compared to control sheep receiving saline. The results of this experiment suggested that the maze was measuring spatial memory and therefore might be useful to assess neurological deficits related to spatial memory and learning in sheep in neurological conditions such as Annual Ryegrass Toxicity.

Effects of resource density on spatial memory and learning by foraging sheep.

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Grazing animals are often confronted with spatially heterogeneous food resources in which preferred food types are distributed in patches. In this study the hypothesis that spatial memory is used less as the resource density increases was tested. Individual sheep foraged for 20 minutes in an arena containing a grid of 100 bowls of which 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 contained 25 g of concentrate food. Amount eaten increased linearly over days indicating that learning occurred. There was an increase in the amount eaten per full bowl visited, an increase in the cumulative number of different bowls visited by the sheep and a reduction in the path length needed to find a given number of bowls leading to improved encounter rate with full bowls. Therefore, intake improved during the trial due to, at least in part, the use of spatial memory to learn full bowl locations and optimize the route taken to those locations. Length of the shortest possible path required to find five full bowls and expected path length from a random walk on the grid decreased exponentially as resource density increased. Actual path length to find five full bowls also decreased exponentially as the number of full bowls increased. Number of full bowls visited by the sheep (excluding revisits) within a day did not differ significantly between treatments. However, number of days on which any individual food bowl was visited (including 0 visits) decreased linearly as resource density increased. The proportion of full bowls visited that were revisited on the same day was significantly higher for the 10 bowl treatments. In summary, the results of this study suggest that sheep used spatial memory to optimize their route to food bowls more effectively at lower resource density.

Increasing registration precision for liver movement with respiration using electromagnetic tracking

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Gestion de la mortalité du bétail

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Dans le domaine de la production animale, il est inévitable qu’un certain nombre d’animaux meurent ou aient besoin d’être abbatus. On parle alors d’animaux morts ou de cadavres d’animaux. La mortalité peut etre due a une cause naturelle, a un accident ou à un acte délibéré. La mère ou sa progéniture peut mourir pendant la mise bas. Parfois des animaux grandissant ou admeurent à la suite d’une maladie ou d’une blessure. Beaucoup d’animaux peuvent mourir lors d’un incendie d’étable ou à cause d’une défaillance du système de ventilation. Ce genre de tragédie s’appelle alors une mortalité massive. S’il s’agit d’une maladie extrêmement contagieuse, on pourra devoir abattre tout le troupeau d’animaux ou d’oiseaux. Tous ces cadavres d’animaux doivent alors être conservés de manière appropriée, puis détruits sans que cela pose un danger pour l’environnement, conformément aux normes du Règlement sur la gestion des animaux morts et des déjections du bétail.

Associations between lying-down behaviour problems and body condition, limb disorders and skin lesions of lactating sows housed in farrowing crates in commercial sow herds.

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

As the occurrence of group housing of dry sows increases, a concern that arises is that these sows may develop problems when they are confined farrowing environment. This study assessed the welfare of group housed gestating sows during the confinement of farrowing by investigating the prevalence of limb disorders, injuries, impact of body condition and the variation in the methdodolgy in lying-down behaviour. The assessments took place in 10 commercial herds. Forty-one percent of the sows observed demonstrated some form of difficultly lying down. Slipping was linked with difficulty lying-down, which was associated with lesions on the hind feet. Larger (fat) sows took more steps with their hind legs when attempting to lie down, while overgrown hooves was associated with abnormal behaviours when lying down. Skin lesions were found the most frequently on the lateral hind feet and shoulders. Fifteen percent of the sows observed were lame and lameness was associated with a numerous factors. Lameness was associated with an increase in the number of lesions found on the hock and hind feet. Lameness was also related to the occurrence of uncontrolled movements when trying to lie down. Thus, there may be a few key indicators that can be used to indicate the overall welfare of sows in the farrowing environment when they are group housed during gestation.

The effects of different beak trimming techniques on plasma corticosterone and performance criteria in single comb white leghorn hens.

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Chicks were either beak trimmed at 6 days of age with a 2.8 mm gauge, or at 11 weeks of age with a block cut approximately 2 mm anterior to the nasal openings. Two hours after beak trimming at 6 days of age, corticosterone levels were higher than they were prior to beak trimming. Body weight and feed consumption were depressed until 8 weeks of age. Beak trimming at 11 weeks of age caused an increase in corticosterone concentration compared to controls, and feed consumption and body weight decreased. Feed consumption at 72 weeks of age for non-trimmed birds was greater than both beak trimmed treatments. Whereas, the beak trimmed birds resulted in better egg income, feed cost per hen, and net income. Both beak trimmed birds had better feather scores and less fearfulness. The results of this study suggest that the birds adjusted to beak trimming and had better performance than non-beak trimmed birds.