Formation and dissolution of the mare-foal bond

Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments

This study examined the behaviour of mares during foaling and when they were separated from their foal on a weekly basis. The mares behaviour towards the foal and the fetal membranes were observed during the first 30 minutes after foaling. Half of the mares were than observed from the 30 to 60 minute after foaling. The majority of the contact with the fetal membranes was made during the first 10 minutes after foaling. On average there were 16 contacts made with the fetal membranes and 18 directed towards the foal. During the 30 to 60 minute period after foaling, the mare continued to lick and touch the foal. Only one foal suckled during the first 30 minutes after birth, but one hour after foaling half of the foals had suckled. To test the behaviour of mares during brief separation from their foals, ten mares were separated from the foal for five minutes every week for 9 weeks. The amount that the mare neighed and stepped decreased, as the foal grew older. The foals response rose from weeks 1 to 2 and than decreased after that. This suggests that the bond between the foal and the mare is not complete until the foal is two weeks old.

Eye white may indicate emotional state on a frustration-contentedness axis in dairy cows.

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Research on welfare indicators has focused primarily on indicators of poor welfare, but there is also a need for indicators that can cover the range from good to poor welfare. The aim of this experiment was to compare behaviour elements in dairy cows shown in response to a frustrating situation as well as elements shown as a response to pleasant, desirable stimuli, and in particular measure the visible percentage of white in the eyes. The subjects of the study were 24 randomly selected dairy cows, 12 in each group, all Norwegian Red Cattle. In a 6 min test of hungry cows, access to food and food deprivation were used as positive and frustrating situations, respectively. The cows of the positive stimulus group were fed normally from a rectangular wooden box. When the deprived animals were introduced to the stimulus, the box had a top of Plexiglas with holes so that the cows could both see and smell the food, but were unable to reach it. All cows were habituated to the box before the experiment started. All food-deprived cows showed at least one of these behaviours: aggressiveness (the most frequent), stereotypies, vocalization, and head shaking, while these behaviour patterns were never observed among cows given food. The percentage of white of the total visible eye area was larger than normal in the feed-deprived cows, gradually increasing until 4 min after test starts, while it was consistently lower than normal in the cows that were fed. The percentage of white correlated positively with the number of aggressive buts in deprived cows. The results suggest that the eye white may be a dynamic indicator of emotions in dairy cattle on a frustration-contentedness axis.

An Experimental Infection to Investigate the Indirect Transmission of Classical Swine Fever Virus by Excretions of Infected Pigs

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In this experiment transmission of classical swine fever (CSF)virus via excretions of infected pigs was investigated under experimental conditions. Five pairs of pigs were experimentally infected with CSF virus. Eight days after experimental infection, when all pigs were viraemic for at least 3 days, the pens were depopulated and 20 h later, restocked with five pairs of susceptible pigs which stayed in these pens for 35 days. During the first 3 weeks of the experiment, the pens were neither cleaned nor disinfected. During the observation period, none of the susceptible pigs became infected. This result indicates that CSF virus spread via excretions is of minor importance in the early stages of infection. For extrapolation of these findings to the field situation and to increase the validity of the conclusions further research is needed to evaluate the effect of factors like virus strain, interval, . . ., that may influence the outcome of the experiment.

Quality Management, Auditing and Certification: Impacts on Product Quality, On-farm Food Safety and Animal Well Being

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Recent scares of diseases such as BSE, Salmonella, E. coli, etc. have led to a consumer need for quality control. HACCP and HACCP-type concepts have been developed in order to regulate quality control.

Pre-harvest food safety is the series of steps that need to be taken at the farm level that aim at preventing and/or minimizing the amount of food-borne health risks to humans carried into the food chain via animals and animal products. In the case of pigs, these a

Genotype-by-environment interaction with broiler genotypes differing in growth rate. 4. Association between responses to heat stress and to cold-induced ascites.

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Males and females, selected from a commercial line to represent its phenotypic variation for BW, were mated with similarly ranked mates to produce sire families representing a wide genetic variation in potential growth rate (GR). Following 5 wk of rearing at normal ambient temperatures, birds representing all sire families were exposed to cold (37 to 47, Trial 1) or hot (43 to 48, Trial 2) environments. Birds exhibiting ascites syndrome (AS) in the cold environment (Trial 1) were counted, and the incidence of AS (%AS) per family was calculated. Sire families’ least square means of BW at 37 d of age in Trial 1 and BW at 43 d of age in Trial 2 represented the families’ potential GR (i.e. GR under normal conditions). A significant positive correlation was found between potential GR and %AS indicating that families with higher potential GR under normal conditions are more likely to suffer from AS under cold stress compared to families with lower GR. Heat stress markedly reduced weight gain in all families. A negative correlation was found between growth under heat stress (Trial 1) and %AS (Trial 2), indicating that families whose GR is more depressed under heat stress are more likely to suffer from AS under cold stress. The results of this study suggest that the two stress responses may share similar control of the genetic variation in each trait and their negative genetic correlation with potential GR.

Effect of dietary supplemental levels of vitamin A on the egg production and immune responses of heat-stressed laying hens.

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In experiment one, two levels of vitamin A supplementation (3,000 and 9,000 IU/kg) were used to investigate the laying performance and antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus of heat-stressed hens. Results indicated that the higher supplementation level had a beneficial effect on the feed intake and laying rate of heat-stressed hens compared with the control group with the lower supplementation level. Antibody titers were not affected by the level of vitamin A. In experiment two, four levels of vitamin A were given (3,000, 6,000, 9,000 and 12,000 IU/kg) to test their effects on the antibody titer to Newcastle disease virus and the T lymphocyte proportion. The experimental birds were exposed to a high temperature (31.5 A?C) 15 days after vaccination against the Newcastle disease virus (Treatment 1) or immediately (Treatment 2). Results indicated that egg weight was increased in response to the high levels of vitamin A supplementation (6,000 and 9,000 IU/kg), but feed intake, laying rate, and body weight loss were not. Vitamin A had no significant effect on antibody titers against the Newcastle disease virus in normal or hot environments in Treatment 1, but the proportion of A?-naphthyl acetate esterase-positive cells increased. Vitamin A supplementation had significant effects on the Newcastle disease virus antibody titer and the A?-naphthyl acetate esterase-positive cell proportion in Treatment 2. Conclusions stated that vitamin A supplementation in commercial layer diets to layer chickens under heat stress was beneficial to laying performance and immune function.

Consistency of individual behavioural characteristics of dairy cows in their home pen.

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The objective of this study was to classify dairy cows based on their individual behavioural characteristics. Observations of their spontaneous behaviour and responses during behavioural tests were recorded. The authors hypothesized that reliable and distinguishing characteristics of dairy cows are consistent across time and situations. The daily uninterrupted individual behaviour of dairy cows kept in loose-housing was recorded for four days, every five minutes. Based on the outcome of agonistic interactions, an agonistic index was determined. Three behavioural tests were conducted, a visual obstacle test, a tail fixation test, and an air puff test, in order to determine the cows’ reactions to environmental stimuli. The tests were repeated once a month for three months. The behaviours that were found to be correlated between repetitions included: time spent lying, time spent locomotion/standing, the agonistic index and the reactions to the air puff test. The first and second repetition of the visual obstacle test was correlated, but the values decreased over time. The response to the tail fixation test was not consistent over time. All spontaneous behaviours were correlated except the agonistic index was not correlated with locomotion/standing. There were no correlations found between the behavioural tests or between the behavioural tests and the spontaneous behaviours. The authors concluded that measures of spontaneous behaviours are best for distinguishing among individuals.

Does Pig Density Matter for the Choice of Control Strategies in Classical Swine Fever Epidemic?

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Foreign Animal Disease: Is there a threat? What can we do?

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The outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in the UK has producers worldwide worried about foreign animal disease (FAD). The biggest impact of FMD in the UK was on sheep, which are raised for meat, wool, and subsidy. Eradication requires restriction of movement of animals, identification of outbreaks, strict culling, carcass disposal, biosecurity, epidemiology, and enforcement of practice.

Of all the FADs threatening the pork industry, FMD is the most concerning due to its ability to infect any animal with a cloven hoof. Measures need to be taken with any FAD, which include maintaining an adequate biosecurity program and reporting disease outbreaks to authorities. The outbreak of FMD in sheep or cattle in Canada would impact the pork industry due to animal movement restriction. The most common methods of disease transmission include direct contact, infected objects, and some aerosol transmission.

The use of a risk analysis program shows an increase in risk in the past few years. The most common risk of infection is the illegal importation of livestock or products. The producer has responsibility for biosecurity at the barn level, but it is the CFIAa

Effects of ketoprofen alone in combination with local anesthesia during the castration of bull calves on plasma cortisol, immunological, and inflammatory responses.

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Castration of male beef cattle is a routine practice in many countries. This procedure reduces management problems with aggressive and sexual behaviours. The provision of local anaesthesia before castration is a legislative requirement in some countries as a mean of improving the welfare of animals. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of the anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen, alone or in combination with local anaesthesia, on cortisol, acute-phase proteins, performance, and immune response following the castration of bull calves. 40 Friesian calves were used in the study. The calves were tested with following treatments as follows; 1) control calves (no treatment), 2) surgical castration, 3) surgical castration following ketoprofen, 4) surgical castration following local anaesthesia (lidocaine hydrochloride), or 5) surgical castration following local anaesthesia and ketoprofen. Total cortisol response was greater in treatments of surgical castration, surgical castration following local anaesthesia and surgical castration following local anaesthesia and ketoprofen calves than in control calves and was not different between control and surgical castration following ketoprofen calves. Overall, this study demonstrates that ketoprofen and local anaesthesia were both effective at reducing the peak cortisol response following castration; the castration associated total response was suppressed by the administration of ketoprofen, but not local anaesthesia. Therefore, systematic analgesia using ketoprofen is more effective than local anaesthesia during castration to alleviate the associated stress response.