Pub Date : 2023-09-22DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1254877
Richard D. Oloo, Julie M. K. Ojango, Chinyere C. Ekine-Dzivenu, Gebregziabher Gebreyohanes, Raphael Mrode, Okeyo A. Mwai, Mizeck G. G. Chagunda
The current review examines potential solutions to enhance the sustainability and productivity of the dairy sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with an emphasis on breeding for resilience. Additionally, the paper explores various indicators for measuring resilience and provides insights into the data that can be utilized to quantify resilience in SSA’s dairy production systems. Dairy production contributes significantly to food and nutritional security and employment in SSA. However, besides the general lack of enabling policy and institutional environments, production is negatively affected by environmental challenges such as high temperatures and heat stress, diseases and parasites, unreliable rainfall patterns, shortages of feeds and forages and undue preference for taurine cattle breeds regardless of their poor adaptability to prevailing local conditions. Fostering the resilience capacity of dairy animals is imperative to combat climate-related adversities and maintain productivity. This can only be achieved if reliable and practical methods for quantifying and analyzing resilience in SSA are described and undertaken. This study has reviewed variance of deviations, root mean square of deviations, autocorrelation of deviations, skewness of deviations, slope of the reaction norm and its absolute value as possible indicators of resilience in SSA. While previous research has reported genetic variation and favorable correlations of these indicators with health, fitness, and fertility traits, their potential in SSA environments requires further investigation. Besides, labor- and cost-effective phenotypic data collection is essential for characterization of resilience using these indicators. Through this study, we propose frequently collected data on milk production traits, body fat-related traits, and activity patterns as suitable in the sub-Saharan Africa context. The African Asian Dairy Genetic Gains Project by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) offers a valuable opportunity to collate data from diverse dairy systems in SSA for testing the potential of these indicators. Insights from this study are helpful in improving resilience of dairy animals in SSA, which would contribute to poverty alleviation, animal welfare improvement, and better preparedness in lieu of climate change in SSA.
{"title":"Enhancing individual animal resilience to environmental disturbances to address low productivity in dairy cattle performing in sub-Saharan Africa","authors":"Richard D. Oloo, Julie M. K. Ojango, Chinyere C. Ekine-Dzivenu, Gebregziabher Gebreyohanes, Raphael Mrode, Okeyo A. Mwai, Mizeck G. G. Chagunda","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1254877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1254877","url":null,"abstract":"The current review examines potential solutions to enhance the sustainability and productivity of the dairy sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with an emphasis on breeding for resilience. Additionally, the paper explores various indicators for measuring resilience and provides insights into the data that can be utilized to quantify resilience in SSA’s dairy production systems. Dairy production contributes significantly to food and nutritional security and employment in SSA. However, besides the general lack of enabling policy and institutional environments, production is negatively affected by environmental challenges such as high temperatures and heat stress, diseases and parasites, unreliable rainfall patterns, shortages of feeds and forages and undue preference for taurine cattle breeds regardless of their poor adaptability to prevailing local conditions. Fostering the resilience capacity of dairy animals is imperative to combat climate-related adversities and maintain productivity. This can only be achieved if reliable and practical methods for quantifying and analyzing resilience in SSA are described and undertaken. This study has reviewed variance of deviations, root mean square of deviations, autocorrelation of deviations, skewness of deviations, slope of the reaction norm and its absolute value as possible indicators of resilience in SSA. While previous research has reported genetic variation and favorable correlations of these indicators with health, fitness, and fertility traits, their potential in SSA environments requires further investigation. Besides, labor- and cost-effective phenotypic data collection is essential for characterization of resilience using these indicators. Through this study, we propose frequently collected data on milk production traits, body fat-related traits, and activity patterns as suitable in the sub-Saharan Africa context. The African Asian Dairy Genetic Gains Project by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) offers a valuable opportunity to collate data from diverse dairy systems in SSA for testing the potential of these indicators. Insights from this study are helpful in improving resilience of dairy animals in SSA, which would contribute to poverty alleviation, animal welfare improvement, and better preparedness in lieu of climate change in SSA.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136059893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-19DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1160202
Kaleiah Schiller, Jessica E. Monk, Caroline Lee, Kristina Horback
Immune competence in domestic sheep is gaining more attention in genetic selection programs that seek to enhance flock immunity and animal welfare. A goal of many programs is to identify behavioral phenotypes that indicate stress-coping strength, as well as disease resilience. The current study set out to explore the relationship between immune responsiveness, physiological stress, and behavioral response among sheep that had been selected for ‘low’ (LR) or ‘high’ (HR) response to cell-mediated and antibody-mediate reactivity to a clostridial vaccine. Multiparous ewes were placed in four experiments which exposed the animals to various threats including, dog presence, human proximity, visual isolation from flock, and physical restraint. To evaluate the consistency of behavioral phenotypes, all ewes were placed in the test circuit one year later. Basal body temperature (via iButton) and serum cortisol concentrations were collected prior to and after the circuit each year. Immune group (HR vs. LR) was not found to be related to behavioral performance during the dog, human, isolation, or restraint challenge. Immune group categorization was also unrelated to pre- and post-cortisol concentrations, and the change in cortisol concentrations during testing. There was a negative relationship identified between response to visual isolation and change in cortisol response during testing, indicating that sheep which were more active or agitated during visual isolation from the flock experienced less of an increase in serum cortisol levels and were perhaps experiencing a negative, high arousal state compared to less reactive sheep (e.g., freeze behavior) (χ2(4, N=99) = 42.72, P <0.0001). There was also a post hoc , positive relationship identified between weight measurements and immune group, such that individuals with greater body weight were more likely to be in the high immune responsiveness group (P= 0.01). Specifically, for every unit increase in weight, there was a ~49% chance of being categorized in the HR group. This is relevant for selection programs because producers that seek to enhance immune responsiveness and performance may be able to select sheep that carry a greater body mass, and while not found in the present study, could lead to greater flock immunity.
在寻求提高羊群免疫力和动物福利的遗传选择计划中，家羊的免疫能力越来越受到关注。许多项目的目标是确定表明压力应对能力和疾病恢复能力的行为表型。目前的研究旨在探索免疫反应、生理应激和行为反应之间的关系，这些羊被选择为细胞介导和抗体介导的梭状芽胞杆菌疫苗反应的“低”(LR)或“高”(HR)反应。在四个实验中，母羊被放置在不同的威胁中，包括狗的存在、人类的接近、与羊群的视觉隔离和身体约束。为了评估行为表型的一致性，一年后将所有母羊置于测试回路中。每年循环前后收集基础体温(通过iButton)和血清皮质醇浓度。免疫组(HR vs LR)与狗、人、隔离或约束挑战期间的行为表现无关。免疫组分类也与测试前后皮质醇浓度以及测试期间皮质醇浓度的变化无关。在测试期间，对视觉隔离的反应与皮质醇反应的变化之间存在负相关关系，这表明，与反应较少的羊(例如，冻结行为)相比，在视觉隔离期间更活跃或更激动的羊血清皮质醇水平的增加较少，并且可能处于消极的高唤醒状态(χ2(4, N=99) = 42.72, P <0.0001)。体重测量值与免疫组之间也存在事后正相关关系，因此体重较大的个体更有可能属于高免疫反应组(P= 0.01)。具体来说，体重每增加一个单位，就有49%的机会被归为人力资源组。这与选择计划有关，因为寻求提高免疫反应性和性能的生产者可能能够选择体重较大的羊，虽然在本研究中没有发现，但可能导致更大的羊群免疫力。
{"title":"Associations between immune competence phenotype and stress response in sheep","authors":"Kaleiah Schiller, Jessica E. Monk, Caroline Lee, Kristina Horback","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1160202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1160202","url":null,"abstract":"Immune competence in domestic sheep is gaining more attention in genetic selection programs that seek to enhance flock immunity and animal welfare. A goal of many programs is to identify behavioral phenotypes that indicate stress-coping strength, as well as disease resilience. The current study set out to explore the relationship between immune responsiveness, physiological stress, and behavioral response among sheep that had been selected for ‘low’ (LR) or ‘high’ (HR) response to cell-mediated and antibody-mediate reactivity to a clostridial vaccine. Multiparous ewes were placed in four experiments which exposed the animals to various threats including, dog presence, human proximity, visual isolation from flock, and physical restraint. To evaluate the consistency of behavioral phenotypes, all ewes were placed in the test circuit one year later. Basal body temperature (via iButton) and serum cortisol concentrations were collected prior to and after the circuit each year. Immune group (HR vs. LR) was not found to be related to behavioral performance during the dog, human, isolation, or restraint challenge. Immune group categorization was also unrelated to pre- and post-cortisol concentrations, and the change in cortisol concentrations during testing. There was a negative relationship identified between response to visual isolation and change in cortisol response during testing, indicating that sheep which were more active or agitated during visual isolation from the flock experienced less of an increase in serum cortisol levels and were perhaps experiencing a negative, high arousal state compared to less reactive sheep (e.g., freeze behavior) (χ2(4, N=99) = 42.72, P &lt;0.0001). There was also a post hoc , positive relationship identified between weight measurements and immune group, such that individuals with greater body weight were more likely to be in the high immune responsiveness group (P= 0.01). Specifically, for every unit increase in weight, there was a ~49% chance of being categorized in the HR group. This is relevant for selection programs because producers that seek to enhance immune responsiveness and performance may be able to select sheep that carry a greater body mass, and while not found in the present study, could lead to greater flock immunity.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135063395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-18DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1225396
Devon Viljoen, Edward Webb, Jan Myburgh, Christoff Truter, Albert Myburgh
Population surveys of crocodilians using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones may become accurate and cost-effective alternatives to more traditional approaches. However, there are currently no quantitative methods for deriving body condition scores of crocodilians through remote sensing. This study presents seven UAV-based morphometric measures collected from rectified aerial imagery of farmed Nile crocodiles. Two hundred and eighty-eight Nile crocodiles, from two commercial crocodile farms in South Africa were included in this study. One farm housed crocodiles which appeared to have wider abdominal girths than those on the second farm, allowing comparisons for a range of sizes and body condition states. An initial disturbance assessment was conducted, and an appropriate flight altitude selected for image acquisition of farmed Nile crocodiles. Altitudes between 40m and 60m above ground level suited the studies requirements and minimized disturbance. A UAV-based body condition index for Nile crocodiles was then developed, offering a non-invasive alternative to traditional condition scoring methods. The body condition index (BCI) was calculated for each crocodile by measuring the relationship between total length and belly width (with the equation: BCI = BW/TL*10) derived from photogrammetrically processed orthophotos in GIS. The BCI values were then normalized to form a body condition score (BCS) with the equation: BCS = (BCI/1.27)*4 + 1. The BCS ranked crocodile body conditions from 1-5, where a score of 1 identified a crocodile that was comparatively thin or emaciated, while a score of 5 identified a crocodile that was relatively fat or obese in contrast to the other crocodiles assessed. A BCS of 3 was the most frequent across all crocodiles in the study, with few animals scoring a 1 or 5. The farm housing crocodiles with narrower abdominal girths had no BCS 5 occurrences, and the farm housing crocodiles with wider abdominal girths had no BCS 1 occurrences. This UAV-based body condition score could be applied to large wild or captive populations for a fast-paced health and welfare evaluation.
{"title":"Remote body condition scoring of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) using uncrewed aerial vehicle derived morphometrics","authors":"Devon Viljoen, Edward Webb, Jan Myburgh, Christoff Truter, Albert Myburgh","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1225396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1225396","url":null,"abstract":"Population surveys of crocodilians using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones may become accurate and cost-effective alternatives to more traditional approaches. However, there are currently no quantitative methods for deriving body condition scores of crocodilians through remote sensing. This study presents seven UAV-based morphometric measures collected from rectified aerial imagery of farmed Nile crocodiles. Two hundred and eighty-eight Nile crocodiles, from two commercial crocodile farms in South Africa were included in this study. One farm housed crocodiles which appeared to have wider abdominal girths than those on the second farm, allowing comparisons for a range of sizes and body condition states. An initial disturbance assessment was conducted, and an appropriate flight altitude selected for image acquisition of farmed Nile crocodiles. Altitudes between 40m and 60m above ground level suited the studies requirements and minimized disturbance. A UAV-based body condition index for Nile crocodiles was then developed, offering a non-invasive alternative to traditional condition scoring methods. The body condition index (BCI) was calculated for each crocodile by measuring the relationship between total length and belly width (with the equation: BCI = BW/TL*10) derived from photogrammetrically processed orthophotos in GIS. The BCI values were then normalized to form a body condition score (BCS) with the equation: BCS = (BCI/1.27)*4 + 1. The BCS ranked crocodile body conditions from 1-5, where a score of 1 identified a crocodile that was comparatively thin or emaciated, while a score of 5 identified a crocodile that was relatively fat or obese in contrast to the other crocodiles assessed. A BCS of 3 was the most frequent across all crocodiles in the study, with few animals scoring a 1 or 5. The farm housing crocodiles with narrower abdominal girths had no BCS 5 occurrences, and the farm housing crocodiles with wider abdominal girths had no BCS 1 occurrences. This UAV-based body condition score could be applied to large wild or captive populations for a fast-paced health and welfare evaluation.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135109761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1198055
Winanda W. Ursinus, Annika M. Voogt, Johan H. Bongers, Dick T. H. M. Sijm
In the Netherlands, a pilot was initiated of a mobile slaughter unit (MSU) for the killing of cull dairy cattle not fit for transport but suitable for slaughter, in order to save valuable meat. The Office for Risk Assessment & Research (BuRO) was asked to assess the risks for animal welfare. As a thorough risk assessment would have been very time consuming, a qualitative framework was used instead. The goal of the current study was to qualitatively describe the relevant risks for cow welfare involved in the use of an MSU compared with current practice by carrying out a rapid comparative risk assessment of animal welfare. The assessment framework consisted of the following steps: identification and description of scenarios, followed by assessment and comparison of the most relevant animal welfare risks in these scenarios, including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure, and characterization of the risk to animal welfare. Two main scenarios were identified, one with and one without an MSU. The second scenario was split into three sub-scenarios: killing on the farm/in a housing unit, emergency slaughter, and conventional transport to the slaughterhouse. The most relevant risks associated with operating an MSU were as follows: leaving the cow alive on the farm when it was not fit for slaughter; forcing the cow to walk to and into the MSU (however, this risk is likely higher under conventional transport of unfit cows); and insufficient stunning and bleeding, leading to questionable unconsciousness (however, this risk is likely higher in an emergency slaughter scenario). The MSU is a means of preventing the exacerbation of welfare deterioration in cows that are unfit for transport but fit for slaughter, and it reduces exposure to stressors (hazards) that are conventionally present during transport and at a stationary slaughterhouse. This rapid comparative risk assessment of animal welfare supported swift decision-making: the national competent authority (i.e., the NVWA in the Netherlands) and policymakers were able to improve and develop risk-mitigating actions and to decide on allowing the use of an MSU. When appropriately designed and used, and with sufficient supervision, mobile slaughter facilities can reduce welfare risks in cull dairy cows that are unfit for transport but fit for slaughter.
{"title":"Qualitative welfare risks of cows offered to a Dutch mobile slaughter unit","authors":"Winanda W. Ursinus, Annika M. Voogt, Johan H. Bongers, Dick T. H. M. Sijm","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1198055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1198055","url":null,"abstract":"In the Netherlands, a pilot was initiated of a mobile slaughter unit (MSU) for the killing of cull dairy cattle not fit for transport but suitable for slaughter, in order to save valuable meat. The Office for Risk Assessment &amp; Research (BuRO) was asked to assess the risks for animal welfare. As a thorough risk assessment would have been very time consuming, a qualitative framework was used instead. The goal of the current study was to qualitatively describe the relevant risks for cow welfare involved in the use of an MSU compared with current practice by carrying out a rapid comparative risk assessment of animal welfare. The assessment framework consisted of the following steps: identification and description of scenarios, followed by assessment and comparison of the most relevant animal welfare risks in these scenarios, including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure, and characterization of the risk to animal welfare. Two main scenarios were identified, one with and one without an MSU. The second scenario was split into three sub-scenarios: killing on the farm/in a housing unit, emergency slaughter, and conventional transport to the slaughterhouse. The most relevant risks associated with operating an MSU were as follows: leaving the cow alive on the farm when it was not fit for slaughter; forcing the cow to walk to and into the MSU (however, this risk is likely higher under conventional transport of unfit cows); and insufficient stunning and bleeding, leading to questionable unconsciousness (however, this risk is likely higher in an emergency slaughter scenario). The MSU is a means of preventing the exacerbation of welfare deterioration in cows that are unfit for transport but fit for slaughter, and it reduces exposure to stressors (hazards) that are conventionally present during transport and at a stationary slaughterhouse. This rapid comparative risk assessment of animal welfare supported swift decision-making: the national competent authority (i.e., the NVWA in the Netherlands) and policymakers were able to improve and develop risk-mitigating actions and to decide on allowing the use of an MSU. When appropriately designed and used, and with sufficient supervision, mobile slaughter facilities can reduce welfare risks in cull dairy cows that are unfit for transport but fit for slaughter.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135553014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Milk and serum were collected from dairy cows before and during a 2-day heat challenge. The concentrations of free short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the fatty acid (FA) profile, and the abundance of the major species of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and sphingomyelin (SM) were measured, and samples collected during heat exposure were compared with those collected prior to heat exposure. It was found that a 2-day heat challenge did not alter the global FA composition of milk fat nor the content of the major phospholipids. Although the concentration of SCFAs C3 and C4 and some lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) species in milk was found to be associated with the forage type, neither of these lipid molecules can be used as an indicator of acute heat stress. While it is a positive finding that short-term heat stress has no detrimental effect on the FA composition or the nutritive quality of milk fat, this study highlights the complexity of validating a milk lipid biomarker for heat stress in dairy cows.
{"title":"The effect of 2-day heat stress on the lipid composition of bovine milk and serum","authors":"Cheng Li, Zhiqian Liu, Carolyn Bath, Leah C. Marett, Jennie Pryce, Simone Rochfort","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1212904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1212904","url":null,"abstract":"Milk and serum were collected from dairy cows before and during a 2-day heat challenge. The concentrations of free short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), the fatty acid (FA) profile, and the abundance of the major species of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and sphingomyelin (SM) were measured, and samples collected during heat exposure were compared with those collected prior to heat exposure. It was found that a 2-day heat challenge did not alter the global FA composition of milk fat nor the content of the major phospholipids. Although the concentration of SCFAs C3 and C4 and some lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) species in milk was found to be associated with the forage type, neither of these lipid molecules can be used as an indicator of acute heat stress. While it is a positive finding that short-term heat stress has no detrimental effect on the FA composition or the nutritive quality of milk fat, this study highlights the complexity of validating a milk lipid biomarker for heat stress in dairy cows.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135552089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1237063
M. Malacarne, P. Franceschi, Stefania Chessa, A. Summer
{"title":"Editorial: Genetic factors affecting the nutritional and processing quality of milk","authors":"M. Malacarne, P. Franceschi, Stefania Chessa, A. Summer","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1237063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1237063","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139340123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1225839
Eimear Murphy, Amélie Legrand
Farm animal welfare is inextricably linked to, and limited by, the welfare potential of the production system. Welfare potential is determined by the method of production, with key housing features and the genetics of the animal being the primary defining factors. Housing systems with close confinement, or using animals selected for productivity to the detriment of welfare, such as fast-growing broilers, cannot deliver good welfare as the causes of poor welfare are an inherent part of the system. Good management, while not a determinant of the welfare potential, is essential for a system to achieve its potential. Viewing systems in terms of their welfare potential reduces the risk of making ongoing incremental changes to systems where welfare can never be high. It sets a framework for evaluating the inputs into a system which are key to ensure an acceptable level of welfare. This approach has practical relevance for certification schemes, as it allows for a tiered (“bad, better, best”) approach to food labelling based on method of production (e.g. intensive indoors, higher welfare indoors, free-range). Paired with robust welfare outcomes assessment and auditing, this can provide clear and simple information on the farming system to the consumers, while ensuring that the system delivers good welfare. There is an urgent need to move away from systems with a low welfare potential, as they can never deliver acceptable levels of welfare, and to support farmers in their transition towards systems with a higher welfare potential.
{"title":"Introduction to the concept of “welfare potential” of production systems and its practical relevance to welfare labelling","authors":"Eimear Murphy, Amélie Legrand","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1225839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1225839","url":null,"abstract":"Farm animal welfare is inextricably linked to, and limited by, the welfare potential of the production system. Welfare potential is determined by the method of production, with key housing features and the genetics of the animal being the primary defining factors. Housing systems with close confinement, or using animals selected for productivity to the detriment of welfare, such as fast-growing broilers, cannot deliver good welfare as the causes of poor welfare are an inherent part of the system. Good management, while not a determinant of the welfare potential, is essential for a system to achieve its potential. Viewing systems in terms of their welfare potential reduces the risk of making ongoing incremental changes to systems where welfare can never be high. It sets a framework for evaluating the inputs into a system which are key to ensure an acceptable level of welfare. This approach has practical relevance for certification schemes, as it allows for a tiered (“bad, better, best”) approach to food labelling based on method of production (e.g. intensive indoors, higher welfare indoors, free-range). Paired with robust welfare outcomes assessment and auditing, this can provide clear and simple information on the farming system to the consumers, while ensuring that the system delivers good welfare. There is an urgent need to move away from systems with a low welfare potential, as they can never deliver acceptable levels of welfare, and to support farmers in their transition towards systems with a higher welfare potential.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135551747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-12DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1256670
Emily Taylor, Emma Dunston-Clarke, Daniel Brookes, Ellen Jongman, Benjamin Linn, Anne Barnes, David Miller, Andrew Fisher, Teresa Collins
Lot feeding of cattle has gained momentum in recent years to improve efficiency in meeting market demands for high quality protein. Concurrently, societal concern for the welfare of animals raised in intensive farming systems has increased. Thus, the reporting of animal health and welfare measures is a key goal for the Australian cattle lot-fed industry. Although feedlots vary in location, climate, capacity, cattle genotype, and feeding programs, many welfare concerns are applicable across the industry. Despite this, no recognised standardised animal welfare assessment protocol exists for the Australian lot-fed industry. This study aimed to identify relevant measures to develop an assessment protocol, by identifying key welfare issues and their relevant measures, considering the validity, reliability, and practicality of each when applied to the feedlot context. An advisory model was derived after reviewing the relevant literature and five international protocols for the assessment of beef cattle (Welfare Quality ® , AssureWel, US Beef Quality Assurance assessment tool, Canadian Feedlot Animal Care Assessment program, and an Australian Live Export industry protocol), followed by stakeholder consultation. A total of 109 measures were evaluated, with 99 environmental-, management-, resource- and animal-based measures being proposed. Piloting of the protocol on commercial feedlots will enable further refinement and validation, to provide an evidence-based, practical protocol to facilitate standardised monitoring of cattle welfare. Such a protocol could promote continued advances in animal welfare at a feedlot level and support a sustainable industry by addressing societal concerns.
{"title":"Developing a welfare assessment protocol for Australian lot-fed cattle","authors":"Emily Taylor, Emma Dunston-Clarke, Daniel Brookes, Ellen Jongman, Benjamin Linn, Anne Barnes, David Miller, Andrew Fisher, Teresa Collins","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1256670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1256670","url":null,"abstract":"Lot feeding of cattle has gained momentum in recent years to improve efficiency in meeting market demands for high quality protein. Concurrently, societal concern for the welfare of animals raised in intensive farming systems has increased. Thus, the reporting of animal health and welfare measures is a key goal for the Australian cattle lot-fed industry. Although feedlots vary in location, climate, capacity, cattle genotype, and feeding programs, many welfare concerns are applicable across the industry. Despite this, no recognised standardised animal welfare assessment protocol exists for the Australian lot-fed industry. This study aimed to identify relevant measures to develop an assessment protocol, by identifying key welfare issues and their relevant measures, considering the validity, reliability, and practicality of each when applied to the feedlot context. An advisory model was derived after reviewing the relevant literature and five international protocols for the assessment of beef cattle (Welfare Quality ® , AssureWel, US Beef Quality Assurance assessment tool, Canadian Feedlot Animal Care Assessment program, and an Australian Live Export industry protocol), followed by stakeholder consultation. A total of 109 measures were evaluated, with 99 environmental-, management-, resource- and animal-based measures being proposed. Piloting of the protocol on commercial feedlots will enable further refinement and validation, to provide an evidence-based, practical protocol to facilitate standardised monitoring of cattle welfare. Such a protocol could promote continued advances in animal welfare at a feedlot level and support a sustainable industry by addressing societal concerns.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135886297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-11DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1259200
Stephen L. Woodgate
This mini-review review examines the role of animal by-products (ABP), produced by the process known as rendering. It explains how the use of rendered products has evolved and changed over the last 50 years and how the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in the UK and the rest of Europe challenged the survival of the industry. The subsequent changes to the rendering industry resulting from BSE are described by way of key research and regulatory changes. As a result of the developments in the modern rendering industry, it has evolved into an important component of the current human food chain. The role of the rendering industry in producing a wide range of safe, high quality, sustainable products from ABP materials is explored.
{"title":"Meat industry by-products: a bio-refinery approach to the production of safe, value added products for sustainable agriculture applications","authors":"Stephen L. Woodgate","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1259200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1259200","url":null,"abstract":"This mini-review review examines the role of animal by-products (ABP), produced by the process known as rendering. It explains how the use of rendered products has evolved and changed over the last 50 years and how the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in the UK and the rest of Europe challenged the survival of the industry. The subsequent changes to the rendering industry resulting from BSE are described by way of key research and regulatory changes. As a result of the developments in the modern rendering industry, it has evolved into an important component of the current human food chain. The role of the rendering industry in producing a wide range of safe, high quality, sustainable products from ABP materials is explored.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135981330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-08DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2023.1241318
Catherine Hall
Global environmental law is characterized by Eurocentric cultural paradigms that perceive humanity as external and superior to Nature. This supremacy over Nature reflects a legacy of Western colonial domination. Accordingly, environmental regulations have been complicit in sustaining the paradigms that have given rise to the Anthropocene. It is against this backdrop that this article seeks to investigate how global environmental law could engage in transformative reform by embracing Southern epistemologies, particularly through the legal subjectivisation of Nature, i.e. by conceptualizing Nature as subjects of rights. Rooted in Indigenous worldviews, the emerging Rights of Nature movement provides a critical opportunity to re-envision global environmental law through historically colonized and marginalized forms of knowledge. In particular, this article explores the instrumentality of litigation to act as a catalyst for diffusing Southern conceptions in Eurocentric legal cultures to decolonize international law. This article specifically analyzes the animal rights dimension of the broader the Rights of Nature paradigm. It argues that the recent wave of litigation awarding rights to animals - primarily in the Global South - reflects an evolving inter-judicial dialogue between domestic judges, whose interactions could potentially feed into a cosmopolitan global jurisprudence for animal rights in a bottom-up manner, which captures the plurality of ways of understanding and conceptualizing Nature.
{"title":"Diffusing the legal conceptions of the global south and decolonizing international law: crystallizing animal rights through inter-judicial dialogue","authors":"Catherine Hall","doi":"10.3389/fanim.2023.1241318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1241318","url":null,"abstract":"Global environmental law is characterized by Eurocentric cultural paradigms that perceive humanity as external and superior to Nature. This supremacy over Nature reflects a legacy of Western colonial domination. Accordingly, environmental regulations have been complicit in sustaining the paradigms that have given rise to the Anthropocene. It is against this backdrop that this article seeks to investigate how global environmental law could engage in transformative reform by embracing Southern epistemologies, particularly through the legal subjectivisation of Nature, i.e. by conceptualizing Nature as subjects of rights. Rooted in Indigenous worldviews, the emerging Rights of Nature movement provides a critical opportunity to re-envision global environmental law through historically colonized and marginalized forms of knowledge. In particular, this article explores the instrumentality of litigation to act as a catalyst for diffusing Southern conceptions in Eurocentric legal cultures to decolonize international law. This article specifically analyzes the animal rights dimension of the broader the Rights of Nature paradigm. It argues that the recent wave of litigation awarding rights to animals - primarily in the Global South - reflects an evolving inter-judicial dialogue between domestic judges, whose interactions could potentially feed into a cosmopolitan global jurisprudence for animal rights in a bottom-up manner, which captures the plurality of ways of understanding and conceptualizing Nature.","PeriodicalId":73064,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in animal science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46289276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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