|
|
|
Display category headings
National Programs
Animal Well-Being & Stress Control Systems
National Program Annual Report:
Introduction
Animal well-being continues to be an important issue concerning animal production and a popular theme of press articles and scientific conferences. These concerns cover issues relating to farm animal handling and management, establishing scientific measures of well-being, and the perceived lack of attention to the well-being of production animals that may be used to restrict international trade. This national program gained an additional location, Livestock Issues Research Unit, in partnership with Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, bringing the total locations to five. The program was increased by $270,000 at West Lafayette, Indiana, and $270,000 at Lubbock, Texas, to conduct research on transport stress in relation to food safety. A national program planning workshop on research was convened on April 20, 1999, with customers, stakeholders, and research partners. Consensus was obtained on 'developing scientific measures of well-being derived from coordinated interdisciplinary efforts,' as the customers' and stakeholders' highest research priority. Other priorities included evaluation of management practices within current and alternative systems to understand and manage stress, well-being, and research on transportation stress in relation to food safety. While contributions were made toward each of seven projected outcomes for NP105, two accomplishments stand out as completed work and useful to producers in reducing stress on their animals and maintaining healthful environments. They were a device to accurately measure output of in-place ventilation fans and a feed lot management decision aid to deal with changes in weather. The technology in several of the accomplishments were made available to customers by video and articles in popular farm magazines. Many scientists in the NP105 research units
are long-term members of the W-173 Committee on Animal Stress and/or
NCR-131 Committee on Animal Care and Behavior, which strengthens the
national program by its interaction with the land-grant research
community. |
| | Scientific Measures of Well-Being
Measures of well-being of food-producing animals are needed to make scientific assessments. The measurements integrate behavioral, physiological, and productivity parameters. | | Effect of tail docking measured. Scientists at West Lafayette, Indiana, conducted research to determine the effect of tail-docking procedures employed by dairy farmers on dairy animals. Behavioral and immunological measurements showed an effect due to the procedure and due to the age of the animal. The method of docking affected immunological measurements indicating tissue trauma. Research is continuing to quantify the impact of these procedures on acute/chronic pain and well-being. Handling lean genetic pigs show more stress than control pigs. Behavioral and physiological measures showed an altered response to stress in lean genetic lines than other lines of swine, when the pigs were handled. This knowledge will be useful in developing less stressful methods of handling. | | | Adaptation and Adaptedness
Research in this component will use genetics, environments, and their interactions to improve animal fitness and be the basis for adaptation to environmental stressors. It's anticipated that marker-assisted selection techniques will be useful to identify animals with traits that provide advantages in certain production systems and climates. This research is being conducted and reported in NP101, Animal Genomes, Germplasm, Reproduction, and Developments. | | | | | Social Behavior and Spacing
With the intensification of animal agriculture and the greater number of animals at each location or production unit, a major question is whether the intensive management adversely affects an animal's well-being. | | Behavior patterns documented in production ducks. Studies describing baseline social behavior patterns correlated with stress hormones and neurochemistry in production ducks were completed this year. This is the first information on behavior patterns in production ducks and will be the foundation to address the well-being concerns of duck producers. | | | Cognition and Motivation
The mental state, fear, frustration, suffering, pleasure, and boredom of animals are major concerns of the public. Essentially no research has been conducted on this area using farm animals. | | Measured odor perception and awareness. Early odor perception determines an initial measure of environmental awareness in swine. This research is under way at West Lafayette, Indiana, to measure the animal's perception of odor and apply that knowledge to evaluating well-being in a housing system. | | | Evaluate Practices and Systems To Improve Well-Being
Management practices such as transportation, and special agricultural practices, such as beak trimming, dehorning, branding, tail docking, and castration are important and necessary elements of animal management in current production systems. These practices affect the well-being of animals. | | Hypothermia prescription. Loss of body temperature (hypothermia) is a known contributory factor to the high rate of mortality and morbidity in neonatal pigs. Scientists at Columbia, Missouri, discovered that hypothermia can be induced by an experimental disease and hypothermia can be prevented by an aspirin-like product, indomethacin. An accurate, affordable ventilation-measuring device. Providing fresh air to animals is a requirement for health, good performance, and well-being. A system was developed to measure the output of ventilation fans in animal barns. The system is called Fan Assessment Numeration System (FANS). FANS consist of a portable ventilation fan output anemometer (instrument for measuring the speed of wind), computer, and software. FANS helps to solve a thorny technical problem of accurate measurement of the actual output of in-place ventilation fans in animal barns. Such measurements were theoretically possible in the past but were not technically feasible. FANS is very accurate; it measures volumetric flow rates, within 1 percent accuracy in less than 4 minutes. Traditional techniques have been cumbersome, inaccurate (8 to 10 percent), and slow (30 to 45 minutes). | | | Bioenergetic Criteria for Environmental Management
Adverse environmental conditions cause livestock and poultry losses, decreased production efficiency, and decreased animal well-being. | | Feed lot management decision aid. Scientists at Clay Center, Nebraska, are conducting research to evaluate dynamic thermoregulatory responses (body temperature, respiration rate, and feed intake) of feeder cattle to heat wave simulations and to link such dynamic responses to real-world situations. A collateral experiment was conducted at the University of Missouri. Their accomplishments included development and testing of a respiration sensor for cattle to automate respiration monitoring and relieve the drudgery of manual counts. This research is progressing toward making more information rapidly available on which to base decisions about feed lot management. | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Printable version
Email this page
