Advanced Technologies in Sheep Extensive Farming on a Climate Change Context

Climate change represents a serious issue that negatively impacts the animals’ performance. Sheep production from Mediterranean region is mainly characterized by extensive farming system that during summer are exposed to high temperature. The explored new technologies to monitoring animal welfare and environment could mitigate the impact of climate change supporting the sustainability of animal production and ensuring food security. The present chapter will summarize the more recent advanced technologies based on passive sensors, wearable sensors, and the combination of different technologies with the latest machine learning protocol tested for sheep farming aimed at monitoring animal welfare. A focus on the precision technologies solution to detect heat stress will be presented

Ganadería de precisión en vacuno de carne

La ganadería de precisión es el conjunto de herramientas que permiten la automatización de las labores de granja y brindan información útil para la toma de decisiones orientadas a la eficiencia productiva del ganado. Esta revisión sistemática identificó las diferentes herramientas de ganadería de precisión probadas en vacuno de carne. Se utilizaron palabras claves que permitieran abarcar las diferentes herramientas existentes en las bases de datos en inglés de Web of Science (WoS) y ProQuest (PQ), utilizándose el gestor bibliográfico EndNote online. De los registros encontrados, se hizo una selección de trabajos relevantes en base al título y el resumen y se accedió posteriormente al trabajo completo de aquellos pre-seleccionados a través del acceso desde la biblioteca de la Universidad de Zaragoza o de búsquedas directas en Google. Finalmente, las 97 publicaciones que se encontraron se clasificaron según la utilidad que ofrecen las herramientas al ganadero en: identificación electrónica, reproducción, peso automático, medidas corporales, rastreo del animal, vallado virtual, monitorización de la salud, bienestar animal, alimentación, rumia, medio ambiente y granjas inteligentes. Según los resultados se pudo concluir que la ganadería de precisión ayuda al ganadero a resolver problemas particulares o más globales de la producción de carne. Sin embargo, es necesario el desarrollo de más estudios para ampliar la información enfocada en ganado vacuno de carne, y desarrollar más herramientas de precisión a nivel comercial o mejorar las existentes, para incentivar la implementación de tecnología en la granja ganadera y que le ayude a producir de manera más sostenible.<br /

Animal Welfare Assessment

This Special Issue provides a collection of recent research and reviews that investigate many areas of welfare assessment, such as novel approaches and technologies used to evaluate the welfare of farmed, captive, or wild animals. Research in this Special Issue includes welfare assessment related to pilot whales, finishing pigs, commercial turkey flocks, and dairy goats; the use of sensors or wearable technologies, such as heart rate monitors to assess sleep in dairy cows, ear tag sensors, and machine learning to assess commercial pig behaviour; non-invasive measures, such as video monitoring of behaviour, computer vision to analyse video footage of red foxes, remote camera traps of free-roaming wild horses, infrared thermography of effort and sport recovery in sport horses; telomere length and regulatory genes as novel biomarkers of stress in broiler chickens; the effect of environment on growth physiology and behaviour of laboratory rare minnows and housing system on anxiety, stress, fear, and immune function of laying hens; and discussions of natural behaviour in farm animal welfare and maintaining health, welfare, and productivity of commercial pig herds

Predicting oestrus and ovulation in sows using novel physiological markers

Detection of oestrus in pigs occurs predominantly through monitoring for the presence of standing heat, the behaviour change indicative of sexual receptivity. Standing heat can be used to identify the oestrus period but is not capable of precisely identifying ovulation and the optimum timing for insemination. As a result, breeding protocols implement double inseminations repeated over the 2-3 day oestrus period to ensure viable spermatozoa are present within the reproductive tract at ovulation. Multiple inseminations result in wasted semen doses and high labour inputs which could be prevented with the development of an accurate oestrus detection tool. This project was focused on investigating and evaluating novel markers that enable rapid identification of ovulation and the optimum time for mating with high precision. There are several physiological changes in sows that could be used as alternative markers. This research focuses on several markers during oestrus: electrical resistance of the reproductive tract, cervical mucus composition, body temperature and quantified behaviour monitoring. Oestrus was clearly distinguished through observation of elevated activity levels and distinctive signal profiles, detected using collar-mounted accelerometers. This technology is a precise potential replacement of existing oestrus detection protocols which could reduce daily labour requirements for this task. Ovulation occurred simultaneously with sharp increases in vaginal electrical resistance (ER), a reduction in cervical mucus pH and sodium levels, increased likelihood of linear cervical mucus patterns and increased vulva temperature. The recommendation from the current study is to conduct inseminations immediately upon observation of any of these markers. Individual markers can enable accurate detection of ovulation status. However, if multiple markers are identified, a more productive and efficient conception outcome is likely leading to more profitable sow management

Women in Science 2017

Ever since its 1967 start, SURF has been a cornerstone of Smith’s science education. Women in Science 2017 summarizes research done by Smith College’s SURF Program participants during the summer of 2017. 151 students participated in SURF (144 hosted on campus and nearby eld sites), supervised by 58 faculty mentor-advisors drawn from the Clark Science Center and connected to its eighteen science, mathematics, and engineering departments and programs and associated centers and units. At summer’s end, SURF participants summarized their research experiences for this publication.https://scholarworks.smith.edu/clark_womeninscience/1006/thumbnail.jp

Proceedings of the European Conference on Agricultural Engineering AgEng2021

This proceedings book results from the AgEng2021 Agricultural Engineering Conference under auspices of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers, held in an online format based on the University of Évora, Portugal, from 4 to 8 July 2021. This book contains the full papers of a selection of abstracts that were the base for the oral presentations and posters presented at the conference. Presentations were distributed in eleven thematic areas: Artificial Intelligence, data processing and management; Automation, robotics and sensor technology; Circular Economy; Education and Rural development; Energy and bioenergy; Integrated and sustainable Farming systems; New application technologies and mechanisation; Post-harvest technologies; Smart farming / Precision agriculture; Soil, land and water engineering; Sustainable production in Farm buildings

2021 Student Symposium Research and Creative Activity Book of Abstracts

The UMaine Student Symposium (UMSS) is an annual event that celebrates undergraduate and graduate student research and creative work. Students from a variety of disciplines present their achievements with video presentations. It’s the ideal occasion for the community to see how UMaine students’ work impacts locally – and beyond. The 2021 Student Symposium Research and Creative Activity Book of Abstracts includes a complete list of student presenters as well as abstracts related to their works