180 research outputs found
Effect of two housing systems on performance and longevity of dairy cows in Northern Italy
ArticleThe objective of the current study was to evaluate and compare performance of dairy
cows housed in compost-bedded pack barns (CBP) and free stall barns, with a focus on longevityrelated parameters. Study included 30 commercial dairy farms located in the Po Valley, Italy.
Twenty farms had free stall barns, among which 10 used rubber mattresses (FSM) and 10 used
deep straw bedding (FSS). The remaining 10 farms had CBP. Monthly dairy herd records were
obtained from the Italian DHI association for each farm included in the study over a period of
one year. All farms were visited to measure characteristics and dimensions of housing facilities.
Linear mixed models were used to evaluate the association between housing system and the
outcome variables. In CBP total available area was larger than both in FSM and FSS. However,
space per cow over the bedded pack area in CBP (6.8 ± 2.4 m2
cow-1
) was relatively low for this
housing system. Milk production was similar among housing systems but somatic cell count and
mastitis infection prevalence resulted to be higher in CBP than in FSM and FSS. Calving interval
was lower in FSS compared with both FSM and CBP while no differences were found in number
of services per pregnancy. Cows housed in CBP were older and had higher parities than those in
FSM and FSS while no significant differences in herd turnover rate were detected among housing
systems. Results confirm that CBP housing system may improve longevity of dairy cows, which
is reported to be one of the most important motivations for building this kind of housing.
Nevertheless, CBP housing can pose some challenges in achieving adequate udder health and
high milk quality, especially with low space per cow
Comparison between different types of bedding materials for horses
ArticleThe sports horse lives
a large part of the time inside the pen in constant contact with
the bedding. Therefore the bedding material can deeply affect the welfare and health of horses
kept in pens. The materials have to ensure the realization of a double aim: to create a comforta
ble
and soft surface on which the animal can stand and relax; to give appropriate hygienic and sanitary
conditions. Other important factors influence the choice, such as: the material must not be
appetizing for the horse; the litter has to maintain a prope
r level of moisture, so that the hoof is
kept healthy, elastic and hydrated. Also the costs for material and litter management have to be
taken into account. In the present study, different organic materials are compared: wood chips,
hemp, rice, flax and c
oconut. The trials took place in five box stalls, with square plan of 3
x
3
m.
Environmental data were collected during the trials (air temperature and humidity, ammonia
concentration, litter moisture). Management data were also collected, regarding the us
e of
bedding materials, working time, costs. In the paper the main results of the comparison between
the different litter materials used in horses pens are presented
Analysis of housing risk factors for the welfare of lean and heavy pigs in a sample of european fattening farms
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Animal welfare is a major challenge that most European pig producers have been facing in recent decades to comply with EU legislation and to meet the increasing societal and market demand for pork produced in a sustainable way. Pig welfare is ruled in terms of minimum requirements for housing and management, but stakeholders have considered that both farm-level and animal-based indicators are fundamental to monitor animal welfare. Some of the welfare issues still affecting fattening pigs are the lack of space, bedding and manipulable material, and the continued practice of routine tail docking of pigs. Tail docking is applied routinely across most European countries to reduce the occurrence of severe tail biting lesions, despite its ban in the EU. An observational study on 51 pig farms in seven EU countries, aimed at investigating housing risk factors for the welfare of finishing pigs, showed that body weight and presence of bedded solid floored resting area (BED) identify three clusters of farms. The outcomes of this study confirmed that BED and larger availability of space per pig, above the minimum requirement of EU legislation, can limit the occurrence of lesions in pigs with undocked tails. ABSTRACT: Pig welfare is affected by housing conditions, the minimum requirements of which are set up by EU legislation. Animal and non-animal-based measures are useful indicators to investigate housing risk factors for pig welfare. An observational study on 51 pig farms in seven EU countries, aimed at investigating housing risk factors for the welfare of finishing pigs, showed body weight and presence of bedded solid floored resting area (BED) identifying three clusters of farms. Farms with BED were featured by no or limited tail docking, larger availability of manipulable materials and lower number of pigs per farm and per annual work unit. In these farms, less skin and ear lesions were found, compared with lean pigs of farms without BED, which were characterized by lower pig space allowance, mortality rate and medication cost. In farms without BED, heavy pigs were featured by more space per pig, more pigs per drinker and higher mortality rate and medication cost per pig, compared to lean pigs. No statistical difference in tail lesions was found between the three farm clusters, although tail docking was performed in all farms without BED and not performed on most farms with BED
Criteria of design for deconstruction applied to dairy cows housing: a case study in Italy
ArticleThis work aims at presenting the design process of a new barn for dairy cows. Project
embraces several concepts that are rather new to the dairy industry and will deeply affect its
environmental, economic and social sustainability. The barn will be built o
n a green field site
located in Cervasca (CN) in the region of Piedmont. Building has been designed applying the
emerging principle of "design for deconstruction" extensively. A series of constructive solutions
was developed allowing for complete end
-
of
-
li
fe disassembly and reuse of building materials.
Structural system will consist of locally sourced timber connected by steel joints. Foundations
will be realized by means of chestnut wood piles driven into the ground. The employment of an
alternative housin
g system for dairy cows based entirely on cultivated pack will allow limiting
the use of cast
-
in
-
place concrete, which is largely employed in conventional dairy barns. The
cultivated pack needs a large space per cow leading the building to be particularly
extended. The
large covered area combined with the high snow load of the building site posed several
challenges. Accumulation of snow on the roof would increase dramatically the structural load
and therefore construction costs. Therefore, the building will
consist of several 12m
-
large
modules with 4m free space between them. Given the unusual shape of the barn and the limited
use of concrete for flooring, the development of efficient systems for livestock management
required the study of dedicated solutions
. A first module, already realized to collect useful
information for final design, is described
Poultry farming solutions for a sustainable development of marshlands areas of South Iraq
ArticleThe Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems of University of Florence
carried out cooperation projects in the South Iraq, funded by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Coop
eration, focused on the development of rural areas. All the proposed
interventions were designed taking into account some key points, such as the development of
sustainable farming systems, the protection of the environment, the empowerment of women role.
Among the main activities, a particular importance is given to the simple solutions for poultry
breeding that represents an important economic resource for many farmers and a source of food
for a large segment of the population. Therefore the main aim of t
he project was to define new
building solutions to apply in the area of marshlands. A mobile poultry shelter was designed and
built to meet the demand for meat and eggs from a typical rural family. This shelter was designed
to be used for extensive breedin
g, with animals free to graze outside during the day. A suitable
self
-
building methodology was applied to obtain results from farmers without specific skills for
wood construction thanks to which they learn the appropriate way to build poultry shelters. As
conclusion, poultry breeding can be spread in the area of marshlands using the simple self
-
building structures presented in the study
Effectiveness of communicative and educative strategies in chronic low back pain patients: A systematic review
Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of communicative and educative strategies on 1) patient's low back pain awareness/knowledge, 2) maladaptive behavior modification and 3) compliance with exercise in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: A systematic review was conducted. Searches were performed on 13 databases. Only randomized controlled trials enrolling patients 65 18 years of age were included. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration's tool and interrater agreement between authors for full-texts selection was evaluated with Cohen's Kappa. No meta-analysis was performed and qualitative analysis was conducted. Results: 24 randomized controlled trials which intervention included communicative and educative strategies were selected. Most of the studies were judged as low risk of bias and Cohen's Kappa was excellent ( = 0.822). Interventions addressed were cognitive behavioral therapy as unique treatment or combined with other treatments (multimodal interventions), coaching, mindfulness, pain science education, self-management, graded activity and graded exposure. Conclusions, practice implication: Patient's low back pain awareness/knowledge is still a grey area of literature. Pain science education, graded exposure and multimodal interventions are the most effective for behavior modification and compliance with exercise with benefits also in the long-term, while self-management, graded activity and coaching provide only short-term or no benefits
A survey on Italian compost dairy barns
Compost-bedded pack barns, generally known as compost dairy barns, are alternative housing systems for dairy cows. In these barns, the whole surface of the resting area is covered with a deep-bedded pack that is frequently stirred in order to incorporate fresh manure into the pack and to enhance the evaporation of water. Experiences with compost bedded pack barns for dairy cows are reported in literature from the USA, Israel, the Netherlands and Austria. The main advantages of these housing systems regard animal welfare and manure management. Since 2006, this housing system has been applied consistently in Italy. However, scientific knowledge about Italian compost barns is still lacking. This study aims at describing housing system, assessing producers’ satisfaction and measuring performance of dairy cows housed in compost bedded pack barns. Ten commercial dairy farms in northern Italy was involved in the study. All pens in each farm were surveyed to determine the surface of total available area, bedded area and pack depth. In order to investigate management practices, labor requirement, consumption of bedding materials and producers satisfaction, a questionnaire was submitted to each farm manager. The temperature of the bedded pack was measured in each farm during summer and winter. Moreover, data from Italian Breeder Association were collected for each herd over a period of one year (from September 2011 to September 2012). For the ten compost barns involved in the study the average total available area was 10.9 m2 per cow and the average pack area was 6.7 m2 per cow. The bedded pack was aerated 1.4 times per day. The most commonly used bedding material in these farms was dry sawdust. The consumption of bedding materials was 8.1 m3 per cow per year. A clear tendency to inverse correlation was found between the space per cow and the amount of bedding needed per cow (R2= 0.395; p-value=0.051). Operations related to pack management require 4.1 hours of labor per cow per year. Direct relationship was found between the bedded area space per cow and the annual labor required for pack management per cow (R2=0.505; p-value=0.048). Performance of cows housed in compost barns included in this study was encouraging and although some concerns about the cost of bedding, overall producers were satisfied with this housing system
Validation of a commercial collar‐based sensor for monitoring eating and ruminating behaviour of dairy cows
The use of sensor technologies to monitor cows’ behavior is becoming commonplace in the context of dairy production. This study aimed at validating a commercial collar-based sensor system, the AFICollar® (Afimilk, Kibbutz Afikim, Israel), designed to monitor dairy cattle feeding and ruminating behavior. Additionally, the performances of two versions of the software for behavior classification, the current software AFIfarm® 5.4 and the updated version AFIfarm® 5.5, were compared. The study involved twenty Holstein-Friesian cows fitted with the collars. To evaluate the sensor performance under different feeding scenarios, the animals were divided into four groups and fed three different types of feed (total mixed ration, long hay, animals allowed to graze). Recordings of hourly rumination and feeding time produced by the sensor were compared with visual observation by scan sampling at 1 minute intervals using Spearman correlation, concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), Bland–Altman plots and linear mixed models for assessing the precision and accuracy of the system. The analyses confirmed that the updated software version V5.5 produced better detection performance than the current V5.4. The updated software version produced high correlations between visual observations and data recorded by the sensor for both feeding (r = 0.85, CCC = 0.86) and rumination (r = 0.83, CCC = 0.86). However, the limits of agreement for both behaviors remained quite wide (feeding: −19.60 min/h, 17.46 min/h; rumination: −15.80 min/h, 15.00 min/h). Type of feed did not produce significant effects on the agreement between visual observations and sensor recordings. Overall, the results indicate that the system can provide farmers with adequately accurate data on feeding and rumination time, and can be used to support herd management decisions. Despite all this, the precision of the system remained relatively limited, and should be improved with further developments in the classification algorithm
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