Male pre- and post-pubertal castration effect on live weight, components of empty body weight, estimated nitrogen excretion and efficiency in Piemontese hypertrofic cattle

To evaluate the effect of sexual neutering and age of castration on empty body weight (EBW) components and estimated nitrogen excretion and efficiency, a trial was carried out on 3 groups of double-muscled Piemontese calves: early castrated (EC, 5th month of age), late castrated (LC, 12th month of age) and intact males (IM, control group). Animals were fed at the same energy and protein level and slaughtered at 18th month of age. Live and slaughtering performances and EBW components were recorded, whereas N excretion was calculated by difference between diet and weight gain N content. In live and slaughtering performances, IM showed higher final, carcass and total meat weight than EC and LC (P<0.01). In EBW components, IM showed higher blood and head weight than EC and LC (P<0.01 and 0.05 respectively), and differences were found between EC and LC for head weights (P<0.01). IM showed higher body crude protein (BCP) than EC and LC (P<0.01 and 0.05 respectively), but BCP/EBW ratio was higher only in IM than EC (P<0.05). Estimated N daily gain was higher in IM than EC and LC (P<0.01). Only LC showed higher excretion than IM (P<0.05), and N efficiency was higher in IM than EC and LC (P<0.05 and 0.01 respectively). In conclusion, for the Piemontese hypertrophied cattle castration significantly increases N excretion (+7%) and reduces N efficiency (-15%), leading to a lower level of sustainability

Effect of castration age on slaughtering performance of Piemontese male cattle

Calves castration represents an old and traditional practice to obtain animal work force, but for technical, economic and social reasons in the last half of the 20th century it was left. The recent renewal of Piemontese steers rearing in the breed's native diffusion area, for quality meat production (Biagini et al., 2001), has been spurred also for the interest in local typical dishes. Traditionally, in Piedmont calves were castrated before puberty (about 6 month of age), but now also later (12-14 month of age) to benefit by the bull higher growing rate

Effectiveness of carcass data collection in a cattle slaughterhouse

To verify the effectiveness of the application of the UE carcass classification in a cattle slaughterhouse, one year of registered data were collected and analysed in detail, to highlight the critical point and to improve the performance of the technical staff, avoiding mistakes in registration. One year of records (corresponding to 49,486 heads) were collected on animals (genetic type, age, sex, live weight) and carcasses (weight, dressing percentage, category, conformation, and fatness). Data were statistically analysed (mean, minimum and maximum value, and/or frequency distribution) to verify their adequacy and to highlight mistakes in registration. The obtained results confirm the need to improve data collection, especially those regarding birth date, live and carcass weight, last two influencing also dressing percentage. Anyway, if the results of paying more attention should be to slow the processing line it could be better to check the data before their official processing

Farm size and farmers environmental-friendly practices in livestock farming

Agriculture is among the major contributors to climate change, accounting for 24 percent of global CO2 emissions. Within the agricultural sector, livestock has a major role in greenhouse gas emissions. However, animal husbandry also affects the environment through nitrogen leaching to water tables from manure and slurry spread or stored on the soil. Both impacts can be diminished by appropriate practices, concerning the effluents storage and the modalities of their spreading on the soil. We investigate to what extent farmers adopt such practices and, more importantly, which are farm and farmers’ characteristics more conducive to the adoption of such practices. In particular, given the predominance of small farms in Italian agriculture, we assess the effect of farm size on the adoption of appropriate practices. To this purpose, we estimate ordered and binomial probit models of the adoption of virtuous practices from data of the 2010 Agricultural Census in Piedmont (Italy). The results suggest that, in general, larger farms are more likely to adopt virtuous practices, but the effect of farm size is nevertheless rather weak. Technical and cost issues linked to the physical conditions (location in hills and mountains) are apparently a relevant impediment to these practices

Technical Note: Year, season, and parity effect on weaning performance of the Carmagnola Grey Rabbit breed

To evaluate the main environmental factors in the productivity of Carmagnola Grey rabbits, an endangered breed indigenous to northern Italy, data collected over 8 years were analysed. Production data on the pure closed nucleus herd of the University of Turin were used. Effects of parity, season and age of weaning on the number of rabbits born alive and weaned, litter weight and individual average weight at weaning were studied. The following average performance rates over the 8 years period were determined: 8.1 live born and 7.2 weaned kits per litter and a litter weight at weaning of 7287 g or 1024 g individual weaning weight. Year and season both had a significant effect (P < 0.001) on all the traits studied as well as weaning age (P < 0.001).Lazzaroni, C.; Biagini, D.; Redaelli, V.; Luzi, F. (2012). Technical Note: Year, season, and parity effect on weaning performance of the Carmagnola Grey Rabbit breed. World Rabbit Science. 20(1):57-60. doi:10.4995/wrs.2012.1031SWORD576020

Le esternalità dell'agricoltura: un primo approccio alle problematiche della valutazione a scala locale

Working Paper ; n.128/1999- Indice #2- Introduzione #3- Verso un nuovo modello di intervento pubblico in agricoltura #4- Attività agricola ed esternalità #6- La valutazione delle esternalità #10- Elementi per una valutazione delle esternalità agricole a livello regionale #19- Conclusioni #2