Effects of axial and ceiling fans on environmental conditions, performance and rumination in beef cattle during the early fattening period

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of two air stirring systems (ceiling fans vs. axial fans) on environment, performance, rumination and activity of beef cattle during the first period after the arrival to the fattening unit. One group of 106 charolais bulls was raised from August to October in a roofed, loose housing facility with straw bedding. Animals were randomly assigned to pens equipped with one of two types of fans: ceiling fans and axial fans. The trial lasted 70 days, and was divided into 3 periods. In the first and third periods fans were in operation, whereas in the second they were switched off. Animals were evaluated for average daily weight gain, cleanliness, dry matter intake, rumination time, activity level and health condition. The temperature-humidity index and the comprehensive climate index were continuously calculated and pens were periodically checked for the dry matter of the bedding. The average temperature-humidity index was lower in the third period (65.5) compared to the first (74.4) and second (75.3) periods (P < 0.001), but was not affected by the air stirring system, while on the contrary the comprehensive climate index was higher in AF than in CF during the first period (27.1 vs. 24.9 °C; P < 0.05). Ceiling fans led to higher dry matter of the bedding in the first (30.6 vs. 45.1%; P < 0.01), second (29.4 vs. 34.3%; P < 0.05) and third periods (22.2 vs. 31.3%; P < 0.05) and to cleaner bulls at the end of the trial. Animals raised with ceiling fans showed higher average daily weight gain (1.20 vs. 1.36 kg/day; P = 0.039), higher daily rumination time in the first period (431 vs. 475 m; P < 0.01) and patterns of rumination and activity compatible with a lower level of heat stress. Based on these results, it appears that ceiling fans are promising tools to be used to reduce heat stress and optimize performance of beef cattle

use of rumination and activity data as health status and performance indicators in beef cattle during the early fattening period

Abstract The aim of this study was to measure the level of activity and rumination in young bulls and to assess whether these data can be used as indicators of health status and average daily weight gain (ADG). Two groups of animals (period 1: n = 108 animals; period 2: n = 106 animals) were fitted with sensors to measure daily activity and rumination, were weighed on arrival and at the end of the trial (70 days) and were checked twice daily to verify their health condition. Any clinical signs and therapies were recorded. The dishomogeneity index of rumination (DR), and the daily dishomogeneity indices of activity (DDA) and rumination (DDR), were calculated. Bulls had an ADG of 1.42 ± 0.38 kg/day and showed an average duration of daily rumination of 404 ± 63 min and an average activity of 474 ± 46 bits, respectively. Animals characterised by low ADG had lower values of minimum daily rumination ( P = 0.01) and DDA ( P 0.001), and a greater rumination range ( P = 0.007) and DR ( P = 0.003). Bovine respiratory disease and lameness were detected 31 and five times, respectively; among affected animals, the average daily activity, rumination and DDA were lower ( P 0.05) at 3–6 days before the onset of visible clinical signs, whereas DDR increased compared to the values when individuals were apparently healthy. The use of individual sensors appears promising for the early diagnosis of disease in beef cattle and for improving herd management

Gestione sanitaria ed incidenza delle principali patologie nell'allevamento del vitellone da carne.

In questo lavoro di tesi abbiamo monitorato l'incidenza delle principali patologie in una stalla sociale dell' AZOVE, situata in Veneto. Abbiamo inoltre cercato di correlare i risultati con l'andamento di temperatura ed umidità, a sua volta monitorate in azienda e con parametri strutturali e gestionali dell'azienda

Effect of different ventilation systems on beef cattle during the early fattening period

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the ventila tion system on the environment and the performance of beef cattle during the early fattening period. It was conducted on one group (n\ubc106) of young Charolais bulls from the first of August to the 9th of October. Animals were raised in a roofed, loose housing facility with straw bedding. The day after their arrival bulls (429 \ub1 24 kg) were grouped according to weight in 10 pens. Five pens were equipped with 2 ceiling fans (CF), whereas the other 5 had 2 horizontal fans (HF). The pens with different ventilation were separated by an empty pen with a windbreak. The trial lasted 70 days and it was divided into 3 periods. In the first and in the third periods all the fans were in operation, whereas in the second period they were switched off to see the effect of the ventila tion on the animals and on the environment. In order to measure the average daily weight gain (ADG) and the effect of ventilation on the cleanliness of animals, at the beginning and at the end of the trial the animals were weighed and evaluated for their body surface covered in manure: from 1 (75%). The temperature-humidity index (THI) was continuously measured in CF and HF pens and outside the facility. Each pen was periodically checked for the dry matter of the bedding (DMB). Data on ADG were subjected to ANOVA using the ventilation system as a fixed effect, whereas cleanliness data were subjected to the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test. Data on THI and on DMB were subjected to ANOVA using the combined effect of period and ventilation system. Period significantly affected THI (74.4 vs 75.2 vs 65.5, p<.001) that was the lowest in period 3, whereas THI was not significantly different between CF and HF. CF maintained a higher DMB (30.6 vs 45.1% ww; p<.001 and 22.2 vs 31.3% ww; p\ubc.002) in periods 1 and 3, respectively. Bulls raised with the CF ventilation system not only remained cleaner, increasing their degree of dirtiness of only 1.16 points compared to 3 points of the others (p<.001), but they showed also a significantly higher ADG (1.20 vs 1.36 kg/day; p\ubc.039) compared to animals raised with HF. These results indicate that CF help to improve the environmental conditions and the animal performance in hot weather conditions com pared to the horizontal ventilation systems, and that the THI is not always an appropriate index to predict the effect of temperature and humidity on animal heat stress

Rumination and activity data during beef cattle conditioning period

Precision farming requires the collection of detailed data on feed, environmental conditions, physiological parameters, activity and performance of the animals throughout the production cycle. For some years there have been some devices which make possible some measurements on single animals, such as activity level and rumination time. While these tools are widespread in dairy farms, their application in the beef sector is still limited. The aim of this study was to measure the level of activity (from 0 to 253 every 2 h) and daily rumination during the conditioning period of young bulls and to check whether these data can be used as indicators in predicting weight gain and in early detection of diseases. The study was conducted on 108 young bulls coming from France, with an average age of 390\ub149 days and an average weight of 453\ub121 kg. Upon arrival in the farm the animals were weighed and fitted with SCR collars (HRLDn Tag; SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel). Animals were checked daily to verify their health condition and the right position of the collar. Any symptoms and therapies have been regularly recorded. The animals were raised in 11 pens for 70 days in loose housing on deep litter and were weighted at the end of the conditioning period. Data on rumination and activity were recorded by collars every 2 hours and then summarized as values of total daily rumination and activity. As regard to activity and rumination data, statistical descriptors and some indices of disomogeneity were also calculated. After checking for normality, Perason\u2019s correlation coefficients were assessed between average daily gain (ADG) and activity and rumination variables. Data were submitted to one-way ANOVA according to the fixed effect of ADG (3 levels: low, LWG, medium, MWG, and high, HWG). Animals on the whole were healthy, in fact only two had fever, 16 suffered of sporadic cough and 14 showed nasal discharge. The animals had an average daily gain of 1.56\ub10.33 kg/day (0.68 - 2.33). The animals showed an average level of daily rumination and activity equal to 366\ub178 minutes and 481\ub188, respectively. Daily rumination and activity increased gradually up to three weeks after the arrival (from 336 to 413 minutes and from 427 to 493, respectively) and then decreased gradually over time, probably because of the reduction of fiber in the ration. Significant correlations with ADG were found for some variables. Among them there were minimum daily rumination and the rumination disomogeneity index, but r values were very low: 0.25 (P=0.009) and -0.25 (P=0.008), respectively. However some parameters were found to be significantly different among ADG categories. Among them the minimum value of daily rumination (DMR) and the rumination range (RR), for LDG, MDG and HDG categories were 142, 170, 197minutes (P=0.0184) and (366, 336, 315 minutes (P=0.045), respectively. Although there is a great individual and daily variation in activity and rumination, such parameters promise to be useful in daily growth forecasting and in recognition of alterations of the health status