Piglet mortality in organic herds

Productive performance of organic pig farms is lower compared to conventional farms, but only very few data exist. Better knowledge of the productivity of organic herds regarding litter size at birth, piglet losses around birth and during lactation, as well as housing and management conditions should help to identify critical points and hence to improve the situation. Therefore, a research project was initiated in 6 EU countries (Corepig). As part of this, farmers recorded production data during 3-11 months starting between January and July 2008. Farmers were asked to record the numbers of piglets born dead, born alive as well as the number of piglets at weaning. Taking into account the quality of the records and setting a threshold of ≥ 10 litters/farm, data from 38 farms in 4 countries (France: 14, Germany: 12, Austria: 7, Sweden: 5) were analyzed (mean: 69, 10 to 713 litters/farm). Most farmers were not present at farrowing, meaning the number of piglets that were classified as “born dead” was probably greatly overestimated. Therefore, mean total litter size at birth (born dead + born alive, MTLS), its standard deviation (SDLS), litter size at weaning and percentage of total losses (born dead + lactation losses, pLOSS) were calculated at the farm level. Overall, MTLS was 12.9 ± 1.6 piglets at birth, 9.2 ± 1.1 piglets at weaning and pLOSS was 26.7 ± 7.1 % with a lactation duration of 45.3 ± 5.9 days. Mortality of piglets increased with MTLS (2.1 ± 0.7% additional loss per piglet, p = 0.004) and with SDLS (3.9 ± 1.6% additional loss per unit of SDLS, mean ± SEM, P = 0.021). MTLS was correlated with SDLS (r = 0.44, p = 0.006). These data confirm the detrimental influence of large litter size at birth on piglet mortality. This is commonly observed in conventional pig production and related to a higher proportion of piglets with low birth weight and to increased competition for teats. High variability in litter size may exacerbate these problems, and in addition may be an indicator for other problems on the farm

Epidemiological study concerning the characteristics of organic pig farming in selected European countries

Interviews and on-farm assessments were conducted in a total of 101 organic pig farms in different European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden) to gain knowledge about farm management and health status of organic pigs in Europe. 66 farms kept at least one age group outdoors while 35 farms kept their pigs exclusively indoors, for the most part with a concrete outside run. Housing and feeding conditions were characterised by a large heterogeneity within and between European countries. On many farms, the feeding regimes seemed suboptimal, leaving ample room for easily feasible improvements. With respect to the health management, some farms made comprehensive use of the various options, whereas many farmers neglected the implementation of preventive measures, including appropriate hygiene and disinfection measures. On the majority of organic farms with indoor housing, the options for disinfection were hindered by the fact that many farms were not able to implement an all-in all-out concept. In correspondence with the large variation in the living conditions for pigs, also production data and mortality rates differed widely between organic pig farms. According to the estimation by the farmer concerning the occurrence of selected animal health problems, mortality of suckling piglets and weaners and weaning diarrhoea were named as the most relevant disease problems. Although dedicated to the same minimum standards, it can be concluded that organic pig farming does not provide the same living conditions or a homogenous outcome of animal health parameters but, like all systems, also depends on the quality of management. Differences in management practices, housing conditions, restrictions in the availability of resources (labour time, financial budget etc.), and a lack of feedback and control mechanism within the farm system appears to be a main reason for the substantial variation between farms

From ”Explainable AI” to ”Graspable AI”

Since the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), researchers have asked how intelligent computing systems could interact with and relate to their users and their surroundings, leading to debates around issues of biased AI systems, ML black-box, user trust, user’s perception of control over the system, and system’s transparency, to name a few. All of these issues are related to how humans interact with AI or ML systems, through an interface which uses different interaction modalities. Prior studies address these issues from a variety of perspectives, spanning from understanding and framing the problems through ethics and Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspectives to finding effective technical solutions to the problems. But what is shared among almost all those efforts is an assumption that if systems can explain the how and why of their predictions, people will have a better perception of control and therefore will trust such systems more, and even can correct their shortcomings. This research field has been called Explainable AI (XAI). In this studio, we take stock on prior efforts in this area; however, we focus on using Tangible and Embodied Interaction (TEI) as an interaction modality for understanding ML. We note that the affordances of physical forms and their behaviors potentially can not only contribute to the explainability of ML systems, but also can contribute to an open environment for criticism. This studio seeks to both critique explainable ML terminology and to map the opportunities that TEI can offer to the HCI for designing more sustainable, graspable and just intelligent systems.QC 20210526</p

Inälvsparasiter i betesmark och hos grisar i ekologiska besättningar

Utevistelse på åkermark ger grisar goda möjligheter till sysselsättning och rörelse. Bökandet i jorden och intag av växtdelar och kryp är ett djupt rotat beteende. För att kunna ge grisarna denna möjlighet och samtidigt hålla deras inälvsparasiter under kontroll behövs mer kunskap. Danska studier tyder på att om smågrisar får en mycket tidig infektion ger detta upphov till en hög och varaktig spolmask-börda, som även kan ge betydande ekonomiska konsekvenser. Dessutom tycks vissa parasiter kunna ackumuleras i jorden ju längre besättningen har haft utegrisar. Syftet med detta projekt var att kartlägga smittrycket från inälvsparasiter i mark som användes till grisarna på ekologiska gårdar, och att ställa smittrycket i relation till förekomsten av parasiter i träckprover från grisarna. Det långsiktiga målet var att öka kunskapen om vilka åtgärder som minskar smittrycket i marken och därmed förbättrar djurhälsa och djurvälfärd. Mängden ägg från inälvsparasiter i jordprover från grishagar och i träckprover från grisarna undersöktes på elva gårdar med ekologisk smågrisuppfödning. Dessutom kartlades de utvalda gårdarnas rutiner för inhysning och skötsel av grisarna liksom markanvändning, växtföljder, jordart och rotationen av grishagarna. Endast besättningar som var fullt omställda till ekologisk produktion enligt KRAVs regler, och hade minst 15 suggor, ingick i studien. Under april och maj 2008 samlades från varje gård jordprover från hagar som skulle användas till suggor med smågrisar respektive sinsuggor följande sommar. Dessutom togs prover från ytor som bedömdes ha varit mest använda till grisar, såsom permanenta rasthagar eller transportytor. Grisarnas parasitstatus undersöktes inom ramen för ett EU-nätverksprojekt (COREPIG). Träckprover samlades från 12-veckor gamla små-grisar, suggor och i förekommande fall även från slaktsvin under våren (mars-april) och hösten (augusti-september) 2008. De studerade gårdarna hade i genomsnitt haft ekologisk produktion i 8,6 år. På de flesta gårdarna var smittrycket lågt i mark som skulle användas till digivande suggor med smågrisar. Däremot fanns det mer parasitägg i jordprover från mark som skulle användas till sinsuggor och det var vanligt med transportytor, eller ibland hela hagar, som användes flera somrar i rad till sinsuggor. Sambandet mellan antalet parasitägg i jord där grisarna skulle släppas och i träckprov från grisar som sedan gått på marken var osäkert, speciellt då det gällde suggor. På marker med lågt smittryck hade ofta endast spridits stallgödsel från gris, men grisar hade inte vistats på marken. Det fanns dock även marker som tidigare använts till grisar, som kunde hålla en låg smittnivå. I dessa fall var det främst mark som använts enbart sommartid eller för många år sedan. Marker med högt smittryck var sådana som användes varje år, såsom hagar till sinsuggor, transportytor eller hagar i anslutning till stallar. De flesta användes till sinsuggor, men det förekom också att smågrisar gick i hagar eller på transportytor som användes varje år. På cirka hälften av gårdarna fanns det någon mark med högt smittryck där man inte planerat någon förändrad användning. Beträffande sådana marker rekommenderas att lantbrukarna förändrar sin markanvändning, för att undvika uppförökning av parasitsmitta

Knowledge synthesis: Animal health and welfare in organic pig production - Final Report COREPIG

This report reviews the available information on the welfare of pigs when maintained according to organic standards in Europe. It begins by overviewing the populations of organic pigs in different countries at the time of writing (2007), the organic standards which govern their management and the systems in which they are typically kept. It then reviews for each stage in the production cycle (sows, suckling piglets, weaned pigs and fattening pigs) the available literature on health and welfare problems which might be experienced by the animals and the hazards which might give rise to these problems. Finally the report reviews the methods current available for the measurement of pig health and welfare and the extent to which monitoring systems currently exist in different countries, or might be developed. The information gathered in this review formed the basis for the subsequent development of tools for use in a HACCP based management and surveillance system for organic pig herds. These tools will assist the organic pig farmer to prevent selected pig diseases and welfare problems by monitoring and controlling the risk factors. Further details can be found on the COREPIG project website www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/corepig.htm

Intercalibration of a concentration McMaster Technique between eight European laboratories

Prior to a European prevalence survey of intestinal parasites of organic pig herds it was decided to introduce one common technique for faecal egg counts and to compare its execution at all involved laboratories to ensure data compatibility. It was clearly shown that avoid confounding variation it is extremely important not only to use identical techniques but also to implement the technique in exactly the same way

Health status in organic pig herds in Europe

Introduction Organic pig production is still a small-scale produc-tion, achieving, however, increased interest by con-sumers who are concerned about the conventional production method. The EU-Regulation (EEC-No. 1804/1999) on organic livestock production, now replaced by EEC-No 834/2007, was introduced to provide a framework ensuring living conditions for organic livestock to be better than those in conven-tional systems and to harmonize the rules across member states. Scientifically based information on how and to what degree the EU-Regulation contrib¬utes to the objective of a high status of pig health in organic farming is scarce. Further information is needed to assess whether consumer expectations in organic pig production in Europe are met. MATERIAL AND METHODS An epidemiological study was performed on 101 organic sow herds in 6 European countries (Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Italy and France). 13 to 20 farms per country were assessed. On-farm data included a comprehensive interview with the herd manager in relation to housing conditions, feeding regime, data acquisition, cleaning and disinfection measures, medicine usage, culling reasons, vaccina¬tion protocols, etc.. Recorded livestock data included: liveborn and stillborn piglets/farrowing, weaned piglets/sow/year, piglet losses/farrowing, losses of weaned piglets, litters /sow lifetime, and the preva-lence of diseases according to the treatment records. Data from all countries were merged into one joint database and analysed statistically. Results Although dedicated to the same minimum standards, the farm structures were characterised by a huge heterogeneity. 67 farms were keeping their sows outdoors while 34 farms were indoors with outside runs. Group suckling was implemented on 52% of the farms. The degree of specialisation was compara¬tively low. About 40% of the farms had another eco¬nomically relevant livestock enterprise on the farm apart from keeping pigs. Farmers differed widely in their feeding regimes, in making use of phase feeding and diet calculations. Moreover, the farms varied in the cleaning management and in the implementation of disinfection measures. The study also revealed large differences in animal health management with respect to the use of quarantine, availability of hospi¬tal pens, presence of the farmer during farrowing, and regarding routine measures such as castration, teeth reduction, and iron supplementation of piglets. For 50 % of the farms the abattoirs provided feedback of pathological findings for slaughtered sows, and 80 % for fattening pigs. Huge differ-ences were detected in the perception of the farmers with regard to health problems on their farm and with respect to the availability of labo-ratory results. Mean mortality rates of piglets until and after weaning averaged 19.7 ± 9.7% and 4.9 ± 5.4% resp., showing clear differences between coun¬tries and farms. Mean values for the annual re¬placement rates of sows and litters per sow life-time were 32.4 ± 14.3% and 6.3 ± 2.3 resp. Ac-cording to the treatment records, metritis and mastitis appeared as the predominant diseases of the sows, nearly all treated with antibiotics, fol-lowed by cases of lameness and abscesses. In the case of suckling piglets, diarrhoea, arthritis and respiratory diseases were predominant. Also the weaned piglets suffered primarily from diarrhoea. Farms showed an incidence of 27.6 ± 34.3%. of piglets treated with antibiotics against diarrhoea. Conclusions The results indicated that in general the status of animal health in organic pig herds was compara¬ble to data found on conventional farms. Differ¬ences between farms appear to be greater than those between production methods. Obviously, the production method defined by standards does not provide a homogenous outcome with respect to the animal health status. Differences in man¬agement practices and in feedback and control mechanisms within the farm system might be the main reasons for substantial variation in the prevalence rates of diseases. Any improvements in organic pig production require the use of feed¬back mechanisms and a clear definition of the expected results with respect to the outcome of the farm system. Consequently, there is a need for a change in the paradigm from standard and resource oriented to a result and outcome ori¬ented approach. The implementation of a moni¬toring system including on farm clinical assess¬ment, abattoir data and review of treatment data, concepts to deal with potential problems (e.g. health planning strategies, HACCP protocols, etc.) and a definition of the expected results with respect to the output of the farm system might be a way forward for organic farming ensuring a high status of animal health and welfare

Föräldrars uppfattning av stöd från sjuksköterskor på en barnavdelning : En enkätstudie

Bakgrund: När ett barn blir sjukt påverkas även familjen av sjukdomen. Föräldrar till sjuka barn kan få ett förstärkt behov av stöd. Föräldrars sociala nätverk är främsta källan för stöd, men de sjuksköterskor som vårdar barnet kan vara viktiga för att ge föräldrarna kraft att ta hand om sitt sjuka barn. Familjecentrerad omvårdnad har visats vara effektiv när det gäller att vårda barn och familjer på sjukhus. Syfte: Att undersöka hur föräldrar till barn inlagda på en barnavdelning skattar stödet de får från sjuksköterskor. Metod: En enkätstudie genomfördes på en barnavdelning med ortopedisk, kirurgisk och medicinsk inriktning. Det isländska instrumentet ICE-FPSQ som är utformat för att skatta familjecentrerat stöd från sjuksköterskor användes. 75 föräldrar tillfrågades om deltagande, de 47 svar som inkom sammanställdes på ett deskriptivt sätt. Resultat: Alla som svarade på enkäten var föräldrar till det inneliggande barnet, 72,3% var kvinnor och 27,7% var män. Medelvärdet av skattningarna var 35,12 (min 14, max 70). Slutsats: Föräldrarna skattade det familjecentrerade stödet relativt lågt. Ytterligare studier är nödvändiga för att beskriva hur sjuksköterskorna jobbar på avdelningen samt vilket stöd föräldrar förväntar sig av dessa

"Strategisk handlingsplan i matematik" : Ett aktionsforskningsprojekt med fokus på dokumentation av SUM-elever inom vuxenutbildningen.

Elever vid vuxenutbildningen har rätt till stöd i form av extra anpassningar. Däremot finns det inga krav på dokumentation i form åtgärdsprogram. Hur arbetar man inom vuxenutbildningen med de elever som är i behov av utökat stöd i matematik? Avsikten med studien är att undersöka hur man kan fånga upp och dokumentera arbetet med elever i behov av utökat stöd i matematik vid vuxenutbildningen.   För att uppnå studiens syfte valdes aktionsforskning som metod och teori. Intervjuer, diskussioner och reflektion tillsammans med de undervisande lärarna har legat till grund för den cykliska processen och analysen enligt Kurt Lewins teori. I aktionerna utarbetades en strategisk handlingsplan, vilken slutligen bestod av elevenkäter, intervjuguide samt användandet av matematisk kartläggning. Utifrån det gjordes en strukturerad dokumentation av arbetet med extra anpassningar. Det utarbetade arbetssättet möjliggjorde för lärare, men även för rektor, att få en överblick av det arbete som görs och det gav förutsättningar att kunna följa upp och utvärdera arbetet med extra anpassningar. Därav kan den strategiska handlingsplanen ses som en viktig del i det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet vid vuxenutbildningen