Management factors affecting the use of pasture by table chickens in extensive production systems

Whether chickens will make proper use of pasture is a problem experienced by producers of free-range and organic chickens. The aims of this project are to identify husbandry techniques and aspects of system design that encourage good pasture use. Two studies have been conducted comprising a winter and a summer flock. The aim of the winter flock was to examine the effect of outdoor artificial shelter on pasture usage. This was done for female Ross 308 birds grown to day 56, and ISA 657 birds grown to day 81. In summer, ISA 657 birds were grown to day 81. Treatments were either standard or enriched brooding, with pasture only or enriched pasture. Standard brooding was in a controlled environment house until day 42. Enriched brooding was in naturally ventilated houses in which birds had sight of pasture from an early age and access from day 21. Enriched pasture included artificial shelter, with straw bales and a conifer “wigwam” used to provide natural shelter. Chickens may be encouraged to go outdoors by brooding in a less “controlled” environment than that used for intensive broilers, and by allowing access to pasture when young. However, mortality was higher. Conifer wigwams may offer a means for more even use of pasture and better distribution of droppings

Organic broilers in floorless pens on pasture

This thesis investigates different aspects of rearing broilers organically in floorless pens on pasture. The birds and pens were moved daily to fresh pasture. The interdisciplinary studies comprise the birds' growth performance and carcass quality, health, behaviour, leg condition and the birds’ effect on pasture. In the final study, on-farm diets were tested in a feeding experiment indoors. The data are based on four experiments carried out during 2000 to 2003. In 2000 and 2002, restricted-fed conventional broilers (ROSS 208) were reared in floorless pens on pasture and in control groups outdoors on straw. In 2001, two genotypes, ROSS 208 and the slow-growing ISA 657 were reared on three ground types, pasture, outdoors on straw and indoors on wood shavings with either an ad libitum or restricted feeding level. In 2003, a feeding experiment with slow-growing broilers fed on-farm diets in a choice feeding system was conducted indoors. Most birds were reared to 12 weeks of age, but ad libitum-fed ROSS birds were reared to 6 weeks. The experimental phase was from ca. 3 weeks to slaughter. The experiments indicate that under the given conditions - access to pasture does not offer sufficient protein and metabolizable energy to allow considerable feed savings in the farm enterprise (Paper I) - moving the floorless pens daily provides favourable conditions to prevent infections with Campylobacter and Eimeria in outdoor broilers (Paper II) - access to pasture as such appears to play no major role for the broilers' physical activity (Paper III) or leg condition (Paper IV) - broiler chickens on pasture can sustain white clover in a mixed grass/white clover pasture (Paper V) - with access to high-quality protein during the first three weeks there is a good potential to produce organic broiler meat with feed produced on-farm in northwestern Europe (Paper VI)

Demand for Pasture-Raised Livestock Products: Results from Michigan Retail Surveys

Pasture-raised livestock production offers opportunity for product differentiation and enhanced sustainability. Shopper surveys at three Michigan retail locations measured consumers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding pasture-raised livestock products, and willingness to pay for pasture-raised milk and beef. The shoppers associate pasture-raised products with attributes important to purchase decisions. The shoppers express willingness to pay, on average, about 35% more for pasture-raised milk and beef. Informational messages appear to have no effect on these responses. We suggest pasture-raised is a viable marketing strategy and recommend premium pricing strategies and promotion based on verifiable health benefits.animal welfare, consumer demand, pasture-raised livestock products, sustainability, Tobit, willingness to pay, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Agricultural land use in Danish organic pig production

In Denmark the organic sows farrow outdoor on pasture (picture 1) and the gestation sows are outdoor from 15 April to 1 November on pasture (picture 2). Some farmers also keep their weaned piglets on outdoor pasture (picture 3). In the project pEcosystem data from five herds have delivered their crop plan for 2016. This gives unique information on the land use in Danish organic pig production

Habitat and seasonal effects on blowfly ecology in possum carcasses in the Manawatu : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ecology at Massey University

Flies were trapped on Keeble farm and in Keeble forest reserve between May 1992 to February 1993. Fewer Calliphoridae were trapped in pasture during summer than in autumn or winter and different fly species showed differing preferences for bush or pasture at different times of the year. More flies were trapped around the bush margin than in either bush or pasture during spring and summer. In pasture the most numerous calliphorid trapped was Calliphora stygia (Fabricius, 1781), whereas in bush during summer Calliphora hilli Patton, 1925 was the predominant species. Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) was never trapped in bush. Decaying possum carcases were examined in bush and pasture between February 1992 and February 1993. The number of maggots that left these carcases was affected by the time of the year and whether the carcases were in bush or pasture. More maggots left bush located possum carcases during spring and summer while more maggots left possum carcases in pasture during autumn and winter. Decay rates were most rapid during spring and summer. Temperatures were warm enough for adult fly activity during winter but the possum carcases decayed much slower, especially in bush. C, stygia and Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 were generally the first species of maggot to leave possum carcases and they were the only species present throughout the year in both habitats. L. sericata and Chrysomya ruficacies (Macquart, 1843) maggots were restricted to possum carcases in pasture during spring and summer while Calliphoroides antennaris (Hutton, 1881) was restricted to possum carcases in bush. Hydrotaea rostrata Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 was the only species restricted to summer. In spring 1992, 3400 flies emerged from a 2.5 kg possum carcase placed in pasture and 4200 flies emerged from a 3.1 kg possum carcase placed in bush. Estimated emergence success of adult flies was 22.0% in pasture and 20.2% in bush. This was l5% lower on average than the emergence level of comparable maggots raised in the laboratory. Flies began emerging in the bush l0 days after those in pasture. L. sericata was restricted to pasture and C. antennatis was restricted to bush. Overall the major flystrike species to emerge were C. stygia and L. sericata. C. stygia made stygia made up 46% of the total number of flies that emerged in pasture and 78% of those in bush, while L. sericata comprised l5.5% of the total number of flies that emerged in pasture. The emergence success of field-collected maggots in the laboratory was significantly correlated with the estimated average total number of maggots that left the carcases in the field. Maggots showed the highest emergence success in winter when larval competition in the carcase was lowest. The temperature of a possum carcase containing fly maggots in bush reached 19.7° C during spring 1992 whereas the temperature exceeded 35°C on occasions in another carcase in pasture at the same time. Proportionally fewer maggots emerged from the possum carcase in pasture possibly because the high temperatures killed many maggots, especially those of C. stygia. Maggots and bacterial decay both elevated carcase temperatures above ambient. Bacteria raised the temperature by about 2°C whereas maggots raised the temperature by 18.3°C to 26°C above ambient. The carcase temperature significantly affected the number of maggots that left the possum carcases, and the number of maggots that left was directly related to the total maggot biomass that left the carcase. A minimum of 24% to 26% of. the fresh weight of the possum carcases was converted to maggot weight

The nutrition and growth of lambs reared artificially with or without meal : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Animal Science at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand.

Content removed from thesis due to copyright reasons: figure 1.1 (page 14). FAO (2011) Rearing young ruminants on milk replacers and starter feeds, Rome, FAO Animal Production and Health Manual No. 13. http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2439e/i2439e00.pdf ; figure 1.2 (page 24). Lane, M., Baldwin, R. L. & Jesse, B. (2000) Sheep rumen metabolic development in response to age and dietary treatments. Journal of Animal Science, 78, 1990-1996. https://www.animalsciencepublications.org/publications/jas/articles/78/7/1990 ; figure 1.3 (page 34). Bimczok, D., Rohl, F. W. & Ganter, M. (2005) Evaluation of lamb performance and costs in motherless rearing of German Grey Heath sheep under field conditions using automatic feeding systems. Small Ruminant Research, 60(3), 255-265. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921448805000027Artificial rearing is routinely used in large-scale dairy sheep farms. One approach is to offer milk replacer (MR) and meal ad libitum to lambs. The aim was to evaluate the growth of female lambs in the first 12 weeks of rearing with (M) and without (NM) grain-based meal access (n=30/group) during four feeding periods. In period 1 (week 0-3), lambs were offered MR and meal ad libitum, and in period 2 (week 4-5) were transitioned outdoors onto pasture with continued access to MR and meal. Lambs were weaned off MR in period 3 (week 6-10), and meal in period 4 (week 10-12). The NM lambs received identical management, but meal was excluded. A treatment-by-time interaction was found whereby NM lambs had lower average daily gain (ADG) (P0.05), and higher ADG in period 4 (157±18 vs. -55±18 g/d, P<0.05) than M lambs. These results indicate that when lambs fed MR ad libitum are offered unrestricted access to good-quality pasture before weaning, meal may not be required to achieve a similar live weight at 12 weeks of age. Data from the aforementioned experiment were further investigated by week to allow investigations of the relationship between nutrient intake and growth, describe variation in ADG in relation to environmental and feeding transitions, and to estimate pasture intakes, which were not measured. The different feeding transitions, nutrient intakes, and feeds were most likely causing the differences in ADG that occurred between treatment groups and weeks. The greatest variation in ADG of lambs occurred in the M lambs after meal weaning, which was likely due to a poor adaption to a pasture-only diet. Pasture intakes were estimated by calculating lamb requirements for maintenance and growth from actual ADG and live-weight measurements, assuming that pasture intake made up the difference between actual intakes and theoretical intakes. It was found there were significant differences in estimated pasture intakes between M and NM lambs (P<0.0001) and intakes changed over weeks. In weeks seven, eight, and nine, M lambs were estimated to not consume any pasture, due to a high intake of meal, to achieve the observed growth rates. However, NM lambs consumed pasture over these weeks as pasture was their only feed source. These results allow speculation that pasture intake was very low in M lambs before meal was removed. It has been previously reported that high meal intakes when combined with low roughage intake can negatively impact rumen health and development, and transitioning from high meal to high roughage diets requires alterations in the ruminal microbe population and fermentation. The estimated low pasture intake before meal weaning, combined with the high meal intake recorded, may have contributed to the growth check that occurred once meal was removed, as lambs required a period to adapt to the pasture diet, as their rumen underwent the changes associated with transitioning between these diets. Further investigation into differences in pasture intake between lambs reared with and without meal, and more evidence as to what caused the growth check after meal weaning may allow further optimisation of different lamb-rearing systems

Pasture Productivity Trial

Pasture is an essential component of feed for dairy cattle on organic farms. Productivity of pastures is essential to ensure the cattle have a plentiful source of high quality feed during the entire grazing season. Optimal management of pastures should include animal, plant, and soil factors. This project aims to identify weak links in the pasture system and evaluate the impact of adopting new strategies to overcome barriers to productivity. In this case, soil fertility and species diversity were identified as the weak links to productivity