Conventional Housing Systems Research Articles

Influence of organic and cage housing system on egg quality in laying hens

Abstract Most of the eggs for consumption are produced in a conventional housing system although the demand for organic eggs is increasing because consumers assume better nutritional characteristics. This study was conducted to compare the quality of organic eggs and enriched cage eggs. A total of 409 organic eggs and 385 eggs from hens housed in enriched cages were directly collected from 15 different farms, located in Spain and were analyzed within 4 days after laying. The differences in quality by removing the time bias that can be caused by marketing time were thus determined. All the hens were of three different lines, 47–50 weeks old and consumed commercial feed with the same nutritional composition. The quality traits evaluated were egg weight (EW g), egg shape index (SI), shell thickness (ST), shell percentage (SP), Haugh units (HU), dense albumen percentage (DAP), total albumen percentage (TAP), yolk color (YC), yolk percentage (YP), Roche scale (RS), moisture (M), ash content (AC), total protein (TP), total yolk carotenoids (TYC), total fat (TF), saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PFA). Estimates of differences were obtained by generalized least squares using housing system, genetic line and their interaction as factors. Significant differences were observed for EW (65.3 vs 62.9), SI (77.60 vs 76.10), HU (83.60 vs 81.80), TAP (66.5 vs 64.17), YC (3.11 vs 1.89), RS (11.79 vs 9.48), TP (9.99 vs 8.55), TYC (4.188 vs 2.650), SFA (32.20 vs 30.00) and MFA (53.40 vs 44.20) in favor of the enriched cage system. In the organic system, the quality parameters that had higher and significant values were ST (0.34 vs 0.32), SP (10.52 vs 9.41), YP (25.20 vs 24.30), AC (1.12 vs 0.93) and PFA (26.00 vs 14.00). Significant interactions between the housing system and the hen line followed the same pattern observed for fixed effects. Organic eggs were lighter, less rounded with better shell quality and therefore showed lower Haugh unit values and a lower albumen percentage. Total protein, total fat, and lipid profile were within the usual average values for commercial eggs, although the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are beneficial for consumers, was higher in organic eggs.

Alveolar echinococcosis in fattening pigs in a conventional housing system

In a conventional fattening farm in southern Germany, up to 100 % of the livers of individual slaughter groups were condemned due to parasitic lesions during 2022. Intensification of antiparasitic metaphylaxis with fenbendazole to control Ascaris suum in the herd was unsuccessful. A pathomorphologic examination of 6 livers from two slaughter groups revealed oligofocal fibrotic inflammation. Histologically, chronic granulomatous hepatitis with massive involvement of eosinophilic granulocytes and central parasitic structures of a helminth were detected. Examination of the liver lesions by PCR revealed evidence of Echinococcus (E.) multilocularis. To determine the source of introduction into the herd, fecal samples were collected from semi-feral domestic cats near the feed mixer and in the corridor of the barn. Parasitologically, cestode eggs were detected in the fecal samples. Genome fragments of E. multilocularis could not be amplified by PCR. In the present case, domestic cats were suspected as the most likely source of entry into the herd. Control measures were aimed at preventing parasite entry by therapy of the domestic cats with antiparasitics. Differentially, no other possible pathogens could be detected by PCR and bacteriological examination.

Effect of housing system and housing density on performance, viability, and gastrointestinal tract growth of broiler chicks during the first 2 wk of age

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of housing systems and housing densities on the performance and digestive tract growth of broiler chicks during the first 2 wk of age. A total of 3,600 Cobb500 day-old chicks were stocked at 4 densities (30, 60, 90, and 120 chicks/m2), and reared under 2 housing systems (conventional housing system and newly developed housing system), yielding a 2×4 factorial arrangement. The studied traits were performance, viability, and gastrointestinal tract development. The results indicated that housing systems and housing densities significantly (P < 0.001) affected the performance and GIT development of chicks. There were no significant interactions between housing system and housing density for body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion. The results also showed that the effects of housing density were age-dependent. That is, the higher the density, the lower the performance and digestive tract growth with advancing age. In conclusion, birds in the conventional system outperformed birds in the newly developed housing system, and further work is needed to improve the new housing system. To achieve the highest performance, digestive tract growth, and digesta content, a density of 30 chicks/m2 is recommended for chicks up to 14-days old.

Characterization of the eukaryotic microbial communities in the chicken ileum in cage-free and conventional commercial housing systems

The current shift from conventional cage (CC) hen housing facilities towards cage-free (CF) hen housing in the egg industry has left many questions regarding how level of fecal exposure and exposure to other hens may influence the hen intestinal microbiota. In a previous publication we reported differences in the bacterial ileal communities and ileal morphology between hens in CC and CF production environments at a single commercial site. Here, we present the first 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing-based characterization of the eukaryotic ileal microbiota of adult layer hens, and their associations with intestinal health parameters and the bacterial microbiota. DNA was extracted from the ileal digesta of hens (n=32 CC, n=48 CF) using the Qiagen Powerlyzer Powersoil kit, followed by amplification of the V9 region of the 18S rRNA gene. Paired end sequencing was performed with the Illumina MiSeq platform, and the resulting reads were processed according to the Mothur MiSeq protocol in Mothur v1.43.0. De novo operational taxonomic unit (OTU) clustering was performed in mothur with a 99% similarity threshold, and OTUs were taxonomically classified with the SILVA SSU v138 reference database. OTUs classified as vertebrate, plant, or arthropod were removed, resulting in 3,136,400 high quality reads and 1,370 OTUs. Associations between OTUs and intestinal parameters were calculated using PROC GLIMMIX. PERMANOVA over Bray-Curtis distances revealed differences between CC and CF eukaryotic ileal microbiota at the whole community level, but no OTUs were differentially abundant after correcting for false discovery (P > 0.05; q > 0.1). Kazachstania and Saccharomyces, closely related genera of yeast, represented 77.1% and 9.7% of sequences respectively. Two Kazachstania OTUs and 1 Saccharomycetaceae OTU were positively correlated with intestinal permeability (r2 ≥ 0.35). Eimeria accounted for 7.6% of sequences across all samples. Intriguingly, 15 OTUs classified as Eimeria were inversely associated with intestinal permeability (r2 ≤ -0.35), suggesting Eimeria may play a more complex role in the microbiota of healthy birds than has been observed in disease challenges.

Health-Based Welfare Indicators and Fear Reaction of Slower Growing Broiler Compared to Faster Growing Broiler Housed in Free Range and Conventional Deep Litter Housing Systems

ABSTRACT This study investigated the welfare of a slow-growing broiler with a commercially available fast-growing breed housed in a free-range and conventional deep litter housing system. There were four main groups (2 genotypes x 2 housing systems), and each main group consisted of 5 replicates. Ante-mortem and postmortem health-based welfare indicators wıth fear reactıons and distribution of severity of them in 200 male chicks (100 slow growing, 100 fast growing) were investigated. All welfare parameters investigated were found to be significantly different between both broiler genotypes. No significant differences were detected for all broiler welfare parameters between the two housing systems. There were significant genotype x housing system interactions for breast dirtiness and feather cover of the birds (P < 0.001). In conclusion, it can be said that slow-growing broilers express more health-based indicators of positive welfare, and they might be more suitable for free-range broiler meat production. Planning further studies especially in commercial conditions that take into account economic efficiency as well as animal welfare and growth performance would be very beneficial.

Views of Consumers, Farmers and Stakeholders on Alternative Dairy Cattle Housing Systems.

Simple SummarySustainable alternative housing systems for dairy cattle depend on being accepted by key categories like farmers, stakeholders, and consumers. Alongside tie-stall and cubicle housing systems, alternative free-walk systems (compost-bedded pack and artificial floor systems) are available today. This study aimed to determine and compare the acceptance of (alternative) housing systems and attitudes to certain aspects of housing systems for dairy cattle among Slovenian consumers, farmers, and stakeholders. They were asked online about their views on the most important aspects (animals, farmers, products, environment) of housing systems as well as the acceptance of four housing systems and related issues. The results reveal differences in attitude and acceptance among the main groups of respondents. Consumers, stakeholders, and conventional farmers preferred the artificial floor system, while organic farmers preferred the compost-bedded pack housing system. Consumers and organic farmers showed below-average scores for all aspects analyzed concerning animals, products, and the environment, whereas conventional farmers and stakeholders had shown above-average scores for aspects related to animals and the environment and negative attitudes to products. The findings suggest the need to tailor information about different housing systems to specific groups.Alternative housing systems for dairy cattle have recently emerged, such as compost-bedded packs and artificial floor ones. To determine their acceptability among categories of people with a connection to animal husbandry, this study aimed to identify and compare the acceptability of (alternative) housing systems and attitudes to aspects of housing systems for dairy cattle among Slovenian consumers, farmers, and stakeholders. Farmers (N = 306), consumers (N = 508), and stakeholders (N = 40) were interviewed about their views on the main aspects (animals, farmers, products, environment) of housing systems for dairy cattle, the acceptance of four housing systems, and important housing features. The results show that consumers, stakeholders, and conventional farmers preferred housing systems with an artificial floor, while organic farmers preferred a housing system with a compost-bedded pack. Consumers and organic farmers expressed the greatest acceptance of almost every aspect of the housing system, except for a sufficient income for farmers and a low workload. Conventional farmers and stakeholders hold similar views, except for the expectation that the animals have enough space to move around, the image of the landscape, and the animals’ health and wellbeing, where stakeholders showed more acceptance than conventional farmers. The results imply that systematically planned information aimed at different target categories is needed to increase the acceptance of (alternative) housing systems for cattle.

Morphological and molecular characterization of ticks infesting cattle and buffaloes in different agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh, India, and factors associated with high tick prevalence

ABSTRACT A study was carried out to characterize the hard tick species and risk factors associated with tick prevalence in bovines in Andhra Pradesh, India on 3720 animals (1942 cattle and 1778 water buffaloes) in 344 livestock farms covering the tropical wet and dry zone and the tropical semi-arid zone . Overall, 10,371 ticks were collected from 947 animals reared on 216 farms. Analysis of morphology, 16S r RNA, andCOI gene sequences identified four tick species, namely Haemaphysalis bispinosa, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (clade C), Hyalomma anatolicum, and Hyalomma isaaci. Haemaphysalis bispinosa was the predominant species in two zones, and the occurrence of Hy. anatolicum was restricted to the semi-arid zone. The overall prevalence of tick infestation was 25.5% and was 25.8% and 25.0% in cattle and buffaloes, respectively. The prevalence of tick infestation did not vary (P>0.05) between the two zones. The overall median tick burden per animal differed (P<0.01) between the two zones; but not among cattle and buffaloes. Age, sex, and breed (P<0.001) the overall prevalence of tick infestation. The conventional housing system, absence of rural poultry, soft floor, presence of a boundary wall, and rearing multiple ruminant species were observed to be potential risk factors associated with higher tick prevalence in livestock farms.

Animal-Based Factors Prior to Infection Predict Histological Disease Outcome in Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus- and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae-Infected Pigs.

A large variety of clinical manifestation in individual pigs occurs after infection with pathogens involved in porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). Some pigs are less prone to develop respiratory disease symptoms. The variation in clinical impact after infection and the recovery capacity of an individual animal are measures of its resilience. In this paper, we examined which ones of a range of animal-based factors (rectal temperature, body weight, skin lesion scores, behavior, natural antibody serum levels, serum levels of white blood cells, and type of T and granulocyte subsets) when measured prior to infection are related to disease severity. These animal-based factors and the interaction with housing regimen of the piglets (conventional or enriched) were modeled using linear regression to predict disease severity using a dataset acquired from a previous study using a well-established experimental coinfection model of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. Both PRRSV and A. pleuropneumoniae are often involved in PRDC. Histological lung lesion score of each animal was used as a measure for PRDC severity after infection. Prior to infection, higher serum levels of lymphocytes (CD3+), naïve T helper (CD3+CD4+CD8−), CD8+ (as well as higher relative levels of CD8+), and memory T helper (CD3+CD4+CD8+) cells and higher relative levels of granulocytes (CD172a) were related to reduced disease severity in both housing systems. Raised serum concentrations of natural IgM antibodies binding to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) were also related to reduced disease severity after infection. Increased levels of skin lesions at the central body part (after weaning and before infection) were related to increased disease severity in conventional housing systems only. High resisters showed a lower histological lung lesion score, which appeared unrelated to sex. Body temperature, behavior, and growth prior to infections were influenced by housing regimen but could not explain the variation in lung lesion scores after infection. Raised basal lymphocyte counts and lower skin lesion scores are related to reduced disease severity independent of or dependent on housing system, respectively. In conclusion, our study identifies intrinsic animal-based measures using linear regression analysis that predicts resilience to infections in pigs.

The Economics of Rabbit Farming: A Pilot Study on the Impact of Different Housing Systems.

Simple SummaryThe welfare of farmed rabbits is a growing concern for consumers, who are demanding animal-friendly housing systems. At the same time, it is important to understand the impact of such a system on the economic sustainability of this sector. Through a face-to-face interview, we collected data of structures, productivity, and costs from six farms using conventional or structurally enriched cages. Looking at the results, the enriched cage, in comparison with conventional housing systems, is both non-penalizing and economically sustainable. In addition, the adoption of a more animal-friendly housing system leads to a reduction of drugs cost. This result is opening the discussion on the opportunity to contribute to the reduction of antibiotic use, therefore pursuing an improvement of animal welfare. Due to the complexity of the topic, we believe that further studies on the economic sustainability of this sector are needed to confirm our results.This research evaluates the economic sustainability of rabbit farms using different housing systems—bicellular (BI), conventional dual-purpose (DP) and enriched cages designed according to the World Rabbit Science Association guidelines (WRSA)—through a field-based study involving six farms over the course of five years. The cages were compared based on three productivity indices expressed in kg of produced live weight/m2 and on eight cost indices expressed in EUR/kg of produced live weight. The results showed that WRSA significantly reduced the productivity index per walkable cage area in buildings and cages, thanks to the longer platform area included in the cage compared to the other systems. Concerning cost indexes, total variable costs were not different among housing systems, whereas significant differences were observed within costs items. As for the feed costs, DP underperforms compared to BI or WRSA (1.15 vs. 1.02 and 0.99 EUR/kg produced live weight); for drugs costs, BI was less competitive compared to DP and WRSA (0.12 vs. 0.06 and 0.05 EUR /kg). In conclusion, under the conditions of the present study, the economic results of farms that adopted housing systems designed to improve rabbit welfare, such as WRSA enriched systems, were economically sustainable and, comparable to conventional housing systems based on BI or DP cages, also provided a significant reduction in drug use in the tested farms. A comprehensive collection of data from more farms at a European level would be necessary to confirm these results on the economics of farms adopting alternative housing systems for rabbits.

Determination of static space requirements for finishing bulls based on image analysis

AbstractIn Europe, conventional housing systems for finishing bulls (Bos taurus) tend to consist of group pens with a high stocking density. Up until now there have been no regulations in place defining bulls’ space requirements, even although insufficient space allowance is considered to impair animal welfare. Our study aimed to measure the surface area that finishing bulls occupy in standing and lying positions. We observed 46 bulls on a German fattening farm. The animals from one pen were assigned to one of three weight classes (W1: &lt; 450 kg; W2:450-649 kg; W3: ≥ 650 kg), and two pens of each weight class were examined. For image recordings, a camera trap was installed above the pens. To analyse the covered surface, the recorded images (n = 242) were edited. Furthermore, the observed lying postures were differentiated in terms of lying position and stretched-out legs. On average, the areas covered by the bulls increased with class of bodyweight. A finishing bull covered up to 1.21 m2 in a standing position and up to 1.57 m2 in a lying position, the most space being needed in an outstretched position. The calculated values provide information only about the surface a finishing bull covered in different positions in the pen. In practice, additional dynamic and social space must be taken into account for recommendations on space requirements, in order to ensure adequate inter-individual distances, social interaction and characteristic behaviours to improve animal welfare.

Immunomodulatory responses in plectasin-supplemented broilers under tropical environmental conditions.

The present study was aimed to determine the immunomodulatory effects of dietary supplementation of the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) plectasin on broiler chickens. The experiment involved 300-day-old Ross chicks reared in a conventional housing system and subjected to ambient temperature and relative humidity. The birds were randomly allocated to five treatment groups: the non-supplemented negative control group (T1), enramycin-supplemented group (T2), and groups supplemented with varying doses of plectasin at 150 ppm, 300 ppm, and 450 ppm (T3, T4, and T5, respectively) from day 1 to 35. The results indicated that plectasin supplementation increased jejunal and ileal goblet cell (GC) counts, serum interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels at neonatal age, and serum immunoglobulin Y (IgY) titer on days 7, 21, 28, and 35. These findings confirmed that plectasin induces positive immunomodulatory responses by specifically enhancing gut mucosal barriers, early innate immunity, and humoral immune response. Specifically, supplementation at 150 ppm may be considered as the optimal dose for inclusion in broiler chicken feeds.

Comparison between cage and free-range egg production on microbial composition, diversity and the presence of Salmonella enterica

The microbial composition of the food production environment plays an important role in food safety and quality. This study employed both 16 S rRNA gene sequencing technology and culture-based techniques to investigate the bacterial microbiota of an egg production facility comprising of both free-range and conventional cage housing systems. The study also aimed to detect the presence of Salmonella enterica and determine whether its presence was positively or negatively associated with other taxa. Our findings revealed that microbiota profiles of free-range and cage houses differ considerably in relation to the relative abundance and diversity with a number of taxa unique to each system and to individual sampling sites within sheds. Core to each housing system were known inhabitants of the poultry gastrointestinal tracts, Romboutsia and Turicibacter, as well as common spoilage bacteria. Generally, free-range samples contained fewer taxa and were dominated by Staphylococcus equorum, differentiating them from the cage samples. Salmonella enterica was significantly associated with the presence of a taxa belonging to the Carnobacteriaceae family. The results of this study demonstrate that the diversity and composition of the microbiota is highly variable across egg layer housing systems, which could have implications for productivity, food safety and spoilage.

Investigation of Pig Activity Based on Video Data and Semi-Supervised Neural Networks

The activity level of pigs is an important stress indicator which can be associated to tail-biting, a major issue for animal welfare of domestic pigs in conventional housing systems. Although the consideration of the animal activity could be essential to detect tail-biting before an outbreak occurs, it is often manually assessed and therefore labor intense, cost intensive and impracticable on a commercial scale. Recent advances of semi- and unsupervised convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have made them to the state of art technology for detecting anomalous behavior patterns in a variety of complex scene environments. In this study we apply such a CNN for anomaly detection to identify varying levels of activity in a multi-pen problem setup. By applying a two-stage approach we first trained the CNN to detect anomalies in the form of extreme activity behavior. Second, we trained a classifier to categorize the detected anomaly scores by learning the potential activity range of each pen. We evaluated our framework by analyzing 82 manually rated videos and achieved a success rate of 91%. Furthermore, we compared our model with a motion history image (MHI) approach and a binary image approach using two benchmark data sets, i.e., the well established pedestrian data sets published by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and our pig data set. The results show the effectiveness of our framework, which can be applied without the need of a labor intense manual annotation process and can be utilized for the assessment of the pig activity in a variety of applications like early warning systems to detect changes in the state of health.

Can increased dietary fibre level and a single enrichment device reduce the risk of tail biting in undocked growing-finishing pigs in fully slatted systems?

This study evaluated the effectiveness of combined dietary and enrichment strategies to manage tail biting in pigs with intact tails in a conventional fully-slatted floor housing system. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was used. Pigs had either a high fibre (weaner 5.3% and finisher 11.6% of crude fibre) or standard fibre diet (weaner 3.7% and finisher 5.9% of crude fibre). In the weaner stage, pigs had either a spruce wooden post (supplied in a wall-mounted dispenser) or a rubber floor toy as a enrichment device, and in the finisher stage, they had either the same or alternate enrichment item. Six hundred and seventy-two pigs were assigned to 48 pens of 14 pigs and followed from weaning until slaughter. Individual tail lesion scores and pen level behaviours were directly recorded every 2 weeks. Twenty-six pens had tail biting outbreaks and 161 injured pigs needed removal for treatment. Pigs fed with the high fibre diet performed more tail biting (p < 0.05) and tended to have a worse tail damage scores than those fed the standard fibre diet (p = 0.08). Pigs which had the floor toy as weaners and wood as finishers tended to have fewer tail lesions in the finisher stage than their counterparts (p = 0.06). Pigs receiving the floor toy as enrichment interacted with the enrichment more frequently overall (p < 0.001) and performed fewer harmful behaviours in the weaner stage (p < 0.05). Overall, higher fibre in the diet in a relatively barren environment did not help reduce tail biting or tail lesions. Altering the fibre level in the pigs' diet and providing a single enrichment device to undocked pigs on fully slatted floors resulted in a high level of tail biting and a large proportion of pigs with partial tail amputation.

Effect of breed on growth performance and carcass quality attributes of apparently healthy male weanling rabbits under a conventional housing system

The present work was devised with an objective to assess growth performance and carcass quality attributes of male weanling rabbits of 5 different rabbit breeds (Dutch, New Zealand white rabbit, American black, wild, and dwarf brown) under a conventional housing system. Male weanling rabbits (n = 50; 10 per breed), weaned at about 4 weeks of age were studied for growth performance and carcass quality attributes at the 19th week of experimentation. The initial and slaughter weights of the animals were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) different for all breeds, with the highest values noticed in wild rabbits (940.1 ± 48.2 and 1971.0 ± 632.0 g) followed by New Zealand white rabbits (792.1 ± 35.0 and 1594.0 ± 469.0 g) respectively. A similar trend was noticed inslaughter weight and daily weight gain per animal. Wild rabbits had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher values for live weight, chilled carcass weight, reference carcass weight, and dressing?out percentage (2500 ± 676.1 g, 2070 ± 445.0 g, 67 ± 3.2%, and 48 ±1.9% respectively) as compared to their counterpart breeds. The results for mean values ofweight percentages of tissue showed that only the hind limb percentage and bone percentage were found to be significantly (P ≤ 0.05) different among the 5 study breeds. It is concluded that breed is the main determinant of growth performance and carcass quality attributes in rabbits. In order to attain increased slaughter weight, heavier genotypes (wild and New Zealand white) are recommended.

Effect of immuno-potentiating herbal agents on milk and haematological parameter of subclinical mastitis affected crossbred dairy cow

The main purpose of this trail was evaluate the efficacy of herbal ingredient for treatment of subclinical mastitis and to test out how these ingredients effect on milk quality and yield and also effect on haematological value. Total 48 cows were selected for this study kept in conventional housing system in university dairy farm Kanpur on the bases of California Mastitis Test and Somatic Cell Count. These were divided in to 6 groups. Each group consist 6 cows. Different type of herbal paste applied in udder every morning and evening for 10 days. Out of all herbal paste turmeric powder was the most efficient drug as 75% cows suffering from subclinical mastitis were recovered by treatment of each of them. Black pepper was lowest result recovered in this trail, only 37.5% cow was recovered. Cows suffering from subclinical mastitis showed a 62.5% recovery percentage when treated with lemon for ten days and 75 percent cows recovered from subclinical mastitis when treated with Garlic for ten days. Udder health status and milk quality can be enhanced with use of Garlic and Turmeric powder combination in cows.

An Investigation of Associations Between Management and Feather Damage in Canadian Laying Hens Housed in Furnished Cages.

Simple SummaryFeather damage due to feather pecking behaviour remains a serious welfare concern in flocks of egg-laying hens housed in large groups. A better understanding of the farm factors that contribute to feather damage is needed, especially as Canadian egg farming transitions away from conventional cage housing systems and into alternative, larger group systems. This study aimed to explore bird, housing, and management associations with feather damage in Canadian laying hens housed in furnished cage systems. Twenty-six laying hen farms housing birds in furnished cages were surveyed across the country, along with the scoring of feather condition of 50 hens from each flock. Factors found to have an influence on greater feather damage seen in flocks included increasing age, having all brown-feathered hens, the practice of midnight feeding, and hens not having access to a scratching area or additional foraging material. These results support existing evidence that feather damage is the result of multiple factors, with genetics and foraging opportunity being some of the most important. Further research is needed to test the effectiveness of related intervention strategies.Feather pecking is a continuous welfare challenge in the housing of egg-laying hens. Canada is currently making the transition from conventional cages to alternative housing systems. However, feather damage (FD) among laying hens due to feather pecking remains a welfare concern. An explorative approach was taken to assess bird, housing, and management associations with FD in Canadian laying hens housed in alternative systems. A questionnaire focused on housing and management practices was administered to 122 laying farms across Canada in autumn of 2017 (response rate of 52.5%), yielding information on a subset of 26 flocks housed in furnished cages. Additionally, a three-point feather cover scoring system was developed to estimate the prevalence of FD. Farmers assessed FD by sampling 50 birds per flock. Linear regression modeling was applied to explain FD as a function of 6 variables (out of an available 54). Of the 6 modeled variables, “increased age”, “brown feather colour”, “midnight feeding”, and “no scratch area” were associated with higher levels of FD at farm level (R2 = 0.77). The results indicated that FD resulting from feather pecking is a multifactorial problem, and supported existing evidence that FD increases as birds age. These results also suggested that “feather colour”, “midnight feeding”, and “access to (or lack of) a scratch area or additional substrate” play a role in FD prevalence in furnished cages.

Prophylactic Potential of Tri-sodium Citrate on Subclinical Mastitis in Cow in Different Housing System

The present research work was carried out to evaluate prophylactic potential of Tri-sodium citrate powder in subclinical mastitis in milking cows. The study involved twelve HF cross dairy cows in which each diagnosed with at least one subclinical mastitis quarter. The six (n=6) cows from conventional and six (n=6) cows from loose housing system with raised SCC were administered Tri-sodium citrate powder @ 30 mg/kg B.W. orally BID for five days. The SCC values of infected quarters were reduced significantly (P < 0.05) on 28th day after Tri-sodium citrate therapy as compared to value on day ‘O’ before therapy both in loose housing and conventional housing system. The percent efficacy in improvement of infected quarter after administration of Tri-sodium citrate powder in conventional and loose housing system was 63.63 % and 58.33 % respectively. Thus results indicated that tri-sodium citrate having prophylactic potential in controlling mastitis in cows in both conventional and loose housing system.

Pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) categorize pictures of human heads

Scientists as well as farmers are increasingly interested in the mental capacities of pigs. Recent research has revealed surprising cognitive abilities, such as episodic memory, intentional deception and even theory of mind. Still, our knowledge about perceptuo-cognitive abilities, especially in the visual domain, is lagging behind. In the few studies conducted so far pigs have failed to discriminate pictures of conspecifics, which contrasts with findings in other farm animals. From the perspective of human-animal relationship it would be especially interesting to know what and how pigs learn about humans, for instance, if they would learn to visually discriminate people. To address this question, we conducted an experiment with 33 free-ranging pigs that lived for almost two years in close relationship to humans. The task afforded to discriminate between two views of the heads (front and back) of 10 women presented on a computer screen. The computer-controlled training excluded the influence of human experimenters and any other cues than the visual ones. Altogether 31 subjects reached a high (>80%) and stable learning criterion within approximately 400 trials, with some pigs having accomplished this in less than half of the trials. This discrimination performance, which could not be achieved by using simple features like size, color or brightness, challenges the one of a previous study in which pigs failed to discriminate between only two pictures of conspecifics. A generalization test, in which the pigs were asked to spontaneously discriminate the two head views from further 16 women, corroborated this astonishing achievement. The average score of 84% correct responses suggests that the pigs had not simply stored the training pictures together with the respective contingency in their memory but have learned the task by open-ended categorization. A final set of tests with inverted and scrambled pictures and ones with missing facial parts aimed at determining which features of the stimuli the pigs used as discriminatory cues. At least for some pigs these features were face-specific or orientation-dependent, as changes of the facial parts (eyes or mouth) or of the orientation of the face were avoided. These findings revise some pessimistic conclusions drawn from previous studies and challenge the still dominant view about the poor visuo-cognitive abilities of pigs. The use and training of all senses and the fostering of their cognitive talents is likely a form of cognitive enrichment in conventional housing systems and a way of enhancing their welfare.

Assessing behavior in Aseel pullets under free-range, part-time free-range, and cage system during growing phase

The objective of this study was to explore the effects of free-range (FR), part-time free-range (PTFR), and cage system (CS) on behavioral repertoire in Lakha (LK), Mushki (MS), Peshawari (PW), and Sindhi (SN) varieties of Aseel chicken during the growing phase (9 to 18 wk of age). In total, 144 Aseel pullets were allotted to 12 treatment groups in a 3 × 4 (rearing system × Aseel variety) factorial arrangement, according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Each treatment group was replicated 3 times with 4 birds in each replicate (12 birds per treatment group). The pullets were randomly marked weekly for identification, and their behavior was observed through the focal animal sampling method. Time spent on different behavioral activities was recorded and converted to a percentage. The data were analyzed using 2-way ANOVA under a factorial arrangement using SAS 9.1, and the behavioral parameters were evaluated. The results indicated greater (P<0.05) sitting, standing, drinking, preening, and aggressiveness in CS; walking, running, and jumping in PTFR; and foraging and dustbathing in both FR and PTFR, whereas feather pecking was found to be reduced in FR compared with PTFR and CS. Among varieties, PW showed the least feeding/foraging and feather pecking behavior, and greater standing, running, and jumping behavior (P<0.05). However, SN spent less time in walking and preening, and more time in sitting, drinking, and aggressiveness. Dustbathing was found to be similar in all Aseel varieties (P = 0.135). In conclusion, the PTFR system could be suggested as a substitute for conventional housing systems because it better accommodates normal behavior in Aseel pullets.