Health Of Farm Animals Research Articles

Methodology for assessing the impact of lead on farm animals under chronic intake with the ration

The methodology for assessing the impact of lead on farm animals under chronic intake with the ration is based on the lead metabolism and mechanism of biological action. When assessing the impact of lead, the environmental and epizootic situations, as well as the health of farm animals at different levels of biological organization: cell – organ – organism – population are studied. According to the results of environmental and epizootic studies the acting and concomitant factors, the scope of pollution, levels of contamination of soil, drinking water and feeds, the duration of lead intake with the ration into farm animal are determined. Under assessment of the animals health, along with the biomarkers “exposure” and “effect”, generally established clinical, hematological and biochemical indicators are determined. If necessary, the morphological state of organs and tissues (liver, kidneys, spleen, bone marrow, heart, lungs) is studied. The presented methodology will allow us to more correctly assessing the impact of lead on farm animals in environmentally disadvantaged regions.

Clinical, MRI, and histopathological findings of congenital focal diplomyelia at the level of L4 in a female crossbred calf

BackgroundThis case report describes the clinical signs of a calf with focal diplomyelia at the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images and histological findings of the affected spinal cord are included in this case report. This case differs from previously reported cases in terms of localization and minimal extent of the congenital anomaly, clinical symptoms and findings during further examinations.Case presentationThe calf was presented to the Farm Animal Health clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, with an abnormal, stiff, ‘bunny-hop’ gait of the pelvic limbs. Prominent clinical findings included general proprioceptive ataxia with paraparesis, pathological spinal reflexes of the pelvic limbs and pollakiuria. MRI revealed a focal dilated central canal, and mid-sagittal T2 hyperintense band in the dorsal part of the spinal cord at the level of the third to fourth lumbar vertebra. By means of histology, the calf was diagnosed with focal diplomyelia at the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra, a rare congenital malformation of the spinal cord. The calf tested positive for Schmallenberg virus antibodies, however this is not considered to be part of the pathogenesis of the diplomyelia.ConclusionsThis case report adds value to future clinical practice, as it provides a clear description of focal diplomyelia as a previously unreported lesion and details its diagnosis using advanced imaging and histology. This type of lesion should be included in the differential diagnoses when a calf is presented with a general proprioceptive ataxia of the hind limbs. In particular, a ‘bunny-hop’ gait of the pelvic limbs is thought to be a specific clinical symptom of diplomyelia. This case report is of clinical and scientific importance as it demonstrates the possibility of a focal microscopic diplomyelia, which would not be evident by gross examination alone, as a cause of hind-limb ataxia. The aetiology of diplomyelia in calves remains unclear.

Veterinary Diagnostic Practice and the Use of Rapid Tests in Antimicrobial Stewardship on UK Livestock Farms.

In this paper we consider the shifting role, practice and context of veterinary diagnosis in addressing concerns over what is, in the context of the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, considered unnecessary or excessive antimicrobial medicine use in UK livestock farms. With increasing policy and regulatory interest in diagnostic practices and technologies, coupled with an expanding focus on the development and deployment of new rapid and point-of-care on-farm diagnostic testing, this paper investigates current diagnostic practices amongst veterinarians working on dairy, pig and poultry farms in Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) and, more specifically, veterinarians' use and perceptions of new and emerging rapid and point-of-care diagnostic tests. Drawing on a series of 30 semi-structured interviews with farm animal veterinary professionals across the three sectors, this paper examines the manner in which such tests are both used and anticipated in clinical farm animal veterinary practice and the possible impact rapid test technologies might have on broader farm animal health management and disease control. Analysis of the transcribed interviews reveals a number of complexities around the use of rapid and point-of-care diagnostic tests. The relative rapidity and simplification of such tests, facilitating immediate treatment responses, is held in balance against both the accuracy and the more detailed and documented procedures of established laboratory testing routes. In situations of multifaceted on-farm etiologies, respondents maintained that rapid tests may offer restricted diagnostic capabilities, though in other situations they were found to offer ready confirmation of disease presence. A third complexity arising from the growth of rapid and point-of-care testing and revealed in this study relates to the shifting distribution of responsibilities in animal health care within contemporary food chains. The growing availability of rapid and point-of-care tests effectively diversifies the range of diagnostic actors with consequences for the flow of diagnostic and disease information. The veterinarians in this study identified areas where new rapid and point-of-care tests would be of particular value to them in their clinical practice particularly in addressing concerns over inappropriate antimicrobial use in animal treatment. However, despite the considerable policy advocacy on rapid and point-of-care tests as key tools in shifting diagnostic practice and reducing unnecessary antimicrobial use, veterinarians in this study, while recognizing the potential future role of such tools and technologies, nonetheless viewed diagnostic practice as a far more complex process for which rapid tests might constitute only a part.

Use of Integrative Interactomics for Improvement of Farm Animal Health and Welfare: An Example with Fescue Toxicosis.

Rapid scientific advances are increasing our understanding of the way complex biological interactions integrate to maintain homeostatic balance and how seemingly small, localized perturbations can lead to systemic effects. The ‘omics movement, alongside increased throughput resulting from statistical and computational advances, has transformed our understanding of disease mechanisms and the multi-dimensional interaction between environmental stressors and host physiology through data integration into multi-dimensional analyses, i.e., integrative interactomics. This review focuses on the use of high-throughput technologies in farm animal research, including health- and toxicology-related papers. Although limited, we highlight recent animal agriculture-centered reports from the integrative multi-‘omics movement. We provide an example with fescue toxicosis, an economically costly disease affecting grazing livestock, and describe how integrative interactomics can be applied to a disease with a complex pathophysiology in the pursuit of novel treatment and management approaches. We outline how ‘omics techniques have been used thus far to understand fescue toxicosis pathophysiology, lay out a framework for the fescue toxicosis integrome, identify some challenges we foresee, and offer possible means for addressing these challenges. Finally, we briefly discuss how the example with fescue toxicosis could be used for other agriculturally important animal health and welfare problems.

Selection for Favorable Health Traits: A Potential Approach to Cope with Diseases in Farm Animals.

Simple SummaryThe losses caused by the outbreak of diseases are disastrous for the animal farming industries. There is an urgent need for an efficient, economical, and permanent disease control method to cope with the adverse effects of diseases in farm animals. In this review, we have proposed that genetic/genomic selection for animals with favorable health traits provide potential methods to eliminate the adverse influences of diseases in farm animals. It is undeniable that the traditional methods for disease control (e.g., vaccination, treatment, and eradication strategy) and several other rising disease control and detection methods (e.g., genome editing, biosensor, and probiotics) are contributing to the prevention of diseases from farm animals, curing infected animals, and detecting sick individuals; however, the limitations and deficiencies of these methods cannot be ignored. Although genetic/genomic selection solutions are facing some challenges, the developments of selection-associated techniques (e.g., high throughput phenotyping and sequencing, and generation of big data) and the advantages of selection over the other disease control methods can provide animal farming industries the ability to cope with the issues caused by diseases through breeding for health traits.Disease is a global problem for animal farming industries causing tremendous economic losses (>USD 220 billion over the last decade) and serious animal welfare issues. The limitations and deficiencies of current non-selection disease control methods (e.g., vaccination, treatment, eradication strategy, genome editing, and probiotics) make it difficult to effectively, economically, and permanently eliminate the adverse influences of disease in the farm animals. These limitations and deficiencies drive animal breeders to be more concerned and committed to dealing with health problems in farm animals by selecting animals with favorable health traits. Both genetic selection and genomic selection contribute to improving the health of farm animals by selecting certain health traits (e.g., disease tolerance, disease resistance, and immune response), although both of them face some challenges. The objective of this review was to comprehensively review the potential of selecting health traits in coping with issues caused by diseases in farm animals. Within this review, we highlighted that selecting health traits can be applied as a method of disease control to help animal agriculture industries to cope with the adverse influences caused by diseases in farm animals. Certainly, the genetic/genomic selection solution cannot solve all the disease problems in farm animals. Therefore, management, vaccination, culling, medical treatment, and other measures must accompany selection solution to reduce the adverse impact of farm animal diseases on profitability and animal welfare.

Research advances on the beneficial effects of plant polyphenols on intestinal health in farm animals

Intestinal diseases cause huge economic losses in farm animals, and the gut health of livestock and poultry is of great significance for livestock and poultry breeding. The traditional treatment of livestock and poultry involved large-scale use of antibiotics and led to antibiotic abuse. The replacement of antibiotics is an industrial demand, and plant polyphenols, as one of the non-toxic side effects and residues of antibiotics, have wide applications in livestock and poultry production and diseases. As a non-traditional nutrient with many advantages, plant polyphenols have great potential and great research value. This article summarizes research advances on the beneficial effects of plant polyphenols on intestinal health in farm animals from three aspects: the application of plant polyphenols as antibiotic substitutes in livestock and poultry production, the protective effects of plant polyphenols on the intestinal tract of livestock and poultry, and the protective mechanism.

Automated recognition of postures and drinking behaviour for the detection of compromised health in pigs

Changes in pig behaviours are a useful aid in detecting early signs of compromised health and welfare. In commercial settings, automatic detection of pig behaviours through visual imaging remains a challenge due to farm demanding conditions, e.g., occlusion of one pig from another. Here, two deep learning-based detector methods were developed to identify pig postures and drinking behaviours of group-housed pigs. We first tested the system ability to detect changes in these measures at group-level during routine management. We then demonstrated the ability of our automated methods to identify behaviours of individual animals with a mean average precision of 0.989 pm 0.009, under a variety of settings. When the pig feeding regime was disrupted, we automatically detected the expected deviations from the daily feeding routine in standing, lateral lying and drinking behaviours. These experiments demonstrate that the method is capable of robustly and accurately monitoring individual pig behaviours under commercial conditions, without the need for additional sensors or individual pig identification, hence providing a scalable technology to improve the health and well-being of farm animals. The method has the potential to transform how livestock are monitored and address issues in livestock farming, such as targeted treatment of individuals with medication.

Microbiota in Dung and Milk Differ Between Organic and Conventional Dairy Farms.

Organic farming is increasingly promoted as a means to reduce the environmental impact of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics in conventional dairy systems. These factors potentially affect the microbial communities of the production stages (soil, silage, dung, and milk) of the entire farm cycle. However, understanding whether the microbiota representative of different production stages reflects different agricultural practices – such as conventional versus organic farming – is unknown. Furthermore, the translocation of the microbial community across production stages is scarcely studied. We sequenced the microbial communities of soil, silage, dung, and milk samples from organic and conventional dairy farms in the Netherlands. We found that community structure of soil fungi and bacteria significantly differed among soil types, but not between organic versus conventional farming systems. The microbial communities of silage also did not differ among conventional and organic systems. Nevertheless, the dung microbiota of cows and the fungal communities in the milk were significantly structured by agricultural practice. We conclude that, while the production stages of dairy farms seem to be disconnected in terms of microbial transfer, certain practices specific for each agricultural system, such as the content of diet and the use of antibiotics, are potential drivers of shifts in the cow’s microbiota, including the milk produced. This may reflect differences in farm animal health and quality of dairy products depending on farming practices.

Prawo o zdrowiu zwierząt

The subject of the article is the issues related to the implementation of EU legal solutions concerning the protection of the health of farm animals, while the purpose of the considerations is to evaluate the legal regulation adopted to implement the package of measures aimed at animal health that have been in place since 2013, and propose the direction of necessary changes in the national legislation in this area. The new animal health legislation entails the amendment or repeal of a number of national provisions on animal disease control, in particular those which were transpositions of directives and EU decisions now repealed. The legal instruments provided for in the regulation are expected to contribute to the achievement of a fully integrated internal market and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, provided that the existing animal health status is maintained as far as possible.

Мониторинг питательной ценности и химической безопасности основных кормов Республики Татарстан по результатам исследований, выполненных в 2019 году

Production of high-quality food of animal origin directly depends on the health of farm animals. Feeding of farm animals balanced in terms of nutrients is the most important condition for improving the quality of livestock production and its productivity. The productivity of animals depends on providing their organisms with all the necessary nutrients and biologically active substances. Along with the nutritional value, chemical safety of feed is also important for animals and humans. Pesticides have a special place among chemical toxicants. The article presents the monitoring of the nutritional value and chemical safety of the main feeds of agricultural producers of the Republic of Tatarstan, based on the results of their physical and chemical studies carried out in 2019 by of "FCTRBS". The feed was tested for content of crude protein, moisture, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, and pesticides in accordance with the test methods included in the scope of accreditation of Test Center. 94.4% of feed for farm animals in the Republic of Tatarstan meet the requirements for nutritional value and chemical safety, which are imposed on them by the current regulatory and technical documentation. Only 5.6% of the studied feeds did not meet the physical and chemical parameters (the content of crude protein, crude fat, moisture, ash). A comprehensive assessment of the results of physical and chemical studies shows that agricultural feed producers in the Republic of Tatarstan comply with the basic requirements of the normative and technical documentation for the nutritional value and chemical safety of feed for farm animals. The latter determines not only the quality of animal husbandry, but also its efficiency and productivity.

Autophagy protects PC12 cells against deoxynivalenol toxicity via the Class III PI3K/beclin 1/Bcl-2 pathway.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a major mycotoxin from the trichothecene family of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium fungi. It can cause a variety of adverse effects on human and farm animal health. Here, we determined the effect of DON on the Class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PIK3C3)/beclin 1/B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) pathway in PC12 cells and the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis. The effects of DON were evaluated based on the apoptosis ratio; the typical indicators of autophagy, including cellular morphology, acridine orange- and monodansylcadaverine-labeled vacuoles, green fluorescent protein-microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) localization, and LC3 immunofluorescence; and the expression of key autophagy-related genes and proteins, that is, PIK3C3, beclin 1, Bcl-2, LC3, and p62. The relationship between autophagy and apoptosis was analyzed by western blot analysis and flow cytometry. DON-induced PC12 cell morphological changes and autophagy significantly. PIK3C3, beclin 1, and LC3 increased in tandem with the DON concentration used; Bcl-2 and p62 expression decreased as DON concentrations increased. Moreover, the PIK3C3/beclin 1/Bcl-2 signaling pathway played a role in DON-induced autophagy. Our findings suggest that DON can induce autophagy by activating the PIK3C3/beclin 1/Bcl-2 signaling pathway and that autophagy may play a positive role in reducing DON-induced apoptosis.

Defining the male contribution to embryo quality and offspring health in assisted reproduction in farm animals.

Assisted reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination have delivered significant benefits for farm animal reproduction. However, as with humans, assisted reproduction in livestock requires the manipulation of the gametes and preimplantation embryo. The significance of this ‘periconception’ period is that it represents the transition from parental genome regulation to that of the newly formed embryo. Environmental perturbations during these early developmental stages can result in persistent changes in embryonic gene expression, fetal organ development and ultimately the long-term health of the offspring. While associations between maternal health and offspring wellbeing are well-defined, the significance of paternal health for the quality of his semen and the post-conception development of his offspring have largely been overlooked. Human and animal model studies have identified sperm epigenetic status (DNA methylation levels, histone modifications and RNA profiles) and seminal plasma-mediated maternal uterine immunological, inflammatory and vascular responses as the two central mechanisms capable of linking paternal health and post-fertilisation development. However, there is a significant knowledge gap about the father’s contribution to the long-term health of his offspring, especially with regard to farm animals. Such insights are essential to ensure the safety of widely used assisted reproductive practices and to gain better understanding of the role of paternal health for the well-being of his offspring. In this article, we will outline the impact of male health on semen quality (both sperm and seminal plasma), reproductive fitness and post-fertilisation offspring development and explore the mechanisms underlying the paternal programming of offspring health in farm animals.

Роль пробиотической кормовой добавки в определении продуктивности и оценке состояния здоровья сельскохозяйственной птицы

This article presents the results of a study on testing a promising feed supplement based on a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, with a high antagonistic activity for campylobacter. Probiotics now refers to live microbial feed additives that improve the health and productivity of farm animals. Probiotics can improve the growth rate of broiler chickens and control or prevent intestinal diseases, including salmonellosis, necrotic enteritis, and coccidiosis Scientific and industrial experience was carried out on broilers of the Cobb XNUMX cross country from daily to XNUMX days of age. As a result of research conducted by the scientific group, it was shown that feeding broiler chickens with a probiotic feed additive based on Lactobacillus plantarum helps to increase their productivity during the entire growing cycle and have a beneficial effect on the health status of farm birds.

Detoxication agents and technologies for animal husbandry under conditions of anthropogenic pollution

The impact of human economic activity on the environment is increasingly taking the form of combined pollution with various ecotoxicants including xenobiotics of radiation (caesium-137, strontium-90) and chemical (mercury, cadmium, lead and other toxic elements) nature. Today, this is one of the most urgent and insufficiently studied scientific problems. At current levels of systematic intake and accumulation of ecotoxicants in the body of productive animals, various anthropogenic and environmental organopathologies and diseases develop, and the risk of obtaining products that are dangerous to the consumer increases. In this regard, in the conditions of combined technogenic pollution of agroecosystems, it is necessary to solve the problem of ensuring the production of safe and biologically complete livestock products and maintaining the health and useful qualities of farm animals. The article presents the results of research on the development of compositions and technologies for the use of sorption-detoxifying complexes in the form of feed additives to reduce the accumulation and negative effects of ecotoxicants on the animal body and ensure the production of safe products.

Comparative effectiveness of means to reduce negative effects of lead, cadmium and nitrates

According to the constant deterioration of the environmental situation, the issue of preserving health of agricultural animals and obtaining safe livestock products is acute. One of the most effective ways to reduce the accumulation and ecotoxicants impact is pharmacological drugs usage and feed additives with different mechanisms of action. A comparative assessment of various agents exposed to heavy metals and nitrates in laboratory animals is presented. It was found that using feed with an increased content of heavy metals and nitrates increased the level of ecotoxicants in the organs and tissues of animals. Solvimin selenium enabled to reduce the accumulation of cadmium and lead in organism (up to 45 %), restore the normal amount of hemoglobin and the summation threshold, animals’ weight, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. However, it did not restore the indicators of the liver and kidneys functional state. The use of laricarvit showed a fairly high protective efficiency in removing cadmium (25– 30 %) and reducing the nitrates accumulation in the blood and muscles, normalizing the body weight of animals, the number of white blood cells, lymphocytes and methemoglobin. Detox injections successfully reduced the content of nitric nitrogen in the blood, in the liver and, to some extent, in the kidneys, while complete normalization of blood parameters was not observed.

Simultaneous detection of biogenic amines and aminobutyric acid isomers in high-protein forages

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied for simultaneous determination of selected biogenic amines and non-proteinogenic amino acids in fermented forage, i.e. silage. The four most frequently occurring biogenic amines in silage and three isomers of aminobutyric acid, potentially impairing welfare and health of farm animals, were separated in a single analysis. Without time-consuming extraction and concentration procedures, these compounds were analysed as N-substituted phenylthiocarbamyl derivatives using a reversed-phase C18 column. The method is suitable for rapid determination of the extent of amino acid decomposition during fermentation in forage with high protein content.

“Legumix” Stylosanthes pellets: A healthier and more sustainable animal feed

The development of a range of animal feeds based on leaf meal of the tropical forage legume Stylosanthes guianensis var. guianensis (“tropical alfalfa”) in Costa Rica, their potential for improving health of animals and consumers of animal products, the local and national economy, and ecological implications are described. A subproduct of the oil palm industry (palm oil fatty acid distillate) is used to supplement the Stylosanthes leaf meal with sufficient energy to produce a complete pelleted feed. Customer case studies showed that Stylosanthes-based feeds are highly palatable and improve health and performance of farm animals (horses, rabbits, calves, sheep, and goats) over that observed when using grain-based feeds. The improved quality of Stylosanthes-based over grain-based feed for ruminants could play an important role in the reduction of methane emissions and their negative consequences for climate change. A sustainable system whereby Stylosanthes is planted in association with plantation trees is proposed, providing a supplementary income for tree farmers and other benefits, such as weed control and soil amelioration. Stylosanthes can be rotated with sugarcane and pineapple, and cash flow projections show that Stylosanthes leaf meal production would be a favorable alternative activity for local farmers, yielding a greater and more constant income than sugarcane. Achieving economy of scale in the industrial process would permit production at lower cost to compete with the price of imported grain-based feed. Lack of finance is currently the major obstacle to scaling up the process, implementing the technology in different countries, and obtaining the concomitant benefits of food security, import substitution, improved ecological sustainability, and healthiness of animal products.

A Combined Offline and Online Algorithm for Real-Time and Long-Term Classification of Sheep Behaviour: Novel Approach for Precision Livestock Farming.

Real-time and long-term behavioural monitoring systems in precision livestock farming have huge potential to improve welfare and productivity for the better health of farm animals. However, some of the biggest challenges for long-term monitoring systems relate to “concept drift”, which occurs when systems are presented with challenging new or changing conditions, and/or in scenarios where training data is not accurately reflective of live sensed data. This study presents a combined offline algorithm and online learning algorithm which deals with concept drift and is deemed by the authors as a useful mechanism for long-term in-the-field monitoring systems. The proposed algorithm classifies three relevant sheep behaviours using information from an embedded edge device that includes tri-axial accelerometer and tri-axial gyroscope sensors. The proposed approach is for the first time reported in precision livestock behavior monitoring and demonstrates improvement in classifying relevant behaviour in sheep, in real-time, under dynamically changing conditions.

Using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment to Investigate Human-Animal Relationships in Zoo-Housed Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Simple SummaryHuman-animal relationships can develop from repeated interactions between zoo animals and their keepers. Positive, neutral or negative interactions can result in positive, neutral or negative relationships. Qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) has been utilized as a method to assess emotional expression in animals, but this has yet to be applied to zoo-housed animals. This paper reports a small pilot study aimed at exploring the use of QBA to address human-animal relationships (HAR) in zoos. Three giraffes were video recorded during four different types of keeper-animal interaction producing 38 clips. Using QBA, 18 observers were instructed to describe and score the emotional expressions of the giraffes observed in the clips. In addition, keeper actions during the keeper-animal interactions were assigned positive and negative values by an independent marker, summarized into a final score characterizing their quality. Results indicate that positive keeper actions resulted in calm and confident giraffes with a willingness to interact, whereas negative interactions resulted in more anxious and startled giraffes who were more easily distracted. This suggests that the quality of interaction by keepers influenced the emotional expression of these giraffes, which may affect the giraffe-keeper relationship and have potential welfare implications.Human-Animal Relationships (HAR) in zoos develop from repeated interactions between animals and their caretakers. HAR have been shown to affect health and welfare in farm animals, but limited zoo-based studies exist. This study investigates the association between the qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) of emotional expression in giraffes and keeper action score in four types of keeper-animal interaction (KAI). Three giraffes generating 38 clips. QBA, using a free-choice profiling methodology, was applied instructing 18 observers to assess giraffe expressions shown in these clips. QBA scores were analysed using Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Keeper actions during each KAI event were rated by an independent marker, resulting in cumulative scores for keeper action quality. The association between QBA and the keeper action was analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlations. Two main QBA dimensions were identified explaining 59% of the variation between clips. There were significant effects of giraffe and KAI type on QBA dimension 2 (inquisitive/impatient—calm/distracted), and significant positive associations between keeper action quality rating and QBA dimensions 1 and 2, indicating that positive keeper actions resulted in calm and confident giraffes with a willingness to interact. This is the first successful application of QBA for empirically addressing HARs in zoos, however given the small sample size of giraffes in this study, it can be regarded as a pilot study only, and further research is needed to validate the use of QBA in this context.

From “Meat Culture” to “Cultured Meat”: Critically Evaluating the Contested Ontologies and Transformative Potential of Biofabricated Animal Material on Culture and Law

This article calls into question how different the parallel ontologies of meat are in terms of the realities they enact. It argues that while biofabricated animal material is expected to transform the production and consumption of meat, the material’s ontologies reinforce existing interrelationships between the dominant meat culture and the law. Additionally, the expectations surrounding biofabricated animal material vests the material with transformative power, even though it does not challenge the structural factors, namely law and culture, which underlie the exploitation and commodification of animals. I begin by delineating the co-constituting relationship between law, the realities of meat production and consumption, and meat culture. I then unpack the interface between different ontologies of meat and consider why the contest has taken place in legal terrains. From here, I consider the key expectations that have assigned transformative power to biofabricated animal material. I suggest that these expectations work to reinforce existing meat culture, and the configurations of power that benefit from it, as supported via legal instruments.