SwineDialog: On the path towards the paperless barn
There is a paradigm shift in the aims of animal protein production today: the circumstances under which animals are being housed and the impact livestock farming has on the environment and on the broader public are considered to be as important as the quality of ...
Is it possible to determine how environmental parameters influence respiratory disease in grow-finish pigs?
It is not new to farmers that certain animal diseases can be triggered by too cold or too warm temperature in the barn or that poor water availability and humidity can predispose animals to illness. But so far there was a lack of tangible data ...
Similarities and specificities of gut microbiota of pigs and chickens
Gut microbiota is the ensemble of microorganisms living in the intestine of a human or animal hosts. In animals such as pigs or poultry it consists of around 1,000 different bacterial species. Considering that an average microbiota member has about 3,000 genes, the total gut ...
Vitamin D requirements during exposure to coccidia
Skeletal health of fast growing broilers is an important issue, with implications for broiler welfare and farm profitability. From a nutritional standpoint, vitamin D supplementation is pivotal for promoting Ca and P utilization and bird skeletal integrity. Additional benefits may arise from increased vitamin D ...
Biosecurity in pig farms across Europe
Biosecurity measures are of great importance to prevent or limit the risk of animals becoming infected with pathogens. Biosecurity is a term used to describe management measures for the prevention of pathogens entering a farm (external biosecurity) or the spreading of pathogens within the farm ...