Do citizens and farmers interpret the concept of farm animal welfare differently?

Animal welfare is of increasing importance in livestock production and consumption debates. However, discordance exists between citizens' and farmers' perception of animal welfare. Since the search for, and the realization of improvements towards farm animal welfare is strongly driven by citizen expectations, it is of utmost importance to better understand this perceptual discordance. A quantitative study was done in Flanders, Belgium during 2006, including citizens as well as farmers, to obtain a detailed insight in the way the multi-dimensional concept of farm animal welfare is valued. This allowed to discriminate between issues of agreement and disagreement. In general, a similar interpretation of farm animal welfare in terms of animal welfare related aspect's ranking was found. Differences were mainly related to aspects dealing with the ability to engage in natural behaviour on the one hand and with production process-related aspects on the other hand. Citizens evaluate the current state of animal welfare as rather problematic, while farmers report a more satisfactory evaluation of the present condition of farm animal welfare. Especially differing opinions regarding the ability to engage in natural behaviour, together with aspects related to pain, stress and the availability of space seem to contribute to the discordance between farmers and citizens in terms of evaluative beliefs.     

Optimizing the use of breed types in developing country livestock production systems: a neglected research area

Developing country livestock production systems are diverse and dynamic, and include those where existing indigenous breeds are currently optimal and likely to remain so, those where non‐indigenous breed types are already in common use, and systems that are changing, such as by intensification, where the introduction of new breed types represents significant opportunities. These include opportunities to improve the livelihood of the world's poor, increase food and nutrition security and enhance environmental sustainability. At present, very little research has focused on this issue, such that significant knowledge gaps in relation to breed‐change interventions remain. The purpose of this study is to raise awareness of this issue and suggests strategic research areas to begin filling these knowledge gaps. Such strategic research would include (i) assessing the impact of differing breed types in developing country livestock productions systems, from a range of viewpoints including intrahousehold livelihood benefit, food and nutrition security at different scales, and environmental sustainability; (ii) identification of specific livestock production systems within developing countries, and the type of livestock keepers within these system, that are most likely to benefit from new breed types; and (iii) identification of new breed types as candidates for in‐situ testing within these systems, such as through the use of spatial analysis to identify similar production environments combined with community acceptance studies. Results of these studies would primarily assist stakeholders in agriculture, including both policy makers and livestock keepers, to make informed decisions on the potential use of new breed types.     

Organic livestock production in Europe: aims,rules and trends with special emphasis on animal health and welfare

Organic farming in Europe has increased during the last decade but the market share is still relatively low with less than 3% of farmed arable land and an even smaller proportion of farm animal species raised in organic livestock production systems. In many aspects, the biological and ethological needs of animals in organic farming systems are better met than on conventional farms. Emphasis is placed on high standards in product quality, animal health and welfare. However, limitations due to the strict organic rules place high demands on management qualifications. Practical experience shows that organic livestock production is certainly no guarantee of good animal health and welfare. It is suggested to develop quality assurance programmes for process quality assessment to ensure a certain level of management standard. Epidemiological studies are needed to evaluate health risk factors for health and welfare problems in organic livestock production. The concept of organic animal farming can only fulfil the criteria for sustainability, if all requirements on animal health and welfare, together with product quality and ecological soundness, are strongly considered and controlled.     

食物安全评价及其发展的路径选择

中国传统的粮食安全理念将以谷物为主的粮食等同于食物,致使农业走上了单一结构的“粮-猪农业”歧途,这也是中国粮食观与国际粮食观的不同之处。从食物生产结构以及食物安全评价就可以反映出传统农业的弊端,一方面食物生产过分偏重于谷物和猪肉,另一方面食物安全评价仅仅局限于粮食的供给能力。分析国内外食物安全评价体系,国外注重于微观层次的、营养膳食结构的评价,而我国注重于宏观层次的、数量安全的评价。草地农业发展潜力巨大,能满足我国对于动物性食物的不断加大的消费需求,是持久高效保障食物安全的最佳路径选择。     

Towards sustainable parasite control practices in livestock production with emphasis in Latin America

Endo and ectoparasites of domestic ruminants directly or indirectly contribute to reduce sustainability affecting food security in subsistence or small scale farming systems, food safety (food borne diseases and pesticide residues), environment (pesticides, pollution and ecotoxicity) and farmer's equity (limited or uneven access to relevant technical information/training). This is especially true for some regions of Latin America where there still are huge areas of natural grazing land for cattle, sheep and goats. Sustainable parasite control is not an absolute concept given the different regions and productive systems of the world and therefore, could have different levels of adoption and impact on farmers. This article develops a conceptual framework to better understand where each region or country is situated in terms of attaining a reasonable increase in animal production while preserving sustainability. Within this context the capacity to prioritize the target parasite species for control according to local epidemiology and production systems, the early diagnosis and monitoring of parasite resistance as well as the availability of well trained field professionals acquire a major role, creating an enabling environment for present and future decision support system approaches. Until new and different means of controlling parasites become available; the challenge is to utilize Good Animal Husbandry Practices and Integrated Parasite Management (IPM) principles in a pragmatic way allowing the rational use of pesticides.     

From 'ecopathology' to 'agroecosystem health'

The 'epidemiologic revolution' of the 1960s arose in response to the inability of reductionist methods to provide practical solutions to the complex problems of health and production in livestock systems. In a farm, there are not only interactions between animal factors and herd husbandry factors such as feeding, housing, and microbiological environment, but also with a number of other 'non-animal' factors. For this reason, a 'global' or 'holistic' approach, aimed at explaining animal health status within the overall dynamic of a livestock production system, was developed in France under the title of 'ecopathology'. In ecopathology, the discipline of epidemiology is integrated into a systemic approach, including: the development of a preliminary conceptual model, sampling based on the structure of the livestock production system, the establishment of a field study by a multidisciplinary team, the organization and management of the animal health and production information, data analysis, the distribution of results to all participants and the development of a preventive medicine programme. The farm is also influenced by the social, economic and environmental setting to which it belongs. To account for this, a change of scale is necessary. The three elements of the livestock production system considered in ecopathology (farmer, herd and resources), at the level of the agroecosystem become a human community (farmers, consumers, decision-makers), an animal population, and the complex of human, social and economic conditions within the system. The concept of agroecosystem health is closely linked to the overall principle of improving the sustainability of the system. This and other measures of the health status of an agroecosystem can be assessed with methods developed by epidemiologists and other disciplines within a system's perspective. In this systems view, ecopathology provides a basis for assessing herd health whereas agroecosystem health develops the broader context into which ecopathology contributes.     

Sustainable livestock production: Low emission farm-The innovative combination of nutrient,emission and waste management with special emphasis on Chinese pig production

Global livestock production is going to be more and more sophisticated in order to improve efficiency needed to supply the rising demand for animal protein of a growing, more urban and affluent population.To cope with the rising public importance of sustainability is a big challenge for all animal farmers and more industrialized operations especially. Confined animal farming operations(CAFO) are seen very critical by many consumers with regard to their sustainability performance, however, the need to improve the sustainability performance especially in the ecological and social dimension exists at both ends of the intensity, i.e., also for the small holder and family owned animal farming models. As in livestock operations, feed and manure contribute the majority to the three most critical environmental impact categories global warming potential(GWP), acidification(AP) and eutrophication potential(EP)any effort for improvement should start there. Intelligent combination of nutrient-, emission-and waste management in an integrated low emission farm(LEF) concept not only significantly reduces the environmental footprint in the ecological dimension of sustainability, but by producing renewable energy(heat, electricity, biomethane) with animal manure as major feedstock in an anaerobic digester also the economic dimension can be improved. Model calculations using new software show the ecological improvement potential of low protein diets using more supplemented amino acids for the Chinese pig production. The ecological impact of producing biogas or upgraded biomethane, of further treatment of the digestate and producing defined fertilizers is discussed. Finally, the LEF concept allows the integration of an insect protein plant module which offers additional ecological and economical sustainability improvement potential in the future. Active stakeholder communication about implementation steps of LEF examples improves also the social aspect of sustainability.     

Attitudes of European citizens towards pig production systems

The objective of the study is to map citizen attitudes towards pig meat production systems, and to investigate whether these attitudes associate with pork and pork product consumption. A conjoint experiment was carried out with empirical data collected from 1931 individuals in four European countries with higher-than-average per capita meat consumption (Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Germany). The experiment was based on the following pig farming characteristics: herd size, housing and floor type, efforts to reduce the impact of the production system on the environment, animal feed designed for producing pork with specific fat content, and finally the preferred quality characteristics of the pork end-product. The results of the conjoint analysis were used for a subsequent cluster analysis in order to identify European citizen clusters. Respondents' socio-demographic profile, attitudes towards issues that are expected to influence the way people evaluate pig meat production systems, and consumption frequency of various pork products are used as background information to identify segment profiles. Pork appears to play a substantial role as a part of the diet for most respondents in the four countries of this study. The results of the conjoint experiment at the sample level show that people assigned most importance to animal and environmental well-being as criteria to discriminate between “good” and “bad” pig production practices, despite the fact that their attitudes towards environmental protection, animal welfare and industrial food production were only moderately strong. Moreover, the results of the cluster analysis allowed small-sized, clear-cut clusters of citizens to appear, which pay attention to specific pig farming attributes. In conclusion, attitudes towards environment and nature, animal welfare and the need for an environment-friendly food production were indeed related to citizens' specific attitudes towards pig farming at the cluster level. However, the relationship between citizenship and consumption behaviour was found to be weak. What people think in their role as citizens related to pig production did not appear to significantly influence their pork consumption choices.     

人工草地绵羊放牧系统优化生产模式研究：Ⅰ原系统的监测及分析

本项研究对不同水平人工草地绵辜放牧系统的整个生产过程进行了系统监测。内容涉及到草地生产、家畜生产、放牧管理和经营管理中的要求。本文提供了４个农户和一个试验站生产系统的详细监测分析资料，作为下一步进行系统优化和评价的基础。     

Southern European grazing lands: Production, environmental and landscape management aspects

Grazing lands and their management in livestock systems are a matter of special importance in the search for sustainability. Socio-economic and ecological objectives should be considered jointly in considering livestock production. In addition to the general issues of biodiversity and habitat preservation, the challenges for their management vary according to the regional conditions. In Southern European environments, where the past changes in livestock farming have led to a general decrease in their use, the questions under study are how to find ways to meet the threats to landscape amenity, biodiversity, the sustainability of local animal feeding resources and the rural population. Grazing lands and their management is also an important target of EU agri-environmental policy. The multifunctional use of this land, which is currently sought, reinforces the need for animal scientists to consider the use and management of grazing lands in reference not only to the techno-economical efficiency of animal feeding systems but also in reference to the long-term (e.g. biodiversity change) and at larger spatial scales (for example the landscape and watershed). An overview of the current challenges attached to grazing lands and their management in livestock farming systems in South European environments, an understanding of the ways to jointly meet production objectives and the realisation of sociological and ecological functions is presented.     

Societal expectations of livestock farming in relation to environmental effects in Europe

The potential environmental effects of livestock farming are mainly associated with intensification of poultry, pig and dairy cow production systems. The major impacts are mainly caused by housing of livestock, which can lead to air and water pollution associated with nitrogen and phosphorus emissions and losses from manure. European countries regulate the potential for these types of pollution through a number of mechanisms, which have received wide public acceptance. In grazing systems, nitrogen pollution, associated with the use of nitrogen fertilizer, is also the subject of legislation. Perhaps because of this regulatory approach, surveys of the public have found that human food quality and animal welfare are more important issues than effects on air and water quality when considering livestock systems.Variation in stocking rates of grazing ruminants can change the structure and composition of pastures with potential impacts on biodiversity and the production of methane, a greenhouse gas. In European countries, maximum stocking rates have been set to reduce these impacts. Surveys of the European public have suggested that they are willing to pay for the mitigation of these environmental effects but that they also value strongly the cultural component of grazed livestock systems. There are few underlying concepts about how society views the environmental impacts of livestock systems. These are used to conclude that current attitudes are likely to prevail in the next decade.     

Food safety achieved through herd management

Most animal-derived food products originate from production chains consisting of a series of well-defined, separate production steps. Undesired events affecting food safety can principally occur at any point within the production chain. The principle of integrated food safety assurance from stable to table has therefore been established. The livestock holding has thus to be understood as a fix element of the production chain, and the producer has to accept a part of the responsibility for food safety. On a farm, food safety can be negatively affected by animal feed (microbiological or toxicological contamination), management (hygiene, stocking density, cleaning and disinfecting), veterinary treatments (use of antibiotics) and recycling of slurry. Most relevant practices can be summarised under the standard of "good farming practice". HACCP programmes as they are applied in the processing industries could in principle also be used at the farm level. Influential management steps would need to be identified and controlled. This approach is, however, still in its infancy at present. Using the current monitoring systems, microbiological and toxicological problems in food are difficult to be identified before the end of the production chain. As the cause of a problem can be found at the farm level, traceability of products through the production chain is essential. In Switzerland, traceability of animals is realised using compulsory animal identification and the animal movement database. Using this link, information on the health status of a herd could be made available to the slaughterhouse in order to classify animals into food-safety risk categories. This principle is a key element in the ongoing discussion about visual meat inspection in Europe and elsewhere.     

The REFLECT Statement: Methods and Processes of Creating Reporting Guidelines for Randomized Controlled Trials for Livestock and Food Safety by Modifying the CONSORT Statement†

The conduct of randomized controlled trials in livestock with production, health and food‐safety outcomes presents unique challenges that may not be adequately reported in trial reports. The objective of this project was to modify the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement to reflect the unique aspects of reporting these livestock trials. A 2‐day consensus meeting was held on 18–19 November 2008 in Chicago, IL, USA, to achieve the objective. Prior to the meeting, a Web‐based survey was conducted to identify issues for discussion. The 24 attendees were biostatisticians, epidemiologists, food‐safety researchers, livestock‐production specialists, journal editors, assistant editors and associate editors. Prior to the meeting, the attendees completed a Web‐based survey indicating which CONSORT statement items may need to be modified to address unique issues for livestock trials. The consensus meeting resulted in the production of the REFLECT (Reporting Guidelines for Randomized Control Trials) statement for livestock and food safety and 22‐item checklist. Fourteen items were modified from the CONSORT checklist and an additional sub‐item was proposed to address challenge trials. The REFLECT statement proposes new terminology, more consistent with common usage in livestock production, to describe study subjects. Evidence was not always available to support modification to or inclusion of an item. The use of the REFLECT statement, which addresses issues unique to livestock trials, should improve the quality of reporting and design for trials reporting production, health and food‐safety outcomes.     

我国食物供需格局变化和光温水资源战略配置

在全面建设小康社会的进程中,我国城乡食物需求格局发生重大变化,农业发展面临新的形势。随着城乡土地利用格局的变化,我国粮食供应格局也发生重大变化,我国光温水资源的合理配置成为农业领域科学发展面临的重大战略性问题。为了保证我国食物安全,应在保护和建设1.07亿hm²(16亿亩)基本农田的同时建设0.67亿hm²(10亿亩)栽培草地,像种植粮食一样精心栽培牧草,应制定南方山地建设规划,综合部署生态综合治理专项、农业综合开发专项和生态畜牧业扶贫专项,把南方草地畜牧业发展放在与粮食生产同样的战略地位。     

关于征收环境保护税有效治理畜禽养殖业面源污染的研究

本文对我国征收环境保护税能否有效治理畜禽养殖业面源污染进行了探究。结合国内外征收环保税对面源污染治理研究成果,讨论了我国畜禽养殖业面源污染征税对象特殊、实际征收困难、养殖业主相关数据披露不足及养殖主环保意识不强等问题。从政府相关政策、公民绿色生活需求、环保科技革新3个方面梳理了治理可行性,提出环境保护税的征收可以从政府政策、技术革新、环保典范等角度促使畜禽养殖业主减少面源污染排放,实现经济、社会与环境形成良性循环和可持续发展。     

Perceptions of households on purpose of keeping,trait preference,and production constraints for selected goat types in Ethiopia

A study was carried out to understand the needs and perception of goat keepers in selected areas of Ethiopia in order to identify the breeding objectives, traits of preference, and production constraints that may be required in designing improvement programs. The study was conducted in three districts (Bati, Meta, and Kebri-Beyah) representing the lowland crop–livestock (LLCL), highland cereal–livestock (HLCL), and pastoral/agropastoral (P/AP) systems, respectively. The study targeted the three goat types (Bati, Hararghe Highland, and Short-eared Somali) found in Ethiopia. Households in all systems considered meat production, milk production, and income generation as major purpose of keeping goats. However, those in the low rainfall and arid environments of P/AP systems gave high ranking to adaptability to harsh environments and also to building social and religious values. In LLCL and HLCL systems, goat skin and manure were more valued than in P/AP systems. Principally, in P/AP systems, the awareness of households to skin utilization and marketing was very low. Despite diverse multiple breeding objectives identified, household breeding practices were affected by constraints related to disease prevalence, feed shortage and water scarcity, and lack of awareness on skin management, utilization, and marketing. Thus, designing and implementing of sustainable goat improvement programs is an overriding priority and should take into account the breeding objectives and knowledge of goat keepers in all production systems. Along with the breed improvement, a strategy should also be devised to enhance the utilization and marketing of goat skin at all levels of production.     

Importance of brucellosis control programs of livestock on the improvement of one health

Brucellosis not only represents an important health restraint on livestock but also causes high economic losses in many developing countries worldwide. Despite considerable efforts made for the control of brucellosis, the disease is still spreading in many regions (such as the Middle East) where it represents one of the most important health hazards impacting both animals and humans. The present review aims to investigate the efficacy of veterinary control programs regarding brucellosis, with a special focus on current prevention, control, and eradication approaches. The reasons for unsuccessful control programs such as the absence of highly effective vaccines and non-certified bulls are also debated, to understand why the prevalence of brucellosis in livestock is not decreasing in many areas despite considerable efforts taken to date. The importance of governmental and regional investment in brucellosis control remains one of the main limiting factors owing to the limited budget allocated to tackle this disease. In this context, one health concept has generated novel comprehensive approaches with multiple economic implications across the livestock industry and public health. However, the implementation of such global preventive strategies appears to be a key issue for many endemic and low-income countries. According to the collected data, epidemiological contexts including management and trade systems along with well-defined agro-ecological zones should be evaluated in brucellosis endemic countries to improve milk production and to enhance the sustainability of the livestock sector at both national and regional levels.     

Productivity in different cattle production systems in Kenya

Cattle are kept as an important source of livelihood in many Kenyan farming households whilst also having cultural and social value. A review was undertaken to estimate productivity in the three main Kenyan cattle production systems: small-scale dairy and meat; small-scale dairy; and large-scale dairy and meat. Data on production parameters were collected through a systematic literature search of electronic databases for peer reviewed and grey literature. The parameters included were reproductive rates, mortality rates and yields. Prices for livestock and livestock products were estimated from markets. The data were used to estimate net output from cattle using the Livestock Productivity Efficiency Calculator (LPEC), a deterministic steady state model which measures productivity as net output per megajoule (MJ) of metabolisable energy (ME). The estimated net outputs per livestock unit year^?1 were USD 146.6, USD 215.1 and USD 84.8 in the large-scale dairy and meat, small-scale dairy and meat and small-scale dairy systems, respectively. Milk production contributed significantly to net output in all systems and was 91.8 % of total output in small-scale dairy. Cattle sales had the highest contribution to net output in large-scale dairy and meat system (45.1 %). Sensitivity analysis indicated that output was most affected by milk yield, age and weight at maturity and parturition rate. The productivity differences between the production systems call for more detailed research on the constraints to the production systems such as diseases, and to describe the benefits that farmers and society would obtain from disease control and improved management.     

Aspects of animal welfare in livestock production

The modern consumer is increasingly concerned about the welfare of farm animals which are kept in intensive systems on specialised farms where the health and well-being is almost completely dependent on the will, ability and care of the farmer. Further demands related to animal production are consumer health (quality and safety of food products), the protection of the environment and cheap food. The currently used husbandry systems are man made and emphasise automation which requires permanent critical observation of the welfare of the animals. Ethological indicators are equally important as health and performance to evaluate keeping systems. Future animal farming will be influenced by new technologies such as electronic animal identification and milking robots, and more important by biotechnology and genome analysis. Veterinary surgeons and farmers have to co-operate on the basis of scientifically sound animal welfare schemes which help to protect our farm animals in modern and intensive livestock production systems.