While it's well known that pigs need amino acids to grow, what’s less understood—but just as important—is how these nutrients influence the fate of immune cells: whether they become fighters, peacekeepers, or memory cells for future protection.
Challenging the popular but problematic 'Five Domains model' approach to categorising the experiences of animals in animal welfare science.
Play is often considered an indicator and promotor of animal welfare. Playing with your cat may also nurture closer cat-human bonds. In a new study, scientists have investigated these links by applying in-depth empirical methods to analyse data gathered from around the world.
The animal article of the month for September is 'Invited review: Application of meta-omics to understand the dynamic nature of the rumen microbiome and how it responds to diet in ruminants' Demand for meat and milk is predicted to double by 2050 and meeting this increased demand represents a “grand challenge for humanity”. Ruminants are among the most widely adapted livestock on earth, inhabiting outdoor environments from the arctic to the tropics.
The animal article of the month for August is ‘The effect of different wavelengths of light during incubation on the development of rhythmic pineal melatonin biosynthesis in chick embryos’ Melatonin is a neurohormone, which is involved in the control of day/night rhythms in a number of biochemical, physiological and behavioural processes.…
The latest Paper of the Month for Parasitology is ‘Malacosporean myxozoans exploit a diversity of fish hosts’ by Juliana Naldoni, Edson A.…
The animal article of the month for July is ‘Use of Geographic Information System tools to Predict Animal Breed Suitability for Different Agro-Ecological Zones’ Predicting breed suitability is challenging in livestock production.…
The animal article of the month for June is ‘Characteristics of boli formed by dairy cows upon ingestion of fresh ryegrass, lucerne or chicory’ Most measurements of feed in ruminant nutrition studies primarily concern the chemical composition.…
The animal article of the month for May is ‘Tailception’: using neural networks for assessing tail lesions on pictures of pig carcasses’ Injuries caused by one pig biting the tail of another pig are a big welfare problem in pigs reared for slaughter.…
The animal article of the month for April is ‘Salivary and urinary metabolome analysis for pre-puberty-related biomarkers identification in porcine’ In pig farms, creation of batches of sows has developed extensively due to advantages for the management of reproductive females and offspring.…
The animal article of the month for March is ‘Correlated responses on litter size traits and survival traits after two-stage selection for ovulation rate and litter size in rabbits’ Litter size is the most important economic trait in prolific species and the only selection criteria for maternal rabbit commercial lines.…
The animal article of the month for February is ‘Effects of a participatory approach, with systematic impact matrix analysis in herd health planning in organic dairy cattle herds‘ There is a strong focus on animal health and welfare in organic farming, and herd health and production management services are therefore important.…
The animal article of the month for January is ‘Review: Assessing fish welfare in research and aquaculture, with a focus on European directives‘ In recent years, teleost fish have been increasingly exploited as animal models for scientific research in both the biomedical and ecological fields by using various ‘omics’ approaches, as they offer several practical advantages compared with mammals or other vertebrates.…
The animal article of the month for December is ‘Perception of livestock ecosystem services in grazing area‘ The interaction between livestock systems and their respective environments is complex.…
The animal article of the month for November is ‘Genotype imputation from various low-density SNP panels and its impact on accuracy of genomic breeding values in pigs‘ The rapid increase in the world population, which is expected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, needs to be accompanied by a substantial increase in food production.…
The animal article of the month for October is ‘Opinion paper: What needs to be changed for successful future livestock farming in Europe?’…
We are wasting a mineral essential for our food security. A mineral without which crops and grass cannot grow, i.e. phosphorus.…
People are living longer but rising obesity increases the risk of a number of long term diseases such as type 2 diabetes which increases the risk of other problems such as heart disease and stroke.…
The animal article of the month for July is ‘Isolating the cow-specific part of residual energy intake in lactating dairy cows using random regressions ‘ Improving feed efficiency is essential for sustainable livestock farming: it is expected to reduce feed resources use and to decrease waste and environmental impacts.…
The animal article of the month for June is ‘Integrated regulatory network reveals novel candidate regulators in the development of negative energy balance in cattle‘ The biological cycle of milk production for dairy cows is a crucial factor for dairy farmers.…
The animal article of the month for May is Water footprinting of pasture-based farms; beef and sheep Agricultural production consumes significant amounts of natural resources, including water, along the supply chain.…
The animal article of the month for April is ‘Incubation and hatch management: consequences for bone mineralization in Cobb 500 meat chickens‘ Following two field observations of newly hatched chicks that had soft bones and were having difficulty standing, we wanted to find out what causes soft bones and, what could be done to prevent this from occurring in the future. …
The animal article of the month for February is ‘Invited review: a position on The Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM)‘ The livestock sector is one of the fastest growing subsectors of the agricultural economy and it makes a major contribution to global food supply and economic development.…
The animal article of the month for September is ‘Review: Divergent selection for residual feed intake in the growing pig‘. Improving feed use in livestock remains a challenge in most animal species.…
The animal article of the month for August is “Factors of importance when selecting sows as embryo donors”. An adequate selection of embryo donors is a key point of and efficient embryo transfer (ET) program.…
In the coming decades, the world population is expected to increase. This increase will result in a growing demand for food products, especially for animal protein.
Development of Resistance to antimicrobials is developing faster than ever before due to decades of abusing these important drugs. A ‘post-antibiotic’ world looms as a result, the consequences of which would be many people and farm animals sickening and dying of what, until now, have been preventable or treatable infections.
The animal article of the month for September is entitled “Precision livestock farming: a ‘per animal’ approach using advanced monitoring technologies”
The animal article of the month for August is entitled 'Review: In vivo and post-mortem effects of feed antioxidants in livestock: a review of the implications on authorization of antioxidant feed additives'
In the past few years, pig farms around the world have seen an increase in the total number of piglets born per litter. This has been achieved by genetic selection for litter size and by improved management of the sows.
The success of livestock breeding programs depends on the selection of the best animals to become the parents of the next generation of production animals. The more accurate and the faster this selection step takes place, the more genetic improvement can be made per generation.
Feed unit systems (FUS) have been a major factor of progress in livestock production for calculating optimal diets. For more than a century and a half, these systems have been periodically updated to take account of advances in scientific knowledge and new demands of farm to fork chains.
The animal article of the month for April is entitled ‘Quantifying the consequences of nutritional strategies aimed at decreasing phopsphorus excretion from pig populations: a modelling approach‘ Although pigs need Phosphorus in their feed in order to thrive, this can pose environmental problems. …
For young farm animals, surviving birth and the neonatal period, is an important goal for the animal and the farmer, affecting animal welfare and farm profitability, yet still an average of 15% of sheep and goat neonates do not survive.
The palatability of meat is mainly determined by marbling and tenderness. Tender meat, which contains more intramuscular fat and less connective tissue, is demanded by consumers and the presence and cross-linking of intramuscular connective tissue reduces meat tenderness and is mainly synthesized by fibroblasts.
Concern about dairy cows welfare is not a new issue, but there is a huge variation among farm producers and veterinarians about their perception of pain in domestic animals.
Improving animal health status is important since consumers are becoming more critical towards the products they buy. This is even more true for the organic dairy sector were consumers expect a better animal health status compared to the conventional dairy sector.
Selection of animals for improved feed efficiency can affect sustainability of animal production because the most efficient animals may face difficulties coping with nutritional, environmental, social, or sanitary challenges.
The livestock sector, particularly ruminants, is estimated to contribute up to 18% of total global anthropogenic Green House Gas emissions.
Past feeding experiences can change animals’ perception about foods.
The valorization of a feed resource within an animal species depends on its intrinsic physico-chemical characteristics, but also on its actual utilization by the animal to which it is offered. However, the characterization of feeds is often done through their potential value (e.g. digestibility of nutrients) without considering the variability of animal responses.
The animal paper of the month for April discusses the possibility of the use of genetic engineering techniques to improve of health-promoting value of animal-origin products.
Because the cost of feeding animals is one of the greatest expenses in dairy production (40-60% of production costs), research focused on ways to identify and select for animals that are the most efficient at converting feed into milk has greatly expanded during the last decade. The animal Article of the Month is a review of current methodologies, advances, and future challenges for improving feed efficiency in growing dairy heifers and lactating cows
Insights into recent research related to the implementation of novel traits in dairy cattle genetic improvement programs
Proteomic analysis has developed rapidly over the last decade but applications of this technology in animal science have been notably absent, which is surprising considering that the main objective of livestock farming is the production of edible protein whether from poultry, beef, swine, dairy products or aquaculture.
In the December 2014 issue of animal, you will find a series of five companion papers presenting a comprehensive tool for the evaluation of the sustainability of pig farming systems, taking into account economy, environment and social demands from the general public and also from the farmers themselves.
Livestock farming is responsible for 14.5% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, with half of them represented by methane emissions, mostly produced by ruminants. In addition, enteric methane production by ruminants represents up to 6% of energy loss for the animal. Reduction of methanogenesis is then important to limit the negative environmental impacts of ruminants and to improve their feed efficiency.
Many of the feed ingredients that are used in formulating diets for pigs have gone through heating or drying to make the ingredient stable for conservation. However, every time heat is applied to a feed ingredient, there is a risk that the ingredient can be overheated, which will result in the Maillard reaction that induces heat damage to the ingredient.
Soya beans is an important protein feedstuff for livestock. It is common practice that farmers would produce grains for livestock and import soya beans from other farms (mainly from South America). But this practice, which disconnects the production of grains and protein crops, reduces the effectiveness of some ecological functions (e.g. nutrient cycling and pest control) that could mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production. Moreover, soya bean production and expansion in South America is linked to GHG emissions resulting from deforestation in that region.
Mixed crop–livestock farming has gained broad consensus as an economically and environmentally sustainable farming system. But while such a farming system could ideally reduce both the inputs needed for production as well as fluxes of nutrients towards the atmosphere and hydrosphere, there seems to be a gap between the conceptual model and observations in commercial farms
Three articles have been selected as the animal Article of the Month for August. All three articles are taken from a special issue on Agroeclogy published in animal. The first is entitled 'Editorial: Agroecology for producing goods and services in sustainable animal farming systems'
The prolificacy of sows has been enhanced pronouncedly by genetic improvements during the past 2 decades but piglet mortality that is particularly high around birth due to stillbirth and due to preweaning mortality has also increased at the same time.
The animal Article of the Month for May is entitled ‘Visceral organ weights, digestion and carcass characteristics of beef bulls differing in residual feed intake offered a high concentrate diet’
The animal Article of the Month for May is entitled ‘The impact of daily multiphase feeding on animal performance, body composition, nitrogen and phosphorus excretions, and feed costs in growing–finishing pigs’
The April animal Article of the month highlights the increasing concern with the thermal comfort of agricultural animals is justifiable not only for countries occupying tropical zones, but also for nations in temperate zones where high ambient temperatures are becoming an issue.
Commercial use of group housing systems for lactating sows is currently limited, but the recent transition to group housing during gestation in the EU may result in a renewed interest in such systems.
The combined effects of an increased cost of protein and legislation introduced in several countries on the storage and application of cattle manure has resulted in renewed interest to reduce protein levels in dairy cow diets.
The animal Article of the Month for January is entitled ‘Genomic selection for feed efficiency in dairy cattle’
The animal Article of the Month for November is entitled ‘Prenatal stress, immunity and neonatal health in farm animal species’ In farm mammals, preweaning mortality rates are high and variable between farms: 10-25% in lambs, 7-50% in kids, 0-50% in calves, 0-35% in foals, 5-35% in pigs.…
The animal Article of the Month for November is entitled ‘Genetics of milking characteristics in dairy cows’ The milking routine accounts for a large proportion of the labour requirement in a dairy herd.…
This post is the last in a series of blogs written by the authors of papers which were presented at the recent Greenhouse Gases & Animal Agriculture Conference held in Dublin.…
This post is the second in a series of blogs written by the authors of papers which were presented at the recent Greenhouse Gases & Animal Agriculture Conference held in Dublin.…
This post is the first in a series of blogs written by the authors of papers which were presented at the recent Greenhouse Gases & Animal Agriculture Conference held in Dublin.…
The animal Article of the Month for October is entitled ‘Precursors for liver gluconeogenesis in periparturient dairy cows’ Balancing diets for transition dairy cows is a challenge due to limitations in our ability to delineate basic responses and interactions between energy and protein during the periparturient period.…
The EU FP7 research project RobustMilk investigated ways of breeding cows that will produce healthy milk, e.g. packed with healthy fats, without drawing on the health of the dairy cows themselves.…
The animal Article of the Month for September is entitled ‘ Welfare of entire male pigs is improved by socialising piglets and keeping intact groups until slaughter’ Surgical castration is painful and should be avoided to improve pig welfare.…
The animal Article of the Month for August is entitled ‘ An individual reproduction model sensitive to milk yield and body condition in Holstein dairy cows’ To face rapid changes in economic or climatic conditions and to maintain their competitiveness, dairy producers increasingly need to anticipate the consequences of their management decisions.…
The animal Article of the Month for July is entitled ‘Impact of dietary protein on microbiota composition and activity in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets in relation to gut health: a review’ The microbial ecosystem of the intestinal tract of pigs is influenced by various factors.…
This is the first post in our new series: “Conversations with Authors.” For our inaugural post, we asked Dr. Vesla Weaver to meet (virtually) with Dr.…
Long before Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, or Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president and launched her own presidential bid in 2024, another woman set her sights on the White House, at a time when women couldn’t even vote.…
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
Plenty has been written about the dog. Slobbery, goofy, embarrassingly friendly, with… well, everyone. Dogs are prominently featured in historic accounts and paintings, loaded down with ingratiating platitudes like “man’s best friend”.…
The English language contains a wealth of insults and terms of abuse. Personal insults attack the core and immutable aspects of a person, such as their race, ethnicity, appearance, age, or a disability.…
The March article of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International is the first blog of the series. The blog is written by Dr Dami Ajayi, Specialty Doctor, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Trainee/Blog Editor, BJPsych International.…
An interview series with authors Hajnal, Hutchings and Lee Authored by three of the USA’s most well-known scholars on American politics, this undergraduate textbook argues that racial considerations are today-and have always been since the nation’s founding-central to understanding America’s political system writ large.…
It is an article of faith among ordinary Filipinos that American troops will die with Filipino troops defending Philippine claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea (SCS).…
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
The March article of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International is the first blog of the series. The blog is written by Dr Dami Ajayi, Specialty Doctor, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Trainee/Blog Editor, BJPsych International.…
The opportunity to showcase some of the exciting archaeological research currently underway on medieval Ethiopia in a journal as widely read as Antiquity is important.
This is the first post in our new series: “Conversations with Authors.” For our inaugural post, we asked Dr. Vesla Weaver to meet (virtually) with Dr.…
Q&A with Editor-in-Chief of the Precision Medicine Journal, Dame Anna Dominiczak, for International day of Women and Girls in Science
At the end of the Greek Bronze Age, between c.1400-1200 BCE, the Mycenaean palaces of Crete and mainland Greece used small clay tablets to keep their accounting documents.
Listen to @BBCRadio4's Start the Week, featuring @NineDotsPrize winner @jkkusiak, talking about her book, 'Radically Legal'. Learn how a group of ordinary people inspired the book when they reclaimed over 240,000 apartments back from corporate landlords 🔗
Start the Week - ‘Left behind’, but not forgotten - BBC Sounds
Tom Sutcliffe with Paul Collier, Joanna Kusiak and Matthew Xia.
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