Efeito da administração da hormona PGF2α nos problemas pós-parto, mais concretamente na retenção placentária em bovinos leiteiros

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Zootécnica/Produção Animal

Dynamics and diversity of Escherichia coli in animals and system management of the manure on a commercial farrow-to-finish pig farm

The objective of this study was to determine the dynamics and diversity of Escherichia coli populations in animal and environmental lines of a commercial farrow-to-finish pig farm in Spain along a full production cycle (July 2008 to July 2009), with special attention to antimicrobial resistance and the presence of integrons. In the animal line, a total of 256 isolates were collected from pregnant sows (10 samples and 20 isolates), 1-week-old piglets (20 samples and 40 isolates), unweaned piglets (20 samples and 38 isolates), growers (20 samples and 40 isolates), and the finishers' floor pen (6 samples and 118 isolates); from the underfloor pits and farm slurry tank environmental lines, 100 and 119 isolates, respectively, were collected. Our results showed that E. coli populations in the pig fecal microbiota and in the farm environment are highly dynamic and show high levels of diversity. These issues have been proven through DNA-based typing data (repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR [REP-PCR]) and phenotypic typing data (antimicrobial resistance profile comprising 19 antimicrobials). Clustering of the sampling groups based on their REP-PCR typing results showed that the spatial features (the line) had a stronger weight than the temporal features (sampling week) for the clustering of E. coli populations; this weight was less significant when clustering was performed based on resistotypes. Among animals, finishers harbored an E. coli population different from those of the remaining animal populations studied, considering REP-PCR fingerprints and resistotypes. This population, the most important from a public health perspective, demonstrated the lowest levels of antimicrobial resistance and integron presence.

Survey of quantitative antimicrobial consumption per production stage in farrow-to-finish pig farms in Spain

Objectives: To characterise antimicrobial use (AMU) per production stage in terms of drugs, routes of application, indications, duration and exposed animals in farrow-to-finish pig farms in Spain. Design: Survey using a questionnaire on AMU during the six months prior to the interview, administered in face-to-face interviews completed from April to October 2010. Participants: 108 potentially eligible farms covering all the country were selected using a multistage sampling methodology; of these, 33 were excluded because they did not fulfil the participation criteria and 49 were surveyed. Results: The rank of the most used antimicrobials per farm and production stage and administration route started with polymyxins (colistin) by feed during the growing and the preweaning phases, followed by β-lactams by feed during the growing and the preweaning phases and by injection during the preweaning phase. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that the growing stage (from weaning to the start of finishing) has the highest AMU according to different quantitative indicators (number of records, number of antimicrobials used, percentage of farms reporting use, relative number of exposed animals per farm and duration of exposure); feed is the administration route that produces the highest antimicrobial exposure based on the higher number of exposed animals and the longer duration of treatment; and there are large differences in AMU among individual pig farms.

Towards an assessment of on-farm niches for improved forages in Sud-Kivu, DR Congo

Inadequate quantity and quality of livestock feed is a persistent constraint to productivity for mixed crop-livestock farming in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. To assess on-farm niches of improved forages, demonstration trials and participatory on-farm research were conducted in four different sites. Forage legumes included Canavalia brasiliensis (CIAT 17009), Stylosanthes guianensis (CIAT 11995) and Desmodium uncinatum (cv. Silverleaf), while grasses were Guatemala grass (Tripsacum andersonii), Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) French Cameroon, and a local Napier line. Within the first six months, forage legumes adapted differently to the four sites with little differences among varieties, while forage grasses displayed higher variability in biomass production among varieties than among sites. Farmers’ ranking largely corresponded to herbage yield from the first cut, preferring Canavalia, Silverleaf desmodium and Napier French Cameroon. Choice of forages and integration into farming systems depended on land availability, soil erosion prevalence and livestock husbandry system. In erosion prone sites, 55–60% of farmers planted grasses on field edges and 16–30% as hedgerows for erosion control. 43% of farmers grew forages as intercrop with food crops such as maize and cassava, pointing to land scarcity. Only in the site with lower land pressure, 71% of farmers grew legumes as pure stand. When land tenure was not secured and livestock freely roaming, 75% of farmers preferred to grow annual forage legumes instead of perennial grasses. Future research should develop robust decision support for spatial and temporal integration of forage technologies into diverse smallholder cropping systems and agro-ecologies.

Potential mitigation of midwest grass-finished beef production emissions with soil carbon sequestration in the United States of America

Beef production can be environmentally detrimental due in large part to associated enteric methane (CH4) production, which contributes to climate change. However, beef production in well-managed grazing systems can aid in soil carbon sequestration (SCS), which is often ignored when assessing beef production impacts on climate change. To estimate the carbon footprint and climate change mitigation potential of upper Midwest grass-finished beef production systems, we conducted a partial life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing two grazing management strategies: 1) a non-irrigated, lightly-stocked (1.0 AU/ha), high-density (100,000 kg LW/ha) system (MOB) and 2) an irrigated, heavily-stocked (2.5 AU/ha), low-density (30,000 kg LW/ha) system (IRG). In each system, April-born steers were weaned in November, winter-backgrounded for 6 months and grazed until their endpoint the following November, with average slaughter age of 19 months and a 295 kg hot carcass weight. As the basis for the LCA, we used two years of data from Lake City Research Center, Lake City, MI. We included greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with enteric CH4, soil N2O and CH4 fluxes, alfalfa and mineral supplementation, and farm energy use. We also generated results from the LCA using the enteric emissions equations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We evaluated a range of potential rates of soil carbon (C) loss or gain of up to 3 Mg C ha-1 yr-1. Enteric CH4 had the largest impact on total emissions, but this varied by grazing system. Enteric CH4 composed 62 and 66% of emissions for IRG and MOB, respectively, on a land basis. Both MOB and IRG were net GHG sources when SCS was not considered. Our partial LCA indicated that when SCS potential was included, each grazing strategy could be an overall sink. Sensitivity analyses indicated that soil in the MOB and IRG systems would need to sequester 1 and 2 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 for a net zero GHG footprint, respectively. IPCC model estimates for enteric CH4 were similar to field estimates for the MOB system, but were higher for the IRG system, suggesting that 0.62 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 greater SCS would be needed to offset the animal emissions in this case.

Production Diseases in European Organic Dairy Farms – Current Status and Identification of Drivers for Improvement by Means of a Systemic Approach

The aims of this thesis were to determine the animal health status in organic dairy farms in Europe and to identify drivers for improving the current situation by means of a systemic approach. Prevalences of production diseases were determined in 192 herds in Germany, France, Spain, and Sweden (Paper I), and stakeholder consultations were performed to investigate potential drivers to improve animal health on the sector level (ibid.). Interactions between farm variables were assessed through impact analysis and evaluated to identify general system behaviour and classify components according to their outgoing and incoming impacts (Paper II-III). The mean values and variances of prevalences indicate that the common rules of organic dairy farming in Europe do not result in consistently low levels of production diseases. Stakeholders deemed it necessary to improve the current status and were generally in favour of establishing thresholds for the prevalence of production diseases in organic dairy herds as well as taking actions to improve farms below that threshold. In order to close the gap between the organic principle of health and the organic farming practice, there is the need to formulate a common objective of good animal health and to install instruments to ensure and prove that the aim is followed by all dairy farmers in Europe who sell their products under the organic label. Regular monitoring and evaluation of herd health performance based on reference values are considered preconditions for identifying farms not reaching the target and thus in need of improvement. Graph-based impact analysis was shown to be a suitable method for modeling and evaluating the manifold interactions between farm factors and for identifying the most influential components on the farm level taking into account direct and indirect impacts as well as impact strengths. Variables likely to affect the system as a whole, and the prevalence of production diseases in particular, varied largely between farms despite some general tendencies. This finding reflects the diversity of farm systems and underlines the importance of applying systemic approaches in health management. Reducing the complexity of farm systems and indicating farm-specific drivers, i.e. areas in a farm, where changes will have a large impact, the presented approach has the potential to complement and enrich current advisory practice and to support farmers’ decision-making in terms of animal health.

How can the land managers and his multi-stakeholder network at the farm level influence the multifunctional transitions pathways?

The changing role of agriculture is at the core of transition pathways in many rural areas. Productivism, post-productivism and multifunctionality have been targeted towards a possible conceptualization of the transition happening in rural areas. The factors of change, including productivist and post-productivist trends, are combined in various ways and have gone in quite diverse directions and intensities, in individual regions and localities. Even, in the same holding, productivist and post-productivist strategies can co-exist spatially, temporally, structurally, leading to a higher complexity in changing patterns. In south Portugal extensive landscapes, dominated by traditionally managed agro-forestry systems under a fuzzy land use pattern, multifunctionality at the farm level is indeed conducted by different stakeholders whose interests may or not converge: a multifunctional land management may indeed incorporate post-productivist and productivist agents. These stakeholders act under different levels of ownership, management and use, reflecting a particular land management dynamic, in which different interests may exist, from commercial production to a variety of other functions (hunting, bee-keeping, subsistence farming, etc.), influencing management at the farm level and its supposed transition trajectory. This multistakeholder dynamic is composed by the main land-manager (the one who takes the main decisions), sub land-managers (land-managers under the rules of the main land-manager), workers and users (locals or outsiders), whose interest and action within the holding may vary differently according to future (policy, market, etc.) trends, and therefore reflect more or less resilient systems. The goal of the proposed presentation is to describe the multi-stakeholder relations at the farm level, its spatial expression and the factors influencing the land management system resilience in face of the transition trends in place.

Creolo beans production systems in Juruá valley, Acre, Brazilian Amazon.

The Juruá valley mesoregion is recognized for its diversity of cultivars of common beans and cowpea and is an important center for on farm bean conservation in Brazil. However, there is little information about production systems of Creoles cultivars and, in this approach, the study aimed to identify the production centers and to gather information about beans production systems. Thirty eight farmers and five merchants were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaries. Juruá valley farmers use three beans production systems: "beach farming", "slash burn system" and "stuffy farming". The systems use family labor with low dependence on external inputs, two classified as itinerant. The study identified two beans production centers: Alto Juruá extractive reserve and Santa Luzia directed settlement project.

A Review: Livestock On-Station and On-Farm Trial

Scientist working in international livestock research are expected to be familiar with an interdisciplinary systems approach, and to work in multidisciplinary teams. The argument for this approach is that (1) discipline specialists are not equipped to understand the relationships between the components they focus on and the systems as a whole, (2) if the specialist operates in isolation from the other discipline, he/she is operating in isolation from the system and so the results may be irrelevant or, if applied, actually have a deleterious effect on the systems, (3) therefore, the specialist must understand the system through a  systems approach, a systems person, or the activities of a team. Applicants hoping to work in international livestock research are expected to have had project experience in the tropics, where the environment, culture, facilities and infrastructure  may be very different from that in Northern Europe. The purpose of this course is to familiarize student with the  multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary systems approach and to prepare them for their field projects in the tropics. (Animal Production 1(1) : 36-42 (1999).

Profit Analysis of Small Holder Dairy Cattle Farm on Group and Individual System in Banyumas Regency

This research is aimed to study production, technical and the profit of group and individual system on smallholder dairy cattle farm. The research has been conducted in Banyumas Regency. Data collection was done by surveying about 80 farmers, Unit Output Price Cobb-Douglas Profit Function estimation employed Ordinary Leas Square (OLS) method. The different of variable from the result of profit estimation. Profit function analysis on group system showed that manpower pay, animal age, lactation period, lactation month and farmer education have a significant influence on the profit. Whereas, on individual system influence of manpower pay, animal age and lactation month were significant on the profit. Dummy variable showed that group system has more profit than individual system, it was because on group system; (1) has cheaper price on forage and concentrate cost, (2) has higher average of production result, and (3) has higher price of  milk per unit. (Animal Production 4(2): 94-100 (2002) Key words : Profit, Group and Individual System

Financial Analysis of Dairy Cattle Farm on the Farming Company Level

This research was conducted to evaluate the feasibility level of dairy cattle farm on the farming company level especially from the financial aspects. Research was carried out from March to July 2003 in Rumeksa Mekaring Sabda dairy cattle farm company, Argomulyo District, Salatiga. Case study was used as research method. Collected data was tabulated and analyzed using financial analysis criteria (Return On Investment, Payback Period, Net Present Value, Benefit Cost Ratio and Internal Rate of Return). The result showed that ROI (20.44%) is higher than deposit interest  rate (8%). The length of payback period (3 years and 6 months) is faster than maximum period that was predicted by the company (5 years). NPV (Rp. 45,565,585.16) and BC Ratio (1.42) have positive and higher value (more than 1), respectively. IRR’s value (38.45%) is higher than credit interest rate (18%). Based on the results, it can be concluded that the company is feasible enough to continue the operational project. (Animal Production 7(1): 40-45 (2005) Key Words : Financial analysis, farming company, dairy cattle

Farmers’ Perception to The Role of Extension Workers on Kaligesing Goat Farm Management in Kaligesing, Purworejo

Abstract. The aims of this research were to describe the characteristics of Kaligesing goat farmers; to analyze the farmers’ perceptions on the role of extension workers as conduit of information, as mentors, organizers and dynamic factor, technicians and liaisons; to discover the relationship between the farmers’ characteristics with farmers’ perceptions; and to investigate the relationship between farmers’ perceptions to goat maintenance management. The respondents were goat farmers in Kaligesing, Purworejo, Central Java Province. Data were obtained from questionnaire survey method. Determining location, the research applied combination of stratified sampling method with purposive random sampling. Total respondents were 159 farmers with nine farmer groups as samples. Analysis was subject to Spearman Rank, resulting that age, education level and farming experience were not significant to the farmers’ perceptions to the role of extension workers, but the ownership of livestock had a very significant relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.240, group classes had also very significant relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.414, and frequency of meeting with extension workers have a significant relationships with a correlation coefficient of 0.202. Farmers’ perceptions to the role of extension workers had very significant relationships to the maintenance management with a correlation coefficient of 0.393. Key words : farmers’ characteristics, farmers’ perceptions, Kaligesing goat, role of extension workers Abstrak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik peternak, persepsi peternak terhadap peran penyuluh, hubungan antara karakteristik peternak dengan persepsi, dan hubungan antara persepsi peternak dengan manajemen pemeliharaan. Responden penelitian adalah peternak Kambing Kaligesing di Kecamatan Kaligesing Kabupaten Purworejo Jawa Tengah dengan metode penelitian survei kuesioner. Penentuan lokasi penelitian dengan kombinasi cara stratified sampling dan purposive random sampling. Jumlah kelompok tani sebagai sampel penelitian sebanyak sembilan kelompok dan jumlah total responden sebanyak 159 peternak. Analisis Rank Spearman digunakan untuk analisis data.  Hasil analisis menunjukkan  bahwa umur, tingkat pendidikan dan lama beternak tidak secara nyata memiliki hubungan dengan persepsi peternak terhadap peran penyuluh, sedangkan kepemilikan ternak memiliki hubungan sangat nyata (P<0,01) dengan nilai koefisien korelasi 0,240. Kelas kelompok memiliki hubungan sangat nyata (P<0,01) dengan nilai koefisien korelasi 0,414 dan frekuensi bertemu penyuluh memiliki hubungan nyata (P<0,05) dengan nilai koefisien korelasi 0,202. Persepsi peternak terhadap peran penyuluh memiliki hubungan sangat nyata (P<0,01) terhadap manajemen pemeliharaan dengan nilai koefisien korelasi 0,393Kata kunci:  karakteristik peternak, persepsi peternak, kambing Kaligesing, peran penyuluh