Sustainable agricultural production:an investigation in Brazilian semi-arid livestock farms

This paper investigates the environmental sustainability and competitiveness perceptions of small farmers in a region in northern Brazil. The main data collection instruments included a survey questionnaire and an analysis of the region's strategic plan. In total, ninety-nine goat and sheep breeding farmers were surveyed. Data analysis methods included descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and chi-squared tests. The main results relate to the impact of education, land size, and location on the farmers' perceptions of competitiveness and environmental issues. Farmers with longer periods of education have higher perception scores about business competitiveness and environmental sustainability than those with less formal education. Farmers who are working larger land areas also have higher scores than those with smaller farms. Lastly, location can yield factors that impact on farmers' perceptions. In our study, farmers located in Angicos and Lajes had higher perception scores than Pedro Avelino and Afonso Bezerra, despite the geographical proximity of these municipalities. On the other hand, three other profile variables did not impact on farmers' perceptions, namely: family income, dairy production volume, and associative condition. The authors believe the results and insights can be extended to livestock farming in other developing countries and contribute generally to fostering effective sustainable development policies, mainly in the agribusiness sector. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Review of industrial temperature measurement technologies and research priorities for the thermal characterisation of the factories of the future

As the largest source of dimensional measurement uncertainty, addressing the challenges of thermal variation is vital to ensure product and equipment integrity in the factories of the future. While it is possible to closely control room temperature, this is often not practical or economical to realise in all cases where inspection is required. This article reviews recent progress and trends in seven key commercially available industrial temperature measurement sensor technologies primarily in the range of 0 °C–50 °C for invasive, semi-invasive and non-invasive measurement. These sensors will ultimately be used to measure and model thermal variation in the assembly, test and integration environment. The intended applications for these technologies are presented alongside some consideration of measurement uncertainty requirements with regard to the thermal expansion of common materials. Research priorities are identified and discussed for each of the technologies as well as temperature measurement at large. Future developments are briefly discussed to provide some insight into which direction the development and application of temperature measurement technologies are likely to head.

Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector

Acknowledgements This paper constitutes an output of the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI funded DEVIL project (NE/M021327/1). Financial support from the CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the EU-FP7 AnimalChange project is also recognized. P.K.T. acknowledges the support of a CSIRO McMaster Research Fellowship.

Herd management and livestock productivity in the Altai region of Western Mongolia

This thesis analyses the influence of qualitative and quantitative herbage production on seasonal rangelands, and of herd and pasture use strategies on feed intake, body mass development and reproductive performance of sheep and goats in the Altai mountain region of Bulgan county (soum) in Khovd province (aimag). This westernmost county of Mongolia is characterized by a very poor road network and thus very difficult access to regional and national markets. The thesis explores in this localized context the current rural development, the economic settings and political measures that affect the traditional extensive livestock husbandry system and its importance for rural livelihoods. Livestock management practices still follow the traditional transhumant mode, fully relying on natural pasture. This renders animal feeding very vulnerable to the highly variable climatic conditions which is one of many reasons for gradually declining quantity and quality of pasture vegetation. Small ruminants, and especially goats, are the main important species securing economic viability of their owners’ livelihood, and they are well adapted to the harsh continental climate and the present low input management practices. It is likely that small ruminants will keep their vital role for the rural community in the future, since the weak local infrastructure and slow market developments currently do not allow many income diversification options. Since the profitability of a single animal is low, animal numbers tend to increase, whereas herd management does not change. Possibilities to improve the current livestock management and thus herders’ livelihoods in an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable manner are simulated through bio-economic modelling and the implications are discussed at the regional and national scale. To increase the welfare of the local population, a substantial infrastructural and market development is needed, which needs to be accompanied by suitable pasture management schemes and policies

Power control in cognitive radios, Internet-of Things (IoT) for factories and industrial automation

Cognitive radio (CR) is fast emerging as a promising technology that can meet the machine-to machine (M2M) communication requirements for spectrum utilization and power control for large number of machines/devices expected to be connected to the Internet-of Things (IoT). Power control in CR as a secondary user can been modelled as a non-cooperative game cost function to quantify and reduce its effects of interference while occupying the same spectrum as primary user without adversely affecting the required quality of service (QoS) in the network. In this paper a power loss exponent that factors in diverse operating environments for IoT is employed in the non-cooperative game cost function to quantify the required power of transmission in the network. The approach would enable various CRs to transmit with lesser power thereby saving battery consumption or increasing the number of secondary users thereby optimizing the network resources efficiently.

Cryptosporidiosis in farm livestock

Although diarrhoea caused by Cryptosporidium is prevalent in livestock species throughout the world relatively little is known about the species and subtypes of Cryptosporidium found in cattle on Scottish farms. In particular, little is known about the shedding profiles (age when calves become infected and duration of shedding) of the different species found in cattle and how calves become infected. There are several theories about how neonatal calves first become infected with the parasite but the role which adult cattle play in the transmission of the parasite has not been fully addressed. It was previously thought that adult cattle did not become infected with the same species of Cryptosporidium which causes disease in the young calves. Some studies have shown that this may not be true and with the advance of new techniques to discriminate species this is an area which should be revisited. In addition, it is known that it is possible for humans to become infected with Cryptosporidium and show clinical disease early in life and then again later in adulthood. In livestock however, diarrhoea caused by the parasite is generally only seen in neonatal livestock while older animals tend to be asymptomatic. It is not known if this resistance to clinical disease at an older age is due to changes in the host with an increase in age or if prior infection “immunises” the animal and provides protection against re-infection. It is also not known if infection with one isolate of C. parvum will provide protection against infection with another or if the protection formed is species/isolate specific. The main aims of this thesis were to: determine the species and subtypes of Cryptosporidium found in calves on a study farm over a one year period from birth; assess the role which adult cattle play in the transmission of the parasite to newborn calves; develop new typing tools to enable the rapid and easy differentiation of Cryptosporidium species found in cattle and to examine the host-pathogen interactions in animals given serial experimental challenges with distinct Cryptosporidium parvum isolates to determine if the resistance seen in older animals on farms is due to an increase in age or as a result of prior infection. iii A variety of different approaches were taken to achieve these aims. Longitudinal experiments carried out on a study farm revealed that in calves <9 weeks of age the most common species of Cryptosporidium is C. parvum and that all calves in the group became infected with Cryptosporidium within the first two weeks of life. Sample collection from the same animals later in life (at 6 months of age) showed that contrary to most previous studies the most common species detected at in this age group was also C. parvum although, interestingly, the subtype which the calves were shedding was not the same subtype that they were shedding previously. The longitudinal study which investigated the role of adult cattle in the transmission of Cryptosporidium also yielded some interesting results. It was found that most of the adult cattle on this farm were shedding Cryptosporidium albeit intermittently. Speciation of the positive samples revealed that, on this farm, the most predominant species of Cryptosporidium in adult cattle was also C. parvum. This is very unusual as most previous studies have not found this level of infection in older cattle and C. parvum is not usually found in this age group. A number of different subtypes were found in adult cattle and some animals shed more than one subtype over the course of the study. This contradicts prior findings which demonstrated that only one subtype is found on a single farm. The experimental infection trial involving infection of young (<1 week old) and older (6 week old) lambs with distinct C. parvum isolates demonstrated that an increase in age at primary infection reduces the effect of clinical disease. Animals which were infected at <1 week of age were re-challenged at 6 weeks of age with either a homologous or heterologous infection. Results revealed that previous exposure does not protect against re-infection with the same or a different isolate of C. parvum. This study also demonstrated that an increase in infective dose leads to a shorter pre-patent period and that there are variations in the clinical manifestations of different isolates of the same Cryptosporidium species.

Map showing the location of the butter and the cheese factories in the State of New York, U.S.A., 1889 /

Scale ca. 1:633,600.

Livestock newsletter

This weekly publication gives the auction prices for cattle, pigs and grain in South Carolina markets.

Livestock newsletter

This weekly publication gives the auction prices for cattle, pigs and grain in South Carolina markets.

Livestock newsletter

This weekly publication gives the auction prices for cattle, pigs and grain in South Carolina markets.

Livestock newsletter

This weekly publication gives the auction prices for cattle, pigs and grain in South Carolina markets.

Leptospirosis in northern Tanzania: exploring the role of rodents and ruminant livestock in a neglected public health problem

Leptospirosis is an important but neglected zoonotic disease that is often overlooked in Africa. Although comprehensive data on the incidence of human disease are lacking, robust evidence of infection has been demonstrated in people and animals from all regions of the continent. However, to date, there are few examples of direct epidemiological linkages between human disease and animal infection. In East Africa, awareness of the importance of human leptospirosis as a cause of non-malarial febrile illness is growing. In northern Tanzania, acute leptospirosis has been diagnosed in 9% of patients with severe febrile illness compared to only 2% with malaria. However, little is known about the relative importance of different potential animal hosts as sources of human infection in this area. This project was established to investigate the roles of rodents and ruminant livestock, important hosts of Leptospira in other settings, in the epidemiology of leptospirosis in northern Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey of rodents living in and around human settlements was performed alongside an abattoir survey of ruminant livestock. Unusual patterns of animal infection were detected by real-time PCR detection. Renal Leptospira infection was absent from rodents but was detected in cattle from several geographic areas. Infection was demonstrated for the first time in small ruminants sub-Saharan Africa. Two major Leptospira species and a novel Leptospira genotype were detected in livestock. L. borgpetersenii was seen only in cattle but L. kirschneri infection was detected in multiple livestock species (cattle, sheep and goats), suggesting that at least two distinct patterns of Leptospira infection occur in livestock in northern Tanzania. Analysis of samples from acute leptospirosis in febrile human patients could not detect Leptospira DNA by real-time PCR but identified social and behavioural factors that may limit the utility of acute-phase diagnostic tests in this community. Analysis of serological data revealed considerable overlap between serogroups detected in cattle and human leptospirosis cases. Human disease was most commonly attributed to the serogroups Mini and Australis, which were also predominant reactive serogroups in cattle. Collectively, the results of this study led to the hypothesis that livestock are an important reservoir of Leptospira infection for people in northern Tanzania. These results also challenge our understanding of the relationship between Leptospira and common invasive rodent species, which do not appear to maintain infection in this setting. Livestock Leptospira infection has substantial potential to affect the well-being of people in East Africa, through direct transmission of infection or through indirect effects on food production and economic security. Further research is needed to quantify the impact of livestock leptospirosis in Africa and to develop effective interventions for the control of human and animal disease.

Crop Insurance For Maryland Field Crops And Livestock

Multi-peril crop insurance is a valuable risk management tool which allows you to insure against losses on your farm due to adverse weather conditions, price fluctuations, and unavoidable pests and diseases. It shifts unavoidable production risks to an insurance company for the payment of a fixed amount of premium per acre. This publication assists readers in understanding the basics of the federal crop insurance program.