Animal Health, Welfare & Behaviour, Livestock, Pigs ›

Pig breed affects the risk of tail biting

posted April 16th, 2013

Take-home message: Genetics, breed and gender must be considered when estimating the effects of tail biting on production performance. Livestock Science 143 (2012) 220-225 Animal welfare is a key issue in domestic animal production and within the pig industry tail biting...

Beef, Food quality and security, Livestock ›

Meat quality from bulls, steers and heifers

posted April 9th, 2013

Take-home message: Bull beef is of inferior eating quality compared to that from steers and heifers. BSAS 143 Meat quality from bulls is poorer than that of steers and heifers, according to a commercial study led by Bruce Moss, from Northern...

Environment, Non-farmed species, Producers ›

Farming influences natural bird populations

posted April 2nd, 2013

Take-home message: Farming greatly influences natural bird populations in the UK and schemes are available to help farmers contribute towards saving the country’s wildlife.  Natural England (2011) Farmland wildlife populations have been declining over the past 40 years and the...

Animal Health, Welfare & Behaviour, Livestock, Pigs ›

Pig breed and housing effects on health and immune traits

posted March 26th, 2013

Take-home message: Selection for meat production traits is associated with increased susceptibility to environmental stressors.  Animal: Merlot et al. (2012) Different pig breeds react differently, at both endocrine and immune levels, to their housing environment, scientists have found. A study...

Beef, Livestock ›

Feed efficiency and fertility in bulls

posted March 19th, 2013

Take-home message: Residual feed intake (RFI) is not phenotypically associated with scrotum circumference (SC) or sperm motility, but is weakly associated with sperm morphology.  Journal of Animal Science: HAFLA et al. (2012) Feed intake is not genetically-linked to scrotal circumference...

Beef, Dairy, Livestock, Nutrition and Behaviour, Sheep ›

Potential of stearidonic acid to reduce methane emissions in ruminants using an in vitro model

posted March 12th, 2013

Take-home message: Stearidonic acid decreases the proportion of methane in fermentation gas without negatively affecting fermentation. BSAS 151 Supplementation of stearidonic acid, a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, could be a promising strategy to mitigate methane emissions in ruminants. In vitro trials,...

Beef, Livestock ›

Castration method on beef calf performance

posted March 5th, 2013

Take-home message: Castration may be accomplished by any method before or at weaning without sacrificing subsequent calf body weight gain and feed efficiency. Journal of Animal Science: WARNOCK et al. (2012) Castration method did not affect performance, daily feed or water...

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Breeding cattle for lower methane emissions

posted February 26th, 2013

Take-home Message: Genetic variation in methane yield highlights the possibility of breeding cattle for naturally lower methane emissions. BSAS 011 (2012) Selective breeding from cattle and sheep that are shown to naturally produce less methane is one promising way to achieve...

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Effects of housing system and genotype on pig performance and meat quality

posted February 19th, 2013

Take-home message: Less restrictive accommodation improves feed intake, growth rate and meat eating quality in two genotypes of pig.  Meat Science 88 (2011) 14-22 Pork eating-quality has been shown to be affected by production system, including differences in genotype, feeding,...

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Fostering methods used by UK sheep farmers and their attitudes towards them

posted February 15th, 2013

  Take-home message: Birth fluid and restraint are the most commonly used fostering methods amongst UK sheep farmers  Ward et al. (2011) Birthing fluid and ‘restraint’ are the most common methods used to foster lambs, according to a survey of UK sheep...