Animal health and welfare
FARM TO FORK: ANIMAL PRODUCTION
Animal health and welfare…
POULTRY
Poultry need proper nutrition that will provide them with the necessary nutrients for their development.
Initially vegetable foods are quite popular such as seeds, cereals, some vegetables and herbs. Their favorite corn and seeds, hemp, bran, oats and barley strengthen the hens by providing them with valuable nutrients and vitamins.
Then there are foods based on animal derivatives and here are included snails, insects, meat and bone meal, fish meal and of course milk.
HATCHING
One of the most important areas of the farm is the nursery of chicks.
Appropriate temperature and humidity conditions should be in place for newborns to grow safely until they are ready to be in the same place as large poultry
The direct introduction of a chick, after the incubator, into the adult flock would be disastrous. The birds as soon as they come out of the egg do not have any immune system which they should develop in the clean area of the nursery. Finally, their diet is completely different from that of adults and is subject to strict control.
The space of the nursery should be clean, large, airy and sunny. Also the large windows offer plenty of natural lighting and natural heat.
IDEAL LIVING CONDITIONS FOR POULTRY
An important part of the health of poultry is the environment. In addition to modern and clean interiors with plenty of light it is necessary to have an outdoor space where hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, quails, partridges and guinea fowl can spend most of the day. There, away from the noises of the city and the sounds of everyday life, all our birds grow up in a protected natural environment. Ideal living conditions for poultry
Sheeps - Greece
The sheeps’ holding place
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The bedding options of a sheep's holding place
The sheeps’ holding place
The sheeps’ holding place
The sheeps’ holding place
The sheeps’ holding place
Sheep milking
Sheep (and goats) have been milked for thousands of years, likely longer than any other animal. Many nations, particularly those in and near the Mediterranean Sea, have a thriving dairy sheep business. Sheep dairying is a modest portion of a small sector in the United States. The majority of sheep dairies in the United Areas are found in the Upper Midwest and New England states. At the same time, sheep dairies can be found in almost every state, and the sector has room to grow because the majority of sheep milk cheese is imported.
In a dairy sheep operation, the sheep are usually triple-purpose, but the emphasis is on milk production. Management decisions are usually made to maximize milk production. At the same time, lamb sales can contribute a significant amount of income to the dairy sheep enterprise, especially if lamb prices are high or if breeding stock can be sold for premium prices. Wool receipts are usually negligible unless fleeces are direct marketed or value is added to the clip. Sheep dairying is sometimes combined with agritourism.
Sheep milk is superior to the milk from goats and cows for cheese-making. It is much richer, containing a higher percentage of fat, solids, and protein. For this reason, sheep milk gives a much higher cheese yield than the milk from cows or goats. Yogurt and ice cream are also commonly made from sheep milk. Sheep milk is rarely consumed as fluid milk.
Though fresh milk is preferred, sheep milk can be frozen for up to a year without losing its cheese-making qualities. The freezing qualities of sheep milk allow producers to manage their milk supply easier. They can wait until they have enough milk to ship to a processor. The milk can be shipped on pallets to distant processors. It is usually frozen into 40-lb. bags.
Sheep shearing
Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a shearer. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or "sheared", depending upon dialect). The annual shearing most often occurs in a shearing shed, a facility especially designed to process often hundreds and sometimes more than 3,000 sheep per day.
Sheep shearing
Sheep are shorn in all seasons, depending on the climate, management requirements and the availability of a woolclasser and shearers. Ewes are normally shorn prior to lambing in the warmer months, but consideration is typically made as to the welfare of the lambs by not shearing during cold climate winters. However, in high country regions, pre lamb shearing encourages ewes to seek shelter among the hillsides so that newborn lambs aren't completely exposed to the elements. Shorn sheep tolerate frosts well, but young sheep especially will suffer in cold, wet windy weather (even in cold climate summers). In this event they are shedded for several nights until the weather clears. Some sheep may also be shorn with stud combs commonly known as cover combs which leave more wool on the animal in colder months, giving greater protection.Sheep shearing is also considered a sport with competitions held around the world.[3] It is often done between spring and summer.
Cattle
Cattle are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult males are referred to as bulls.
Cattle
Whether housed in tie stalls, free stalls or open lounging systems, in order to maximise performance and ensure satisfactory standards of welfare, the accommodation must provide for the animal’s basic needs. As an absolute minimum, the housing must provide a comfortable, clean, and welldrained dry lying area that provides shelter from adverse weather. The space provided should be enough that the animal can express behaviours that will allow it to be comfortable including standing, turning, scratching and lying.
Swines - Austria
MEASURES FOR MORE ANIMAL WELFARE IN PIG FARMING
The husbandry conditions of farm animals have become a concern of society. In this context, the objective measurement of animal welfare and the implementation of more animal welfare in the barn are topics in our society and for politics.
In order to arrive at reliable findings, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) supports research projects. In order to be able to put research results into practice, model and demonstration projects are funded in which farms can try out measures in animal husbandry - financially secured by the support. If these measures are successful, they can be passed on to other farms. We show a few examples from research and practice.
Animal welfare is very complex and consists of the following factors:
1. health and biological functionality,
2. the possibility of living out species-appropriate behaviour and
3. the state of mind.
Assessing the state of mind and positive emotions is currently a major challenge because its importance has only gained scientific recognition in recent decades. Only by taking positive emotions into account can animal welfare be made measurable overall.
Along with the increased interest of society and the current research goal of science to make animal welfare objectively measurable, the aim of the "FeelGood" project is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the emotionality of farm animals using the example of fattening pigs. In addition, suitable indicators are to be worked out, which enable a reliable recording of positive emotions.
THIS IS HOW THE PIGS LIVE IN THE ACTIVE BARN
This is animal welfare: The pigs at the Mörixmann family can move freely in different areas of the barn.
There is movement in the stable: romping, exploring, playing and rummaging. The 1,000 fattening pigs can independently explore the various stable areas via entrances and exits as well as stable hatches. And they do. This is confirmed by the farmer Gabriele Mörixmann, who runs her farm with a special type of pig fattening.
THE FATTENING PIGS CAN MOVE FREELY IN THE BARN
The pigs are divided into three groups, two groups of 400 animals and one group of 200 animals. The pigs can decide in which areas of the barn they are staying. For example, you can choose from a digging hall with bedding, a feeding hall with automatic feeding machines, a light-flooded area with drinking bar, a compartment with less window area as a retreat area, a ball bath with a digging corner and haylofts and a fresh air terrace.
Gabriele Mörixmann observes her animals distributing treats and sprinkling fresh straw. She attaches great importance to cleaning and hygiene, for example, the open-air terrace is cleaned twice a day, once a week with the high-pressure cleaner. She also cleans the tank troughs with standing water regularly.
TOYS AND EMPLOYMENT ARE WELCOME
The ball pool is open during the day, at night it is closed, so it remains interesting.
There are showers that are on for two hours on normal days. The showers and fogging in the area of the windows make it easier to keep the kotecken clean and provide cooling and bathing fun. On days with temperatures above 25 degrees, the showers run from morning to evening.
The large rooting area is also very popular – in the corners the animals put on a suhle. Chains, scouring beams softwoods, bedding and the water features serve as an occupation, so that no boredom arises.
AND THE PIGS BITE THEIR TAILS
To our question, Gabriele Mörixmann answers that she has not yet had a case of tail biting. In the event of occurrence, bays would be available for the segregation and care of the pigs. In autumn, Gabriele and Stefan Mörixmann will house pigs with ringed tails. This starts their ringtail experiment. "This is a huge challenge and we hope that everything goes well," says the farmer.
IT IS NOT FAR TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE
The pigs are slaughtered at a slaughterhouse 15 minutes away. The processing into various sausage products or freshly cut as a fillet or chop takes place in a butcher's family business nearby. The products can be purchased directly, but there is also a chilled fresh food shipment with which the goods are delivered. The price is about 40 percent above the normal price. But a "more animal welfare" is not to be had for free.
Videos:
Fish
Fish have been on the Earth for over 500 million years .A fish is an animal which lives and breathes in water and alll fish are vertebrates , most breathe through gills and have fins and scales.There are over 25,000 species and are divided into three main groups (jawless, cartilaginous, and bony).It is estimated that there may still be over 15,000 fish species that have not yet been identified.Fish eat other fish, fish eggs, mollusks, aquatic plants, algae, zooplankton, terrestrial insects, water birds, turtles, frogs and mice.
Bees-Serbia
CHOICE OF PLACE FOR BEEKEEPING
Types of beehives
What is killing the Bees? Save the Bees!
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/sustainable-agriculture/save-the-bees/
https://www.britannica.com/animal/bee
https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/bees
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Bees
http://www.poljoprivrednisavetnik.com/pcelarstvo-za-pocetnike.html
https://www.tehnologijahrane.com/knjiga/zivot-i-gajenje-pcela
Pesticides and Bees
Solutions that save the Bees
Pigs - France
Farming on slatted floors
The animals live in buildings with a slatted floor. This floor, called a slatted floor, allows the rapid evacuation of animal excrement and water from the floor into pits located in the lower part of the buildings. Pigs are animals that like to be clean: slatted floors meet this need by keeping the animals' living space clean at all times. The mixture of manure and water then flows into storage tanks: the slurry pits. The slurry is stored until the time is right to fertilise the crops. In France, 95% of pigs are raised in slatted houses. This is also the most common method of rearing pigs in Europe and the rest of the world.
Rearing in buildings on litter
As in slatted housing, pigs are kept in buildings with one difference: the floor is not open-worked but concreted and covered with bedding. This bedding is usually made of straw, but can also be made of sawdust or wood shavings. This type of rearing requires sufficient straw to be available and is more labour intensive as the bedding has to be changed regularly to keep the animals sufficiently clean. In addition, this system is often linked to specific quality approaches.
Free-range farming
In these farms, the animals are raised outdoors. As pigs are sensitive to temperature variations, they must be protected from cold and heat. The farmer therefore provides straw-bedded shelters inside with a sheet metal roof. He also puts up fences to protect against wild animals. This system of rearing requires sufficient land to ensure a rotation of the plots. Free-range farming is often linked to specific quality approaches.
Temperature
Pigs are very sensitive to temperature change. If outdoors in summer, pigs use mud as sunscreen to protect their fair skin. In colder weather they will require extra bedding to keep warm. Heat lamps will also be used indoors.
Foods
Pigs eat pork nuts (a pellet) which contains everything the pig needs to grow. Pigs that live outdoors also dig in the ground and eat everything they dig up, including worms and insects. They also eat vegetables.