Animal Handling and Welfare
Animal Handling and Welfare
Farm Animals – Identification and validation of animal-based welfare indicators, including physiological measures. Development of housing systems for lactating sows and piglets with high animal welfare standards. Assessment and treatment of pain in farm animals.
Complementary Animals - Identification and validation of animal-based welfare indicators, including physiological measures. Behavioral changes caused by fear and anxiety in dogs and cats. Use of pheromones for the prevention and treatment of behavioral problems in dogs and cats.
Zoo animals -Identification and validation of animal-based welfare indicators, including physiological measures. Development of protocols to assess zoo animal welfare.
Researchers
Josep Gasa Gasó
Xavier Manteca Vilanova
Projects
Animal welfare and economic viability of intensive pig and beef farms
This project is funded by the Spanish Government and its general objective is to provide practical and scientifically based knowledge to pig and beef producers in order to overcome current challenges related to animal welfare. It has four specific objectives: (1) to compare different types of handling material for pigs from the point of view of animal welfare, performance and economic sustainability (2) to compare alternatives to conventional farrowing cages to improve sow welfare and their piglets with a system that is economically viable, competitive and easy to implement in practice (3) compare different bedding types for dairy cows and (4) provide practical recommendations on the amount of physically effective fiber needed to prevent subclinical acidosis in beef cattle.
Contact person: Xavier Manteca (Xavier.Manteca@uab.cat )
Use commercial farm databases as well as commercial farm trials to improve pig production
Before being successfully implemented, basic research sometimes needs to be validated under commercial conditions. Often the most useful way to conduct research with fattening pigs and breeding sows is to work with animals under commercial conditions. Indeed, analyzing and modeling data from commercial farms allows us to propose practical recommendations with imminent application in the field. This is particularly relevant for issues related to animal handling, welfare and feeding. In fact, we continue to participate in three specific lines: a) management and feeding of primiparous sows, b) handling and feeding of pregnant and lactating sows and c) developing models of pig growth and developing strategies for minimize variability between animals from birth to slaughter.
Some of the results published in recent years deal with: ¿¿a) the effect of colostrum and adoptions on weaned piglets and the sow at the end of lactation, b) the effect of the curve or the level of feeding during pregnancy on newborn and weaned piglets and on the sow throughout its productive cycle; c) the impact of the main production factors on feed intake, average daily growth and conversion rate of growing pigs.
Contact person: Josep Gasa (Josep.Gasa@uab.cat)
Cortisol in hair as a measure of chronic stress in domestic cats
Stress-related problems are very common in domestic cats and have a significant negative impact on both the cat's well-being and the human-animal bond, particularly when the stress is chronic. This project, funded by Purina, aims to validate cortisol in hair as a measure of chronic stress in cats with an owner. To do this, a hair sample will be obtained from a significant number of cats with owners who present behavioral problems related to stress, as well as from control cats. Cortisol concentration will be determined in order to (1) analyze whether the cortisol concentration is consistent over time in the same individual and (2) check whether stressed cats have significantly higher cortisol concentrations than non-stressed cats control
Contact person: Xavier Manteca (Xavier.Manteca@uab.cat )
Identification and validation of animal-based indicators to assess zoo animal welfare
Animal welfare has become a priority for modern zoos and aquariums. In order to identify problem areas and evaluate improvement strategies, scientific indicators of animal welfare are needed. The general objective of the present project is to identify and validate animal-based indicators (such as changes in behaviour, physiological parameters and/or information collected in registries such as longevity and disease prevalence) to assess welfare in different zoo animals. The project is carried out in collaboration with various zoological institutions in Spain and abroad. Initially, the project will focus on marine mammals but it is expected that in the near future it will also cover other taxonomic groups.
Contact person: Xavier Manteca (Xavier.Manteca@uab.cat )
Development of different animal identification systems (ronal pens, injectable transponders and tag transponders) for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, to guarantee the traceability of animals and animal products
Researcher
Gerardo Caja López
Projects
Development of sensor technology suitable for monitoring the feeding and behavior of small dairy ruminants. Cost Action FA1308 DairyCare SWIG
The project specifically targets an area of interest with results related to the control of well-being and eating behavior. It will focus directly on a miniaturized bolus to monitor and quantify processes associated with rumen function and activity in dairy sheep and goats. The project is of great relevance to the area of development of sensors and monitoring/detection models as they are specific to each species and operating conditions. To this end, the research team will produce a suitable bowl and suitable software to collect and model the rumen function and feeding behavior of dairy sheep and goats under extreme feeding and management conditions.
Contact person: Gerardo Caja (Gerardo.Caja@uab.cat)
Bioclimatic effects in sheep and goats: response levels, sensor development and new control strategies. AGL2013-44061-R. Ministeri d'Economia i Competitivitat MINECO (2016-2017)
Spain's climatic diversity and the threat of climate change, with rising temperatures and the appearance of heat and cold waves on unpredictable dates, are a concern for the agricultural sector. The impact of these changes on the population of Spanish sheep and goats, in production under different conditions and with different aptitudes, is unknown. This project prioritizes the study of bioclimatic effects on dairy sheep and goats, and addresses 8 experimental objectives, divided into 2 research areas (A, animal; B, sensors), as follows: A1) search for indicators of heat and cold stress, A2) evaluation of the effects of shearing under thermal stress (summer) and cold conditions (winter); A3) assessment of epigenetic and immunological effects of heat stress; A4) evaluation of new feeding strategies to mitigate the effects of heat stress; B1) develop radio frequency networks to connect instrumentation nodes; B2) development of ruminal sensors; B3) development of instrumentation to determine position and activity; B4), design and implementation of an energy recovery to replace ruminal boluses battery.
Contact person: Ahmed Salama (Ahmed.Salama@uab.cat)
Structural characterization of production systems and study of production costs in livestock farms. Establishment of typologies to represent the characteristics of the different types of farms and systems in use.
Researchers
Jordi Bartolomé Filella
Josep Gasa Gasó
María José Milán Sendra
Josepa Plaixats Boixadera
Projects
Competitiveness of the dairy sector: from data to decisions
The dairy sector is facing difficulties due to the reduction in milk prices and the increase in the cost of feed. The need to improve the competitiveness of the dairy company requires decisions that are often difficult to evaluate because they are highly dependent on many economic and technical factors and their interactions. The aim of this project is to integrate animal knowledge, on-farm data from milking machines, management software and sensors, along with artificial intelligence techniques to develop an application to produce additional knowledge (scientific objective) and recommend actions at agricultural level (applied objective). The project is structured in four main tasks: 1) Automated data collection from the different platforms and their consolidation in a single database; 2) Application of artificial intelligence techniques to develop a knowledge-based system to interpret farm data. We propose using different methodologies such as neural networks, machine learning, data mining and knowledge discovery. The system will provide recommendations for actions that will be evaluated based on uncertain risk, risk and economic; 3) Validation of the system under field conditions by implementing the knowledge system in three farms; and 4) Development of a software application in a web environment that allows for easy access and use by professionals.
Contact person: J. Francisco Pérez Hernández (josefrancisco.perez@uab.cat)
Smart livestock or precision livestock can offer real-time and continuous monitoring of animals, with the aim of being able to act immediately when something goes wrong or analyze the evolution of the data to make future decisions. Automation and the integration of technology in livestock farming will make intensification compatible with sustainable environmental growth that respects animal and human welfare. However, it would be interesting to delve deeper into the implementation, adaptation and validation of existing technology in livestock farming so that it is economically profitable, as well as the valorization of existing data and its treatment using computational tools that allow decision-making.
Researchers
Gerardo Caja López
Lorena Castillejos Velázquez
Projects
Smart and profitable technology of Catalan farms to improve the efficiency and well-being of animals and farmers (SMARTFARM, COMRDI16-1-0032)
The increasing globalization of markets worldwide, both in terms of raw materials and products of animal origin (meat, eggs, milk), demands from companies a permanent improvement of their competitiveness, while society demands the consideration and integration of other factors in the production system such as: more efficient and sustainable production, reduction of environmental impact, improvement of food safety and quality, and improvement of animal welfare.
The Catalan livestock sector has identified different objectives that would contribute decisively to increasing its competitiveness and sustainability. One of these objectives is to improve the technology of livestock farms through the techniques known as "smart farming". These techniques include, among other actions, the collection, processing and analysis of data on livestock farms. With the help of TFT (Transversal Enabling Technologies), the SMARTFARM project aims to achieve:
- A precise control of animal feeding with the aim of reducing the total cost of production
- An efficient control of environmental pollutants that allows you to know and reduce their impact on the environment
- An increase in the homogeneity of the animals in each batch, with the aim of reducing economic losses
- An early identification of animal diseases, which allows to increase the productive performance and welfare of the livestock
- An integrated management of the data that is generated in an operation to improve decision-making
The SMARTFARM project implies a simultaneous improvement of four key aspects for the livestock sector:
- The improvement of food efficiency and therefore a reduction of costs
- The significant reduction of the environmental impact of current production systems
- Increased food safety and animal welfare
- Improving the profitability of farms through the integration of available information
Contact person: Lorena Castillejos (Lorena.castillejos@uab.cat)