Effects of roughage source, amount, and particle size on behavior and gastrointestinal health of veal calves.

The European Union 1997 Directive, stipulating that veal calves should be fed a minimum of 50 to 250 g of fibrous feed from 8 to 20 wk of age, is vague. A fibrous feed ration maximum of 250 g has been implicated in welfare issues, namely the occurrence of abnormal oral behaviors and poor gastrointestinal health. Past research suggests that this amount is insufficient to prevent the development of abnormal oral behaviors and enabling good rumen development.

Analysis of factors to predict piglet body weight at the end of the nursery phase.

In pig (Sus Scrofa) production, within-batch variation in bw gain of piglets during the nursery period (up to 10 wk of age) can be high and is of high economic importance. Homogeneity of BW within batches of animals is important as it influences the efficiency of use of the grower and finisher facilities, and provides an extra value for the fattening farms. In the current study, factors for a light BW at the end of the nursery period of pigs were determined by analyzing datasets from 3 different swine research centers in the Netherlands and France.

Lean meat prediction with HGP, CGM and CSB-Image-Meater, with prediction accuracy evaluated for different proportions of gilts, boars and castrated boars in the pig population.

Prediction equations for the percentage lean meat in pig carcasses in The Netherlands were derived for the Hennessy Grading Probe 7, Capteur Gras/Maigre--Sydel and CSB-Image-Meater. Because castrated males are expected to vanish from the Dutch pig population in the near future, accuracy of prediction was evaluated for different scenarios representing a wide range of different proportions for entire males, castrated males and females in the Dutch pig population. The prediction equations for the instruments are in compliance with the EC regulations for prediction accuracy for the different scenarios.

Effects of genetic origin and social environment on behavioral response to manual restraint and monoamine functioning in laying hens.

Purebred laying hen lines of White Leghorn (WL) origin have been found to be more flighty and to show more feather pecking than lines of Rhode Island Red (RIR) origin. It has been found, however, that when RIR birds were housed together with WL birds, RIR birds became more flighty and those mixed groups developed more feather damage than pure-line cage-housed groups. It is unknown, however, whether this effect of social environment is accompanied by changes in stress-related behavior and neurophysiological activity, which are assumed to be associated with increased feather damage.

Evaluation of three commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the detection of antibodies against Salmonella spp. in meat juice from finishing pigs in Spain.

The control of animal salmonellosis is considered as a major objective in Europe and indirect ELISAs will be important tools for the implementation of control programs for this infection in pigs. We analyse the results yielded by three commercial ELISAs (Herdcheck Swine Salmonella, SALMOTYPE Pig Screen, and PrioCHECK Salmonella) on meat juice samples from a population of slaughter pigs of Aragon, NW Spain, to assess their efficacy using traditional and latent-class approaches. Overall, the Herdcheck Swine Salmonella detected more Salmonella-infected pigs than the other two tests, but its relative sensitivity was low (65.