No abstract

No abstract

ABSTRACT:Despite dairy farmers' awareness of the importance of correct bedding for the health and comfort of their cows, they are often frugal with respect to these bedding materials in order to reduce costs. In addition, farmers are currently dependent on the availability and price fluctuations of traditional bedding materials. For these reasons, the scientific literature as well as the trade press point to an intensifying search for affordable alternative bedding materials. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Miscanthus, a woody grass that requires low input but generates high yield, could replace straw in deep little dairy cow cubicles. The cows' cubicles were lined for two consecutive 14-day periods with straw/chalk/water bedding, followed by two consecutive 14-day periods with ground-Miscanthus/chalk bedding. No significant differences were found in the following parameters: loss/ waste of bedding material, bacterial growth in cubicles, cow skin lesions (except for carpus lesions), cow cleanliness or cow comfort. Dust concentrations measured as PM 10 were higher when cubicles were filled with strawbased bedding, but never exceeded workspace quality safety limits. Based on these results, one can conclude that Miscanthus has potential as a viable alternative to straw when used as a bedding material. On-farm cultivation of Miscanthus may increase dairy farmer self-sufficiency and could reduce bedding costs. Keywords: bedding material; cow comfort; bacterial loadList of abbreviations ADF = acid detergent fibre, ADL = acid detergent lignin, CCI = cow comfort index, DM = dry matter, NDF = neutral detergent fibre, PM = particulate matter, SUI = stall use index

No abstract

This study evaluated the effect of feed form and grinding intensity of the pig diet and the interaction between both on the particulate matter (PM) concentrations inside a pig nursery and the growth performances of weanling pigs. Four diets were compared: finely ground meal, coarsely ground meal, finely ground pellets, and coarsely ground pellets. Four weaning rounds with 144 pigs per weaning round, divided over 4 identical compartments, were monitored. Within each weaning round, each compartment was randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments. A hammer mill with a screen of 1.5 or 6 mm was used to grind the ingredients of the finely ground and coarsely ground feeds, respectively. Indoor concentrations of the following PM fractions were measured: PM that passes through a size-selective inlet with a 50 % efficiency cutoff at 10 (PM10) , 2.5 (PM2.5), or 1 (PM1) μm aerodynamic diameter, respectively (USEPA, 2004). Feeding pelleted diets instead of meal diets gave rise to higher PM10 (P < 0.001), PM2.5 (P < 0.001), and PM1 (P < 0.001) concentrations. Grinding intensity had an effect only on PM10 (P < 0.05) concentrations. No interaction between feed form and grinding intensity was found for any of the PM fractions. Interactions (P < 0.05) between feed form and grinding intensity on ADFI and ADG were found. Grinding intensity had an effect only on the meal diets with higher ADFI for the coarsely ground meal. Pigs fed the finely ground meal had a lower (P < 0.001) ADG than the other 3 diets. Feed efficiency was influenced only by the feed form (P < 0.001) and not by the grinding intensity. Pelleting the feed gave rise to a higher G:F. In conclusion, a contradiction between environmental concerns and performance results was found. Feeding pelleted diets to the piglets improved growth performance but also increased indoor PM concentrations.