• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.237-250
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• 2024

The emission of noxious gases is a significant problem in pig production, as it can lead to poor production, welfare concerns, and environmental pollution. The noxious gases are the gasses emitted from the pig manure that contribute to air pollution. The increased concentration of various harmful gasses can pose health risks to both animals and humans. The major gases produced in the pig farm include methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and volatile fatty acids, which are mainly derived from the fermentation of undigested or poorly digested nutrients. Nowadays research has focused on more holistic approaches to obtain a healthy farm environment that helps animal production. The use of probiotics, prebiotics, dietary enzymes, and medicinal plants in animal diets has been explored as a means of reducing harmful gas emissions. This review paper focuses on the harmful gas emissions from pig farm, the mechanisms of gas production, and strategies for reducing these emissions. Additionally, various methods for reducing gas in pigs, including probiotic interventions; prebiotic interventions, dietary enzymes supplementation, and use of medicinal plants and organic acids are discussed. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge on reducing noxious gas in pigs and offers valuable insights for pig producers, nutritionists, and researchers working in this area.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.867-878
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• 2020

A significant proportion of the African continent is conducive for animal agricultural production, due to its historical experience and available resources to accommodate and nurture various indigenous and exotic animal species and breeds. With food security being a global challenge, animal products can play an important role as nutrient dense food sources in human diets, particularly in Africa. However, this does not seem to reach its full potential in practice, due to numerous reasons that have not been adequately addressed. Animal welfare reservations can be highlighted as one of the major contributing factors to the curbed progress. The consequences have been scientifically proven to affect product quality and market access. However, in the African community, the concept of animal welfare has not been fully embraced. While there are international animal welfare standards in the developed world, there are inherent factors that hinder adoption of such initiatives in most developing regions, particularly among communal farmers. These include cultural norms and practices, social ranking, socio-economic status, available resources, information dissemination and monitoring tools. Therefore, there is need to harmonize what is internationally required and what is feasible to accommodate global variability. The protocols followed to ensure and evaluate farm animal welfare require regular investigation, innovation and a sustainable approach to enhance animal productivity, efficiency and product quality. Additionally, investing in animal wellbeing and health, as well as empowering communities with significant knowledge, has a potential to improve African livelihoods and contribute to food security. This review seeks to highlight the concept of animal welfare in relation to livestock and food production in African conditions.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2013

We conducted investigations of the information and welfare of broiler chickens in Korea. The livestock housing of all broiler chicken farms were windowless type, bell feeder and nipple waterer were used, and stocking density was relatively higher (ranging from 18.2 $birds/m^2$ to 24.2 $birds/m^2$) than RSPCA's welfare standards for chicken hens (less than 19 $birds/m^2$). The ratios of sandwich panel, urethane form, slate, and steel plate in roofing materials were 61%, 21%, 13%, and 5%, respectively. The ratios of sandwich panel, urethane form, brick, and steel plate in wall materials were 61%, 21%, 13%, and 5%, respectively. The ratios of soil and concrete in flooring materials were 10% and 90%. The mist spray, fan, and cooling pad in cooling facilities were 42%, 32%, and 26%, respectively. Thus we believe that present data contribute to develop the animal welfare certification for broiler chickens and to improve animal welfare in Korea.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1817-1826
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• 2022

Public concern on the methods of raising food-producing animals has increased, especially in the last two decades, leading to voluntary and mandated changes in the animal production methods. The primary objective of these changes is to improve the welfare of farm animals. The use of gestational stalls is currently a major welfare issue in swine production. Several studies assessed the welfare of alternative housing systems for gestating sows. A comparative study was performed with gestating sows housed in either individual stalls or in groups in a pen with an electronic sow feeder. This review assessed the welfare of each housing system using physiological, behavioral, and reproductive performance criteria. The current review identified clear advantages and disadvantages of each housing system. Individual stall housing allowed each sow to be given an individually tailored diet without competition, but the sows had behavioral restrictions and showed stereotypical behaviors (e.g., bar biting, nosing, palate grinding, etc.). Group-housed sows had increased opportunities to display such behavior (e.g., ability to move around and social interactions); however, a higher prevalence of aggressive behavior, especially first mixing in static group type, caused a negative impact on longevity (more body lesions, scratch and bite injuries, and lameness, especially in subordinate sows). Conclusively, a more segmented and diversified welfare assessment could be beneficial for a precise evaluation of each housing system for sows. Further efforts should be made to reduce aggression-driven injuries and design housing systems (feeding regimen, floor, bedding, etc.) to improve the welfare of group-housed sows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.755-764
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• 2017

The current review seeks to highlight the concerns that have been raised on pre-slaughter stress, contributing factors and its consequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and the quality of beef; inter-linking the activities involved from birth to slaughter. Such information is crucial in light of the consumer concerns on overall animal welfare, quality of meat and food security. Slaughter animals are exposed to different conditions during production and transportation to abattoirs on a daily basis. However; the majority of studies that have been done previously singled out different environments in the meat production chain, while conclusions have been made that the welfare of slaughter animals and the quality of meat harvested from them is dependent on the whole chain. Behaviour is a critical component used to evaluate the animals' wellbeing and it has been reported to have an effect on product quality. Apart from the influence of on-farm, transportation and abattoir conditions, the genetic background of the animal also affects how it perceives and responds to certain encounters. Stress activates the animals' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, triggering release of various stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol, thus glycogen depletion prior slaughter, elevated ultimate pH and poor muscle-meat conversion. Pre-slaughter stress sometimes results to cattle attaining bruises, resulting to the affected parts of the carcass being trimmed and condemned for human consumption, downgrading of the carcass and thus profit losses.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.129-154
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• 2006

Last year, over 800 Australian live cattle were imported, underwent quarantine procedure for one month in the port of Incheon and Busan and distributed to general farm house holds in Gyeongju city, Gyeongbuk province, and Gimhae city, Namhae county, Gyeongnam province. But Hanwoo association took violent actions to prevent from entering the country for fear that the imported live cattle would destroy the 'Hanwoo industry', and in turn leads to the collapse of the industry. In Australia, national animal protection body 'Animals Australia' investigated the level of cruelty involved in this trade and made a report 'The death file'. Australia governments drive to expand Its market for 'live animal exports' and it has resulted in a corresponding increase In casualties associated with the long-haul overseas trade in live livestock animals over the past years. After the stress of transportation, all the surviving cattle and sheep face death on foreign soil, many into countries which have no animal welfare laws or, at best, inadequate laws. They will usually be killed without pre-stunning and often even without adequate restraint facilities. The result is inherent and persistent suffering. West Australian(WA) Police acting on behalf of the West Australian Government and the Office of the WA State Solicitor have laid animal cruelty charges against a leading WA live export company for breaching the WA Animal Welfare Act. With the aim of eventually substituting it for the live sheep trade, the Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare (SCCAW) recommended that the Federal Government 'promote and encourage the expansion of the refrigerated sheep meat trade to the Middle East and other countries'. Animal welfare standards have been improved time after time, there is another incident, another public outcry, another inquiry and more assurances.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.878-889
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• 2023

Animal welfare during transport became an largely issue because of increasing demand for improved animal welfare standards. Most studies on the animal welfare during transportation have concentrated on the atmosphere and the temperature of the truck compartments. Thus, the objective of study was to collect and quantify three axis acceleration and determine the effect of bedding for transporting pigs from farm to slaughterhouse. A total of 2,840 crossbred fattening pigs with a live weight of approximately 115 kg were used. They were raised in the same commercial farms and transported to the same commercial slaughterhouse. A 3×2×2 completely randomized factorial design was used to investigate effects of rubber type bedding (bedding or non-bedding) and two levels of driving style (aggressive or normal) in three different time periods with different outside temperatures. Air temperature treatments were as follow: high temperature ([HT] higher than 24℃); low temperature ([LT] lower than 10℃); normal temperature ([NT] 10℃ to 24℃). In our experiment, pigs transported under aggressive driving style showed lower (p < 0.05) pH and water holding capacity (WHC) than those transported under normal driving style. Pigs transported under normal driving style showed a lower percentage of drip loss (DL) (p < 0.05) than those transported with an aggressive driving style. Also, transported with bedding showed higher (p < 0.05) lying behavior but lower (p < 0.05) sitting behavior than those transported without bedding. Pigs transported under normal driving style showed lower (p < 0.05) cortisol level than those transported under aggressive driving style. In conclusion, aggressive driving style cause acute stress in pigs, while bedding helps alleviate acute stress in pigs during transportation in LT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.37-43
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• 2001

1. About fifty thousand of cattle embryos were transferred and 16000 ET-calves were born in 1999. Eighty percents of embryos were collected from Japanese Black beef donors and transferred to dairy Holstein heifers and cows. Since 1985, we have achieved in bovine in vitro fertilization using immature oocytes collected from ovaries of slaughterhouse. Now over 8000 embryos fertilized by Japanese Black bull, as Kitaguni 7~8 or Mitsufuku, famousbulls as high marbling score of progeny tests were sold to dairy farmers and transferred to their dairy cattle every year. 2. Embryo splitting for identical twins is demonstrated an useful tool to supply a bull for semen collection and a steer for beef performance test. According to the data of Dr. Hashiyada(2001), 296 pairs of split-half embryos were transferred to recipients and 98 gave births of 112 calves (23 pairs of identical twins and 66 singletons). 3. A blastomere-nuclear-transferred cloned calf was born in 1990 by a joint research with Drs. Tsunoda, National Institute of Animal Industry (NIAI) and Ushijima, Chiba Prefectural Farm Animal Center. The fruits of this technology were applied to the production of a calf from a cell of long-term-cultured inner cell mass (1988, Itoh et al, ZEN-NOH Central Research Institute for Feed and Livestock) and a cloned calf from three-successive-cloning (1997, Tsunoda et al.). According to the survey of MAFF of Japan, over 500 calves were born until this year and a glaf of them were already brought to the market for beef. 4. After the report of "Dolly", in February 1997, the first somatic cell clone female calves were born in July 1998 as the fruits of the joint research organized by Dr. Tsunoda in Kinki University (Kato et al, 2000). The male calves were born in August and September 1998 by the collaboration with NIAI and Kagoshima Prefecture. Then 244 calves, four pigs and a kid of goat were now born in 36 institutes of Japan. 5. Somatic cell cloning in farm animal production will bring us as effective reproductive method of elite-dairy- cows, super-cows and excellent bulls. The effect of making copy farm animal is also related to the reservation of genetic resources and re-creation of a male bull from a castrated steer of excellent marbling beef. Cloning of genetically modified animals is most promising to making pig organs transplant to people and providing protein drugs in milk of pig, goat and cattle. 6. Farm animal cloning is one of the most dreamful technologies of 21th century. It is necessary to develop this technology more efficient and stable as realistic technology of the farm animal production. We are making researches related to the best condition of donor cells for high productivity of cloning, genetic analysis of cloned animals, growth and performance abilities of clone cattle and pathological and genetical analysis of high rates of abortion and stillbirth of clone calves (about 30% of periparutum mortality). 7. It is requested in the report of Ministry of Health, labor and Welfare to make clear that carbon-copy cattle(somatic cell clone cattle) are safe and heathy for a commercial market since the somatic cell cloning is a completely new technology. Fattened beef steers (well-proved normal growth) and milking cows(shown a good fertility) are now provided for the assessment of food safety.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.564-573
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• 2022

In this study, considering the difficulties for all farms to convert farm styles to animal welfare-based housing, an experiment was performed to observe the changes in the behavior and welfare of sows when the slat floor was changed to a collective breeding ground. Twenty-eight sows used in this study were between the second and fifth parities to minimize the influence of parity. Using a flats floor cover, the flattening rates were treated as 0%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%. Data collection was the behavior of sows visually observed using a camera (e.g., standing, lying, fighting and excessive biting behaviors, and abnormal behaviors) and the animal welfare level measured through field visits. Lying behavior was found to be higher (p < 0.01) as the flattening rate increased, and sows lying on the slatted cover also increased as the flattening rate increased (p < 0.01). Fighting behavior wasincreased when the flattening rate was increased to 20%, and chewing behavior was increased (p < 0.05) as the flattening rate increased. The animal welfare level of sows, 'good feeding', it was found that all treatment groups for body condition score and water were good at 100 (p < 0.05). 'Good housing' was the maximum value (100) in each treatment group. As the percentage of floor increased, the minimum good housing was increased from 78 in 0% flattening rate to 96 in 50% flattening rate. The maximum (100) 'good health' was achieved in the 0% and 20% flattening rates, and it was 98, 98, and 99 in the 30%, 50%, and 40% flattening rate, respectively. 'Appropriate behavior' score was significantly lower than that of other paremeters, but when the flattening ratio was 0% and 20%, the maximum and minimum values were 10. At 40% and 50%, the maximum values were 39 and 49, respectively, and the minimum values were analyzed as 19 for both 40% and 50%. These results will be used as basic data about sow welfare for farmers to successfully transition to group housing and flat floors.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the detection rate and serotypes of Salmonella spp. in conventional and welfare poultry farms. Ten welfare (five layer and five broiler) and 15 conventional farms (five layer and ten broiler farms) were visited to collect environmental samples for identification and serotyping of Salmonella spp. The detection rate of Salmonella spp. was higher in the welfare farms than in conventional farms in both layer and broiler farms. In layer farms, Salmonella spp. was detected in 0.76% (1 out of 130) of samples from one of five welfare layer farms, but was not detected in the five in conventional layer farms. No significan ifference (P>0.05) was observed between the welfare and conventional layer farms. In broiler farms, Salmonella spp. was detected in 10.5% (21 out of 200) of samples from four of five welfare broiler farms and 3.5% (7 out of 200) of samples from five of ten conventional broiler farms, and a significant difference (p <0.05) was observed between the welfare and conventional broiler farms. Among 29 Salmonella spp. isolates, five isolates were serotyped to Salmonella enterica subsp. Enteritidis (n=2), Salmonella enterica subsp. Grampian (n=1), Salmonella enterica subsp. Virchow (n=1), and Salmonella enterica subsp. Senftenberg (n=1). These results suggest that microbial risks could be higher in welfare farms than in conventional farms due to easy access to open-air areas, environmental enrichment, and reduced use of antibiotics. Therefore, continuous monitoring and surveillance for Salmonella spp. is necessary to improve the microbiological safety of poultry meat.