Day: May 12, 2023

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on 12 and 13 May 2023.

Chairman Osmani will meet with the members of the BiH Presidency, as well as with the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic.

He also plans to hold meetings with the members of the Collegium of both chambers of BiH Parliament.

A field visit to Mostar and Jablanica is also planned where the Chairman will meet the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordic, and the Mayor of Jablanica, Damir Šabanovic.

Along with a meeting planned with members of the Central Election Commission, the Chairman plans to hold talks with civil society representatives.

His trip will include meetings with the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH and mission staff. There will also be an opportunity to see first-hand the OSCE Mission’s work on the ground.

Source: EMM/ OSCE

The Teagasc Pig Development Department held their Pig Open Day this week over two locations, Moorepark Research and Innovation Centre, Fermoy, and Ballyhaise Agricultural College.

This was the first large in person pig research event since 2019. Delegates were welcomed to the event in Cavan by the Director of Teagasc, Professor Frank O’Mara, and in Cork by the Head of the Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation programme, Professor Laurence Shalloo. The opening session also included an overview of the research programme by the Head of the Pig Development Department, Dr Edgar Garcia Manzanilla.

Over 170 pig producers and industry stakeholders attended over the two day annual event. The format of the day comprised of a new structure, where attendees were guided through interactive stations. This provided an ideal opportunity for attendees to see first-hand the results of the comprehensive research programme undertaken by Teagasc, and to meet and discuss with the researchers, advisors and postgraduate students who carry out the work.

The interactive stations covered a wide range of topics covering many issues aiming to improve the sustainability of the Irish pig industry; managing the pig environment, improving pre- and post-weaning management and nutrition, managing disease, grower and finisher feeding, and the potential for developing added value pig products for the retail and export markets. Also included in the day was a viewing of the newest addition to the Teagasc Pig Research Facility, a state of the art finisher building tailored to conduct low emissions and high welfare research trials.

Speaking at the event, Dr Keelin O’Driscoll, Teagasc Researcher said; “The Teagasc Pig Department has a strong reputation both nationally and internationally in cutting edge pig research. However as well as showcasing our work, a main aim of the open days was to engage with our stakeholders so that going forward we can effectively target our programme to address their needs. We were absolutely delighted with the high attendance and constructive discussions at all the interactive stations.”

Source: EMM/ A&FDA

Teagasc and Dawn Meats, in collaboration with the Irish Farmers Journal and McDonalds, are delighted to welcome all farmers and stakeholders in the beef sector to the Newford Suckler Demonstration Farm Open Day on Tuesday, 23rd May in Athenry, Co. Galway from 2pm-6pm.

The theme on the day is ‘Meeting the Challenges’. The first open day took place in May 2016 and seven years on at the walk, the focus will be on all the changes and lessons learned since then.

The project was initially set up in 2015, for a seven-year term, in which the 100-cow suckler calf-to-beef demonstration farm has highlighted many positive features of the production system, with the herd excelling in breeding and calving performance with dramatic reductions in the ages that animals are slaughtered.

Improvements

The cow type - Angus and Hereford first-cross cows from the dairy herd - hasn’t changed since 2015. One of the biggest changes to come about during the project has been the move to 100% artificial insemination. This change has really driven on the performance of the farm and allowed better use of genetics, through matching good terminal beef sires with suitable cows to produce well shaped calves.

Last year the bull calves gained 1.30kg/day on average, while heifers averaged 1.23kg/day up to weaning. Newford’s 2021-born heifers were slaughtered under 18 months of age, with a carcass weight of 296kg, grading R-3=. This has obviously been a big talking point and achievement for the farm and showcases what is achievable when a system is operated efficiently. Steer slaughter performance has been fairly consistent over the last seven years, with animals finished at 20 months of age, producing R=3- carcasses weighing 342kg, which is on average eight months earlier than steers slaughtered at a national level.

Grassland management has been another big driver for the performance of these animals. The farm has 38 paddocks across the three land blocks and all of these can be subdivided using pigtails and a geared reel. Animals are always let graze covers of 1200-1500kg DM/ha, paddocks greater than 1,500kg DM/ha are removed as surplus bales to produce silage greater than 75% dry matter digestibility.

Graphic for Newford open day 2023

Sustainability measures

Newford Farm has continuously worked towards being more sustainable. A number of measures have been implemented on the farm in recent years. In May 2021, 20ac of grassland was oversown with white clover and a further 45ac was oversown in 2022. Oversowing clover has not only reduced the farm’s dependency on expensive chemical fertiliser, but clover also acts as a nectar source for bees during summer.

In spring 2023, 220m of native hedging consisting of whitethorn and blackthorn was sown, which will act as a corridor for wildlife and shelter for new-born cows and calves.

In 2022, Newford farm joined the Future Beef programme and Signpost Programme and with the help of the assigned programme advisors, Newford farm will demonstrate best practice regarding sustainable beef production by improving efficiency of the farm, improving biodiversity while increasing farm profitability.

Both programmes involve implementing a suite of measure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, focused around: reducing age of slaughter; implementing a herd health plan; increasing the length of the grazing season; using protected urea; reducing chemical fertiliser by 10kg per hectare; increasing soil fertility and pH; making better use of slurry through spreading an increasing proportion of the slurry in the spring and using low emission slurry spreading equipment (LESS).

Source: EMM/ A&FDA

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published the new Scientific Opinion on the Welfare of Pigs on Farm in August 2022. In this article, Laura Boyle discusses some of the implications of the findings for the welfare of weaners and rearing pigs.

General recommendations in the report for pigs prior to weaning relate to their need for adequate space and enrichment and not to have their teeth clipped or their tails docked. Also to the importance of applying preventative measures to avoid the need for these procedures in the first place. Thereafter, if the procedures are deemed necessary following comprehensive assessments of the risks, the report recommends that effective and practical methods of pain relief are employed.

This brings us to weaning. An extensive literature search was carried out to identify scientific evidence reporting welfare implications of weaning age and associated welfare indicators. The results focused on vocalisations (representing acute separation stress due to removal from the mother), enteric diseases/mortality, and belly-nosing. In general, the data on weaning ages greater than 28 days were lacking (belly-nosing) and/or highly variable (enteric disease/mortality). The relationship between separation stress and weaning age was such that over the range from 7 to 35 days, every 12 days of delayed weaning halved the acute stress experienced by piglets.

The data on mortality was complicated by the fact that later weaning ages are associated with a greater probability that a pig might die before weaning. Nevertheless, the available data suggested that there is little benefit in increasing weaning age above four weeks. Very early-weaned pigs perform belly-nosing after weaning, but it was not possible to determine at what age belly-nosing is reduced to a prevalence no greater than that seen in pigs under conditions of natural weaning. Hence the EFSA report does not recommend that the current minimum weaning age of 28 days be increased and also indicates the need for more research in this area.

However, there was evidence that the welfare benefits of increasing weaning age over the range between 21 and 28 days are meaningful as a result of the increasing maturity of behavioural, digestive and immunological systems during this period. Indeed the reality on commercial farms is that pigs are often weaned during this period, i.e. younger than 28 days of age. This is allowed due to the exception in the current legislation allowing earlier weaning in specific circumstances. The EFSA report therefore recommends that this special exception be reconsidered.

The scientific opinion also outlines several detrimental effects of artificial rearing on very early weaned piglets and recommends that it should only be used as a last resort and not as a routine management practice. It suggests that other measures should be prioritised, such as selection against extreme prolificacy to reduce numbers of surplus piglets, or the use of nurse sows.

Space allowance

The literature supports that if pigs do not have enough space they cannot perform highly motivated behaviours, including exploratory/foraging, social, resting and thermoregulatory behaviours, and they cannot maintain separate dunging and lying areas. Furthermore, reduced space allowance promotes aggression and tail biting, and compromises growth. The impact on pig welfare of insufficient space to perform thermoregulatory behaviour is greater at high ambient temperatures, where no other cooling mechanisms are in place. The space required to maintain hygiene is lower in fully slatted compared to other floor types and is greater at higher ambient temperatures. The report gives the following examples of how different space allowances influence tail biting and growth rates under different environmental conditions:

A minimum space allowance equal to k = 0.036 (representing 0.84 m2 for a 110 kg pig) was previously recommended by EFSA (2005) for thermoneutral conditions. At this space allowance, growth rate is less compromised (estimated as 57%) and tail biting is reduced (estimated as 48% relative to a k = 0.028 (which approximates the current legal minimum space allowance).

A minimum space allowance equivalent to a k value of 0.047 (representing 1.10m2 for a 110kg pig), was recommended by EFSA (2005) for temperatures above 25°C or for pigs above 110kg. At this space allowance, growth rate is even less compromised (estimated as 26%) and tail biting is further reduced (estimated as 17%) relative to a k = 0.028 (which approximates the current legal minimum space allowance).

EFSA conclude that the minimum space allowance should be increased relative to the current legal requirement to improve pig welfare, reduce tail biting behaviour and increase growth rate. They did not indicate a specific space allowance, which is understandable given how the optimal space allowance changes under different environmental conditions and importantly for different floor types.

In light of moves by several European countries to either phase out or abolish fully slatted floors for pigs, there is discussion on the appropriate level of solid flooring to provide in part-slatted systems. It is clear that pigs are more comfortable lying on solid flooring and the risk of tail biting is reduced with increasing proportion of solid flooring. Maintenance of hygiene on the solid portion of the floor is important but very challenging. This is influenced by the proportion of solid to slatted flooring, the pen layout, the nature of the airflow patterns and the ambient temperature. Because of these complications, EFSA were unable to define an area or percentage of solid floor in a partly-slatted system, which reconciles the possibly conflicting requirements of pig behaviour and hygiene. Hence the recommendations are:

Pigs should have a solid floor area equivalent to a k value of 0.033 (equal to 0.77 m2 for a 110-kg pig) to accommodate lying behaviour (under thermoneutral conditions), with additional space for activity, feeding/drinking and elimination.

Further research should be carried out to: a) Validate strategies for maintaining hygiene in partly slatted pens; b) Determine the effect of different degrees of perforation of the solid floor on pig comfort; and pen hygiene.

Environmental enrichment

As we know, current EU legislation already requires that pigs must have ‘permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities’ (Directive 2008/120/EC). For the 2022 Scientific Opinion, the EFSA panel experts ranked different enrichment materials in terms of attractiveness and likely efficacy in reducing tail damage based on the scientific literature and their experience with pigs in the field. The ranking was as follows:

Organic materials (e.g. mushroom compost, peat, green forages and silages) or straw mixed with maize silage, stimulate more investigation and manipulation activities than

long-cut straw offered as bedding,

chopped straw offered as bedding,

straw provided in a rack,

straw pressed into a block from a dispenser that requires extensive manipulation to obtain the substrate.

Destructible point-source materials provided loose on the floor or fixed on the pen walls (e.g. fresh wood, hessian sacks, jute ropes, floor toys made from natural rubber) were considered to be less attractive, as these materials become soiled and thus less interesting over time if they are not renewed regularly, and

inedible point-source enrichment-objects made of plastic or metal (i.e. hanging toys, plastic hoses and chains).

Hence the expert panel considered loose organic substrates, more effective in reducing tail biting than (a) enrichment materials which are suspended from a ceiling or fixed to a wall, and (b) pressed straw blocks and dispensers that require prolonged manipulation to obtain the substrate. Wood and rubber toys are not effective unless replaced regularly to maintain novelty.

Other conclusions were that a reduction in tail biting can be achieved in undocked pigs if they are offered 20g/day of straw or similar substrate. However, quantities that are larger (e.g. up to 400g/pig/day) are more effective. Ultimately recommendations in the report are that pigs are provided with such enrichment to reduce the risk of tail biting. Other recommendations centre on the need to maintain high herd health status, good ventilation, adequate feeding space and well formulated diets.

Source: EMM/ A&FDA

Changeable weather during the months of March and April delayed the closing of silage ground on most drystock farms, which may result in a later cutting date.

In this article, Gabriel Trayers outlines why high-quality silage (+70% DMD) is required for priority stock such as weanlings, finishing stock and autumn-calving cows. He also details how Future Beef Programme participants Michael and Niall Biggins have readjusted their plan to meet the feed requirements of both dry suckler cows and weanling heifers.

Following a delayed spring, silage reserves have become depleted on many farms. Many will push harvest date into June to make sufficient fodder and to rebuild reserves. However, this will result in a drop in silage quality to 68% DMD. This type of silage is fine for a spring-calving suckler herd, where the maintenance of body condition is the primary objective. Feeding this type of silage to weanlings, however, will result in additional supplementation rates to achieve the desired levels of winter weight gain.

Located just outside Glencorrib, south Mayo, Michael and Niall Biggins calve all their cows in spring. Calving, which is targeted to a 10-week window, commences at the beginning of February. The system is simple, selling quality bulls in late autumn and retaining the weanling heifers. These heifers are kept for the first winter. The plan going forward is to keep them until late spring or early summer, where they will be sold off grass. The weight of these heifers will have a major bearing on the price received.

The overall target is to have the heifers achieving at least 1kg/day since birth, with 0.6kg/head/day being achieved over the first winter. To achieve the latter target, they need high-quality silage (+70 DMD) to continue to grow over the housed period. If high-quality silage is not available, additional concentrate supplementation is required.

Gabriel Trayers and Michael and Niall Biggins pictured on farm

For example, heifers receiving a 66% DMD silage will need an additional +2kg of high-quality concentrate feed to maintain the growth levels required over the winter period. This adds to input costs, which could be saved by making high-quality silage.

With a spring-calving herd, cows need to be in a ‘fit condition’, calving at a body condition score of 2.5. Any score above that can lead to calving difficulties. Feeding high-quality silage to spring-calving cows could lead to an increase in body condition, so they need to be fed differently to the heifer weanlings on the farm. As a result, the plan is to make high-quality silage for the weanlings by cutting 14ac at the end of May. The remainder of the silage ground will be allowed to grow until the first week of June. This will be of lessor quality, but will be ideal for the cows next winter. The second cut will also be kept for the cows.

Challenges at closing

Closing ground to cut at the end of May has been a real challenge this year. A wet March delayed fertiliser applications. The 14ac earmarked for May silage had been grazed bare in February and 3000gals of slurry were applied in early April. To target cutting at the end of May, Michael and Niall reduced the chemical nitrogen application to 54 units, which was applied on April 15th. The slurry application added another 27 units of nitrogen/acre, giving a total nitrogen application of 81 units per acre. As a rule of thumb, grass growth will use two units of N per day. So this crop should be safe to cut in 40 days from the date of application.

Sugar and nitrate testing

Michael and Niall check the sugar and nitrate levels of their grass each year before cutting. They feel that this test will be particularly important this year due to the later application of fertiliser. Both sugar and nitrate levels are two important factors in achieving a good preservation at harvest.

When ensiling silage, the aim is to get the bacteria in the silage to convert the sugars available as quickly as possible to lactic acid to drop the pH of the silage to around 4. At this level, the silage is stable. The higher the sugar content, the more food for the bacteria and the quicker the pH drops. The target sugar content to ensure good fermentation is 3% or higher. Before harvesting the crop, Michael will bring a grass sample into his local Teagasc office. This grass will be tested using a refractometer to determine the sugar levels.

The possible high levels of nitrate is another concern, which can increase the buffering capacity, thus making it more difficult to reduce the pH level. This will also be checked in the local Teagasc office. If the nitrate test reading is high, the most likely cause is that not enough time has elapsed from the spreading date. In this case, cutting the crop may need to be delayed.

However, a delayed harvest will have consequences, as grass digestibility decreases by 2 to 3% units per week from the second-half of May. This decline reflects the increasing proportion of stem in the grass plant as the crop matures, typically:

A leafy sward with little or no stem should typically give a 75-80% DMD silage;

On the point of the seed head emerging (some stem), typically you should get 70-72% DMD;

If the seed head is emerging/emerged, silage quality will typically be less than 68% DMD.

Teagasc work has shown that if the sugar level is above 3%, with some nitrate, your preservation will be okay. To increase the sugar levels you can cut in the afternoon/evening, when the sugar levels have increased in the grass and wilt the silage to >28% DM to increase the sugar concentration. This will negate the effect of a high nitrate reading. However, if the sugar level is below 3% and the nitrate level is high, it is advised to wait until the sugar increases and the nitrate decreases.

Source: EMM/ A&FDA

On this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge, Edward Burgess, Agricultural Catchments Specialist, talks about minimising nitrate loss in farming to help improve water quality.

Edward first explains the Agricultural Catchments Programme, what it does and how it contributes to the body of evidence required to support changes to nitrate regulations within Ireland.

There will always be nitrate loss occurring regardless of the land use, he says, but it's important to minimise the amount of it in order to attain the standards required.

Explaining the rationale for the closed period, he says that half of the nitrate loss in catchments occurs during this time, which is generally only approximately a quarter of the year. Given this, it is important that levels of surplus nitrogen, which is nitrogen in excess of crop requirement, are kept to an absolute minimum at this time of year to keep the losses as low as possible.

Edward also encouraged farmers to assess their situations and make adjustments. This could include extra storage or planning to use organic nitrogen more efficiently during the growing season to minimise the quantites being spread late in the year.

However, he points out that there has been a consistent reduction in the losses in the Timoleague Catchment over the last four years, which certainly has in some part come about due to practice changes. If farmers continue to be prudent with their use of all nutrient sources on their farms, he says, then water quality can continue to move in the right direction without having to reduce stocking rate.

Source: EMM/ A&FDA