Livestock Innovation

January 10, 2022

Dairy cattle grazing

That's a lot of zeros

CEO commentary by Mike McMorris, January 2022: Most Ontario producers will not have heard of FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return). a collaborative investor network based in London, UK with forty-five trillion dollars ($45,000,000,000,000) under management. Their analysis and perspective may carry weight into the future.

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Coming events

January 13: Join us for our latest Horizon Series webinar: "Embracing disruptors facing Ontario's livestock industry". Deb Stark, former Deputy  Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, will discuss disruptive innovation for the livestock sector.

Click here to register

January 25: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada cluster priorities and evaluation session

Click here to register

LRIC in the news

Ontario Hog Farmer, December 2021: University of Guelph decision support system could predict the next pandemic

Canadian Poultry, January 2022: Predicting the next pandemic

Sector-specific

Poultry: E.coli vaccination can boost egg numbers

Vaccinating laying hens against Avian pathogenic E.coli not only lowers mortality by about 10 times compared to unvaccinated flocks, but there's a benefit to egg production too. According to Manuel Da Costa of Zoetis, a recent study showed vaccinated hens produced an average of 11 eggs more than unvaccinated birds.

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Swine: PRRSV-1 recombinant less virulent than dominant European strain, research shows

The Horsens strain of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV), which is a recombinant of two PRRSV type 1 vaccine strains, has been found to be less virulent than the dominant European strain. Horsens has been linked to outbreaks in previously PRRS-free pig herds in Denmark.

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Beef: Boosting cow nutrition during gestation increases calf survival

Research by the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation in Australia has found that lack of protein during late gestation, combined with heat stress, decreases calf survival rates and impacts future calf performance. The project is part of the Northern Breeding Business projgram, an initiative of Meat & Livestock Australia to boost the profitability of beef operations in Northern Australia.

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Dairy: Feeding Indian gooseberry fruit increases milk production

A growing interest in natural alternative feed sources for livestock has turned attention in Asia to amla, the Indian gooseberry fruit, which is used in the human food chain for its medical extracts. In some research, the discarded fruit has been shown to help bovines handle heat stress as well as improving nutrient digestibility and rumen fertmentation.

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Aquaculture: Protecting fish from chemical contamination

University of Saskatchewan scientists are studying the impact of "emerging chemicals" - like compounds that reduce wear and tear of tires or antimicrobials used for disinfecting - on fish populations. They will use a next-generation tool for chemical hazard assessment called EcoToxChips to identify early toxicity indicators in and predict the vulnerability of  key target fish species like rainbow and lake trout, arctic char and fathead minnows.

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Cross-sector

Environment: Dutch government proposes reducing livestock numbers to tackle pollution crisis

The Netherlands is aiming to lower nitrogen levels through a new plan to reduce the livestock population by buying out farmers. The Netherlands has the highest density of livestock in Europe with more than 100 million cattle, chickens and pigs.

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Gene editing: Lack of acceptance stifles livestock innovation

Regulations on gene editing of animals are contributing to negative public perceptions of the technology and stifling innovation in the livestock sector, according to Alison Van Eenennaam of the University of California, Davis. Genetic technologies have potential to improve the livestock sector so changing genome editing regulations could have a major effect.

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On the horizon

Atlernative proteins: Consumer acceptance may hinder insect protein growth

An international team of researchers from Germany and Canada has found that consumers preferred chicken breast from broilers raised with an insect meal ration. However, once they knew the birds has been fed insect protein, only sustainability-minded consumers still made the same meat choice.

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Climate: Tech investments soaring but are they going to the right place?

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that while overall investment in climate technology is on the rise, investors are neglecting some of the most important areas. The five technology solutions that represent over 80% of the emissions reduction potential by 2050 received only 25% of climate tech investment between 2013 and 2021. Those five areas are solar power, wind power, food waste technology, green hydrogen production and alternative foods/low greenhouse gas proteins. Where did most of the money go? Mobility and transportation companies, including those workign on e-scooters, electric vehicles and flying taxis.

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Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear your feedback about LRIC - both about what we're doing and what you think we should be doing! Please contact us at info@livestockresearch.ca with any questions or comments.

 

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