Search

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production must be urgently tackled to substantially reduce their contribution to global warming. Simply reducing livestock numbers to this end risks impacting negatively on food security, rural livelihoods and climate change adaptation. We argue that significant mitigation of livestock emissions can be delivered immediately by improving animal health and hence production efficiency, but this route is not prioritized because its benefits, although intuitive, are poorly quantified. Rigorous methodology must be developed to estimate emissions from animal disease and hence achievable benefits from improved health through interventions. If, as expected, climate change is to affect the distribution and severity of health conditions, such quantification becomes of even greater importance. We have therefore developed a framework and identified data sources for robust quantification of the relationship between animal health and greenhouse gas emissions, which could be applied to drive and account for positive action. This will not only help mitigate climate change but at the same time promote cost-effective food production and enhanced animal welfare, a rare win–win in the search for a sustainable planetary future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the journal Pathogens titled "Emerging and Endemic Infections in Wildlife: Epidemiology, Ecology and Management in a Changing World." The editorial emphasizes the importance of understanding infectious diseases in wild animal populations, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the risks posed by zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance in wildlife, as well as the need for early detection, surveillance, and control measures. The editorial also provides an overview of the articles included in the special issue, which cover a range of pathogens and their impact on wildlife populations. Overall, the document highlights the complexity of disease dynamics in wildlife and the importance of ongoing monitoring and research in this field. [Extracted from the article]

Livestock management is challenging for resource-poor (R-P) farmers due to unavailability of quality feed, limited professional advice, and rumor-spreading about animal health condition in a herd. This research seeks to improve animal health in southern Africa by promoting sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata), a nutraceutical forage legume. An automated geospatial model for precision agriculture (PA) can identify suitable locations for its cultivation. Additionally, a novel approach of radio-frequency identifier (RFID) supported telemetry technology can track animal movement, and the analyses of data using artificial intelligence can determine sickness of small ruminants. This RFID-based system is being connected to a smartphone app (under construction) to alert farmers of potential livestock health issues in real time so they can take immediate corrective measures. An accompanying Decision Support System (DSS) site is being developed for R-P farmers to obtain all possible support on livestock production, including the designed PA and RFID-based DSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Goat smallholdings are common in both rural and urban areas of Malawi, and are kept as a food source and as investments to improve livelihoods. However, goats are known to forage on indigestible items that can negatively impact health and lead to a loss of productive performance. To date, no studies have estimated the prevalence of pollution among Malawi goats despite issues with waste management. To this end, we sought to survey the frequency of plastic and other indigestible foreign bodies among goats slaughtered by informal market butcher stands in five districts spanning Malawi. Most of the butchers surveyed identified plastic during slaughter (80%) while almost half (45.3%) identified other indigestible objects (hardware). Plastic was found by butchers in all districts and across rural and urban settings. While being less common than plastic, the hardware noted by butchers included sharps such as needles and bicycle spokes. When purchasing, butchers do consider animal health important, but 70.7% consider injury status as less or not important. Overall, this study highlights the issues of pollution among smallholder goats and demonstrates the need for further study to address the impacts of pollution on animal health and knock-on impacts on smallholder livelihoods. Smallholder goat production plays a major role in rural livelihoods and food security in Malawi, but suffers from drastic and unpredictable production losses. While goat production is closely linked to small-scale local markets for slaughter and butchering, the perspectives of butchers and their potential as a source of animal health information are largely untapped. Butchers can provide insights into goat health status at slaughter as well as issues that go unseen before slaughter, such as the presence of indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs). IFBs include solid materials such as plastics and hardware (metals, stones, and other hard objects) that cause foreign body syndrome and can lead to impaction, oedema, malnutrition, and death. To estimate the presence of IFBs, 150 market stand butchers were surveyed across five districts in Malawi, focusing on a distinction between hardware and single-use plastics, which are still widely present in Malawi despite bans on production. Most butchers found plastic IFBs (80.7%), with over half (56.7%) reporting plastic IFBs recently among the past five slaughters. Hardware IFBs were less common, reported by 45.3% of butchers. While some butchers commented on the impact of IFBs on meat quality metrics ex-post, the majority observed no differences. While butchers unanimously considered health to be an important characteristic when sourcing goats, 70.7% consider injury status to be less important or not important. Overall, this study highlights the issue of anthropogenic waste pollution on goat production in Malawi and demonstrates the potential for the surveillance of goat health at market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing anthelmintic resistance (AR) in livestock has stimulated growing efforts to monitor anthelmintic effectiveness (AE) on livestock farms. On-farm assessment of AE relies on measuring the reduction in faecal egg count (FEC) following treatment; and if conducted rigorously, qualifies as a formal FEC reduction test (FECRT) for AR. Substantial research effort has been devoted to designing robust protocols for the FECRT and its statistical interpretation; however, a wide range of factors other than AR can affect FEC reduction on farms. These are not always possible to control, and can affect the outcome and repeatability of AE measurements and confound the on-farm classification of AR using FECRT. This review considers confounders of FEC reduction, focusing on gastrointestinal nematodes of ruminants, including host and parasite physiology and demography; pharmacokinetic variation between drugs, parasites and hosts; and technical performance. Drug formulation and delivery, host condition and diet, and seasonal variation in parasite species composition, can all affect AE and hence observed FEC reduction. Causes of variation in FEC reduction should be attenuated, but this is not always possible. Regular monitoring of AE can indicate a need to improve anthelmintic administration practices, and detect AR early in its progression. Careful interpretation of FEC reduction, however, taking into account possible confounders, is essential before attributing reduced FEC reduction to AR. Understanding of confounders of FEC reduction will complement advances in FECRT design and interpretation to provide measures of anthelmintic efficacy that are both rigorous and accessible.

Previous studies have illustrated that different bioactive legume fodders containing condensed tannins might represent one of the options for integrated sustainable control of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in ruminants, which may help address the worldwide development of resistance to synthetic anthelmintics. More recently, impetus has been given to assess the potential antiparasitic activity of less conventional resources, represented by different agro-industrial by-products (AIBPs). This review presents in vitro and in vivo results obtained with a range of tannin-containing AIBPs of various geographical and botanical origins, namely AIBP of nuts, temperate and tropical barks, carob, coffee and cocoa. They tend to confirm the “proof of concept” for their antiparasitic effects and also for other aspects of ruminant production in an agro-ecological context. Socio-economic aspects of the exploitation of such non-conventional resources are also discussed as potential models of the circular economy, by using waste. The different modes of use of these resources are presented in this review, as well as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses to illustrate the advantages and limitations of on-farm use.

Helminth infections are ubiquitous in grazing ruminant production systems, and are responsible for significant costs and production losses. Anthelmintic Resistance (AR) in parasites is now widespread throughout Europe, although there are still gaps in our knowledge in some regions and countries. AR is a major threat to the sustainability of modern ruminant livestock production, resulting in reduced productivity, compromised animal health and welfare, and increased greenhouse gas emissions through increased parasitism and farm inputs. A better understanding of the extent of AR in Europe is needed to develop and advocate more sustainable parasite control approaches. A database of European published and unpublished AR research on gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) was collated by members of the European COST Action “COMBAR” (Combatting Anthelmintic Resistance in Ruminants), and combined with data from a previous systematic review of AR in GIN. A total of 197 publications on AR in GIN were available for analysis, representing 535 studies in 22 countries and spanning the period 1980–2020. Reports of AR were present throughout the European continent and some reports indicated high within-country prevalence. Heuristic sample size-weighted estimates of European AR prevalence over the whole study period, stratified by anthelmintic class, varied between 0 and 48%. Estimated regional (country) prevalence was highly heterogeneous, ranging between 0% and 100% depending on livestock sector and anthelmintic class, and generally increased with increasing research effort in a country. In the few countries with adequate longitudinal data, there was a tendency towards increasing AR over time for all anthelmintic classes in GIN: aggregated results in sheep and goats since 2010 reveal an average prevalence of resistance to benzimidazoles (BZ) of 86%, macrocyclic lactones except moxidectin (ML) 52%, levamisole (LEV) 48%, and moxidectin (MOX) 21%. All major GIN genera survived treatment in various studies. In cattle, prevalence of AR varied between anthelmintic classes from 0–100% (BZ and ML), 0–17% (LEV) and 0–73% (MOX), and both Cooperia and Ostertagia survived treatment. Suspected AR in F. hepatica was reported in 21 studies spanning 6 countries. For GIN and particularly F. hepatica, there was a bias towards preferential sampling of individual farms with suspected AR, and research effort was biased towards Western Europe and particularly the United Kingdom. Ongoing capture of future results in the live database, efforts to avoid bias in farm recruitment, more accurate tests for AR, and stronger appreciation of the importance of AR among the agricultural industry and policy makers, will support more sophisticated analyses of factors contributing to AR and effective strategies to slow its spread.