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New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms

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A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Small Ruminants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 33290

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Prof. Dr. José Ramón Díaz Sanchez

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AgroFood Techonology Department, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Orihuela, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Ctra. Beniel km 3,2, 03312 Orihuela, Spain
Interests: mastitis detection; mechanical milking; milk quality; use of agri-food by-products for animal feeding; sheep; goat

Prof. Dr. Nemesio Fernández Martínez

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Institute of Animal Science and Technology, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y del Medio Natural, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Espain
Interests: animal physiology; ruminant nutrition; dairy; mastitis; animal building

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The economic profitability of the production activity of sheep and dairy goat farms has been very limited in recent years due to the low sale price of milk and lambs, and, to a greater extent, of kids for meat. The reduced economic margins obtained per animal are leading to the disappearance of the family farm model in more developed countries and the creation of a commercial farm model with a larger number of animals and a greater technification of the production system that affords an increase in the quantity and quality of milk and meat sold, while enabling an improvement in production efficiency and a reduction in production costs without harming animal welfare. In this sense, there are many related factors, including livestock housing (distribution of indoor and outdoor spaces, ventilation, bedding, and manure removal systems); new feeding systems (use of cheap protein, fat or fibrous sources and alternatives to classic foods); improved machinery and equipment more efficient in the tasks for which they are designed and adapted to the different species (feeding systems, milking machines, various automatisms, energy recovery systems); using genomics and genetic animal breeding to improve the quality of milk and meat; and new techniques and systems of reproduction that allow producers to increase the meat or milk productivity on the farm. In addition to this, the possible impacts of ruminants on the increase in greenhouse gases are one of the current social concerns that must be addressed if the survival of this type of production is desired.

In this Special Issue, original papers will be taken into account in which the effect of different aspects related to the design of livestock housing and equipment and the management techniques practiced on the farms (feeding, mechanical milking, reproduction techniques, among others) on the production and quality of milk and meat produced in small ruminant dairy farms, always focused on their transfer and practical application in commercial farms.

Dr. José Ramón Díaz Sanchez
Prof. Dr. Fernández Martínez Nemesio
Guest Editors

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Keywords

genomic
reproduction
feeding
management
GHG reduction
livestock equipment
sheep
goat

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 862 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Vacuum Level and Pulsation Parameters on Milking Efficiency and Animal Welfare of Murciano-Granadina Goats Milked in Mid-Line and Low-Line Milking Machines

by Gema Romero, Joel Bueso-Ródenas, Manuel Alejandro, Francisco Moya and José Ramón Díaz

Animals 2022, 12(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12010040 - 25 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2780

Abstract

The Murciano-Granadina goat breed has been described as a slow milking breed. As milking machine parameters can affect milk extraction in terms of yield and time employed, two experiments of one-month duration were performed with 88 goats in Latin square design to find the best combination of these parameters. One of them was carried out in a mid-line milking machine and one in a low-line milking machine. For each of them, two vacuum levels (36 and 40 kPa), two pulsation rates (90 and 120 cycles/min) and two pulsator ratios (50 and 60%) were used and milking efficiency, sanitary status of the mammary gland, milk cortisol, and teat end status were evaluated. Results showed that in milking machines installed in mid- and low-line, the use of 40 kPa system vacuum, 60% pulsator ratio and 90 or 120 cycles/min pulsation rate achieved optimum milking fractioning and efficiency. In the case of low-level milking machines, a similar combination with 36 kPa not only showed worse milking fractioning values, but also provided better values of teat end status and cortisol level. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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13 pages, 2402 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pointing Out Some Issues Regarding Reproduction Management in Murciano-Granadina Goats

by Nemesio Fernández, M. Carmen Beltrán, Gema Romero, M. Amparo Roca, Martín Rodríguez and Sebastián Balasch

Animals 2021, 11(6), 1781; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061781 - 15 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3567

Abstract

Two of the most important problems in high-yielding dairy goat farms are early and accurate pregnancy diagnosis and the appropriate dry off of lactating does before the next kidding. The hypothesis posits that it could be possible to identify pregnant does through maximum progesterone milk levels at any time during the pregnancy, and that there is an optimal time to apply a lactation inhibitor to help dry off lactating does. Therefore, 114 Murciano-Granadina breed goats were used, from which 74 goats were inseminated at week 20 of lactation and samples of milk from pregnant and non-pregnant goats were taken at two-week intervals. The average maximum progesterone milk levels were higher outside the natural breeding season (40° latitude) than in the breeding season (11.6 ± 1.13 vs. 8.6 ± 1.02 ng/mL), although the levels from pregnant and non-pregnant goats were similar (10.85 ± 1.3 vs. 9.74 ± 1.6 ng/mL), except in the case of pregnancy with four foetuses (12.5 ± 1.3 ng/mL). Milk yield at mating does not affect fertility until a value of at least 3250 mL/day. Pregnancy started to affect milk yield up to the +7th week and was 59.9% lower in the +10th week after mating, so the use of lactation inhibitors could be more effective from this latter week. In conclusion, the results show that it is not possible to detect gestation in goats reliably through the maximum concentration of progesterone in milk at any time during lactation, except in the case of goats gestating four foetuses, that the milk yield of goats at mating does not affect fertility until a value of at least 3250 mL/day, and that from the 10th week post-mating, the application of lactation inhibitors would be optimal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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9 pages, 592 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Kid Growth Comparison between Murciano-Granadina and Crossbred Murciano-Granadina×Boer in a Mixed Rearing System

by Nemesio Fernández, José L. Palomares, Ión Pérez-Baena, Martín Rodríguez and Cristòfol J. Peris

Animals 2021, 11(4), 1051; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041051 - 8 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1814

Abstract

In dairy goats, the low average daily gain and the high conversion ratio for milk and concentrate of the kids mean that their sale price does not offset the costs generated. The hypothesis proposes that a crossbreeding of the Murciano-Granadina breed (MG) with the Boer breed (MG×Boer) will improve the profitability of the kids sold. Thus, the effect of two different groups of kids (purebred MG and crossbred MG×Boer) on birth weight (BW), mortality, average daily gain (ADG), the time for minimum slaughter weight (7 kg) and its variation factors were studied. MG×Boer kids had a 27% greater BW than purebred MG kids (2885 ± 84 g and 2275 ± 74 g, respectively), similar ADG (156 ± 6 g and 142 ± 6 g, respectively) and mortality (18% and 20%, respectively), and reached minimum slaughter weight a week sooner. ADG was less and less as the lactation period progressed due to a lower milk consumption and milk energy value, which highlights the importance of providing a concentrate that will compensate for this reduced energy content. In conclusion, the results show that MG×Boer crossbred kids reached the minimum slaughter weight a week earlier than purebred MG kids, and highlighted the improvement of farm profitability through the increase of milk sold and the need to provide a concentrate feed to enhance the growth of the kids. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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13 pages, 302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Terminal Crossbreeding of Murciano-Granadina Goats to Boer Bucks: Effects on Reproductive Performance of Goats and Growth of Kids in Artificial Rearing

by Ion Pérez-Baena, Marta Jarque-Durán, Ernesto A. Gómez, José-Ramón Díaz and Cristòfol Peris

Animals 2021, 11(4), 986; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11040986 - 1 Apr 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2268

Abstract

The aim of this work was to improve the growth characteristics of Murciano-Granadina (MG) kids through terminal crossbreeding of MG goats to Boer bucks. Four experiments were carried out, using a total of 354 MG goats, half of which were mated with MG bucks (n = 12) and the other half with Boer bucks (n = 12). The kids were raised in artificial rearing until slaughter weight (9 kg). The birth weight and average daily gain were recorded in crossed kids (n = 197 and 145, respectively) and purebred kids (n = 257 and 169, respectively). Crossed kids presented significant differences (p < 0.001) compared to MG purebred kids in birth weight (+ 24%), mortality in artificial rearing (−37%), average daily gain (+32%) and milk powder conversion rate (−16%). However, the reproductive performance rates of MG goats mated with Boer bucks were slightly worse (pregnancy rate: 78.5% vs. 86.6%, p < 0.05; kidding rate: 62.0% vs. 75.7%; p < 0.01; prolificacy: 1.9 vs. 2.1 kids/parturition), especially when the matings took place in non-breeding season (experiments conducted at latitude 38–39° N). It is concluded that the terminal crossbreeding of MG goats to Boer bucks (those not used to produce replacement kids) could be an interesting option for ethical goat production. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

11 pages, 443 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Automatic Prestimulation on Dairy Goats: Milking Efficiency and Teat-End Status

by Joel Bueso-Ródenas, Manuel Alejandro, Gema Romero and José Ramón Díaz

Animals 2021, 11(1), 121; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010121 - 8 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2151

Abstract

Experiments carried out in dairy cows show that mechanical stimulation prior to milking offers a good release of oxytocin without involving changes in milk yield or a reduction of the milking time. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of automatic prestimulation on milk fractioning, milking duration and milk flows, teat-end status, and vacuum levels at the short milk tubes and in the pulsation tubes of dairy goats. With this aim, three experiments in Latin square design were developed employing goats in different moments of the lactation: one of them at the onset of lactation, one at mid-lactation, and the last at the end of lactation. Two treatments were tested: milking with a mechanical prestimulation of 300 ppm for a 20-s period and milking without prestimulation. Results showed that prestimulation at the end of lactation showed slightly lower average milk flow (kg/min) values (0.53 ± 0.02 vs. 0.60 ± 0.02; p = 0.03) and lower maximum vacuum level values (Kpa) in the pulsation tubes (27.08 ± 0.15 vs. 39.48 ± 0.25; p < 0.01). No other differences were found in the variables related to milking efficiency or teat-end status in the three experiments carried out. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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12 pages, 1116 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Accuracy of Imputation of Microsatellite Markers from a 50K SNP Chip in Spanish Assaf Sheep

by Héctor Marina, Aroa Suarez-Vega, Rocío Pelayo, Beatriz Gutiérrez-Gil, Antonio Reverter, Cristina Esteban-Blanco and Juan José Arranz

Animals 2021, 11(1), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010086 - 5 Jan 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2424

Abstract

Transitioning from traditional to new genotyping technologies requires the development of bridging methodologies to avoid extra genotyping costs. This study aims to identify the optimum number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) necessary to accurately impute microsatellite markers to develop a low-density SNP chip for parentage verification in the Assaf sheep breed. The accuracy of microsatellite marker imputation was assessed with three metrics: genotype concordance (C), genotype dosage (length r²), and allelic dosage (allelic r²), for all imputation scenarios tested (0.5–10 Mb microsatellite flanking SNP windows). The imputation accuracy for the three metrics analyzed for all haplotype lengths tested was higher than 0.90 (C), 0.80 (length r²), and 0.75 (allelic r²), indicating strong genotype concordance. The window with 2 Mb length provides the best accuracy for the imputation procedure and the design of an affordable low-density SNP chip for parentage testing. We additionally evaluated imputation performance under two null models, naive (imputing the most common allele) and random (imputing by randomly selecting the allele), which in comparison showed weak genotype concordances (0.41 and 0.15, respectively). Therefore, we describe a precise methodology in the present article to impute multiallelic microsatellite genotypes from a low-density SNP chip in sheep and solve the problem of parentage verification when different genotyping platforms have been used across generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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14 pages, 305 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Alterations in Energy Partitioning and Methane Emissions in Murciano-Granadina Goats Fed Orange Leaves and Rice Straw as a Replacement for Beet Pulp and Barley Straw

by Tamara Romero, José L. Palomares, Vicente J. Moya, Juan J. Loor and Carlos Fernández

Animals 2021, 11(1), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010038 - 27 Dec 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2085

Abstract

Considering the huge quantities of crops by-products and pruning waste such as rice straw and citrus leaves produced annually worldwide, and their potential pollution capacity, recycling as feed for livestock is an alternative. The objective was to study these by-products effect on energy balance and methane emissions in 10 Murciano-Granadina goats at maintenance. The control diet (CTR) included barley straw and beet pulp while the experimental diet (ORG) consisted of rice straw and orange leaves. Differences were found for energy intake (248 kJ/kg of BW^0.75 greater for CTR than ORG). The intake of metabolizable energy was 199 kJ/kg of BW^0.75 lower in ORG than CTR, and the energy efficiency was higher with CTR (0.61) than ORG (0.48). Protein retained in the body was 9 g/goat greater with CTR than ORG, and fat retention in the body was approximately 108 g/goat greater with CTR than ORG. Despite more unfavorable energy balance in response to feeding ORG than CTR, the retention of body energy was always positive. Reductions in CH₄ emissions were detected when goats were fed ORG diet (from 22.3 to 20.0 g/d). Overall results suggested that feeding orange leaves and rice straw was effective in reducing CH₄ emissions without adversely affecting energy balance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

18 pages, 3146 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Decision Support System for Economically Sustainable Sheep and Goat Farming

by Sotiria Vouraki, Ioannis Skourtis, Konstantinos Psichos, Wendy Jones, Carol Davis, Marion Johnson, Leticia Riaguas Rupérez, Alexandros Theodoridis and Georgios Arsenos

Animals 2020, 10(12), 2421; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122421 - 17 Dec 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4296

Abstract

The European sheep and goat sector is characterized by low professionalization and management training. Moreover, it is fragmented in terms of production aims and farming systems. Here, iSAGEDSS, a web-based application allowing dairy and meat small ruminant farmers in different countries to make annual management plans by testing future scenarios, is presented. Data were obtained for the meat sheep (United Kingdom and Spain), dairy sheep (France and Greece) and dairy goat production systems (Greece) from partners of the Innovation for Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in Europe (iSAGE) project. These were used to set default values and ranges for all important farm parameters in each system and country. An algorithm was developed assessing nutritional management and its impact on production and financial performance. Reports focus on profitability, productivity and environmental sustainability. A case study in three dairy sheep farms in Greece was performed. In each case, an evaluation scenario was created using actual farm data that were compared with the estimated ones. Two scenarios testing management decisions for gross margin maximization and milk pricing fluctuations were created. Application results showed high prediction accuracy for gross margin and production estimation (error of circa 9% and 4%, respectively). Moreover, the ability to promote financial, production and grazing management efficiency was demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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19 pages, 1424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Whole Genome Resequencing Datasets from a Worldwide Sample of Sheep Breeds to Identify Potential Causal Mutations Influencing Milk Composition Traits

by Héctor Marina, Beatriz Gutiérrez-Gil, Cristina Esteban-Blanco, Aroa Suárez-Vega, Rocío Pelayo and Juan José Arranz

Animals 2020, 10(9), 1542; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091542 - 1 Sep 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3206

Abstract

Different studies have shown that polymorphisms in the sequence of genes coding for the milk proteins and milk fatty acids are associated with milk composition traits as well as with cheese-making traits. However, the lack of coincident results across sheep populations has prevented the use of this information in sheep breeding programs. The main objective of this study was to exploit the information derived from a total of 175 whole genome resequencing (WGR) datasets from 43 domestic sheep breeds and three wild sheep to evaluate the genetic diversity of 24 candidate genes for milk composition and identify genetic variants with a potential phenotypic effect. The functional annotation of the identified variants highlighted five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predicted to have a high impact on the protein function and 42 missense SNPs with a putative deleterious effect. When comparing the allelic frequencies at these 47 polymorphisms with relevant functional effects between the genomes of Assaf and Churra sheep breeds, two missense deleterious variants were identified as potential markers associated to the milk composition differences found between the Churra and Assaf: XDH:92215727C>T and LALBA:137390760T>C. Future research is required to confirm the effect of the potential functionally relevant variants identified in the present study on milk composition and cheese-making traits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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11 pages, 1664 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Milk Microbiota of the Spanish Churra Sheep Breed: New Insights into the Complexity of the Milk Microbiome of Dairy Species

by Cristina Esteban-Blanco, Beatriz Gutiérrez-Gil, Héctor Marina, Rocío Pelayo, Aroa Suárez-Vega, Alberto Acedo and Juan-José Arranz

Animals 2020, 10(9), 1463; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091463 - 20 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3100

Abstract

Milk from healthy animals has classically been considered a sterile fluid. With the development of massively parallel sequencing and its application to the study of the microbiome of different body fluids, milk microbiota has been documented in several animal species. In this study, the main objective of this work was to access bacterial profiles of healthy milk samples using the next-generation sequencing of amplicons from the 16S rRNA gene to characterise the milk microbiome of the Churra breed. A total of 212 samples were collected from two Churra dairy farms with a different management system. The core milk microbiota in Churra ewes includes lesser genera (only two taxa: Staphylococcus and Escherichia/Shigella) than studies reported in other dairy species or even in a previous study in Assaf sheep milk. We found that diversity values in the two flocks of Churra breed were lower than the diversity of the milk microbiota in Assaf. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination using Bray-Curtis distance separates samples based on their microbiota composition. The information reported here might be used to understand the complex issue of milk microbiota composition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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13 pages, 919 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Integrating Genomic Information into Genetic Evaluations of Chinese Merino Sheep

by Chen Wei, Hanpeng Luo, Bingru Zhao, Kechuan Tian, Xixia Huang, Yachun Wang, Xuefeng Fu, Yuezhen Tian, Jiang Di, Xinming Xu, Weiwei Wu, Hanikezi Tulafu, Maerziya Yasen, Yajun Zhang and Wensheng Zhao

Animals 2020, 10(4), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040569 - 28 Mar 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2757

Abstract

Genomic evaluations are a method for improving the accuracy of breeding value estimation. This study aimed to compare estimates of genetic parameters and the accuracy of breeding values for wool traits in Merino sheep between pedigree-based best linear unbiased prediction (PBLUP) and single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP) using Bayesian inference. Data were collected from 28,391 yearlings of Chinese Merino sheep (classified in 1992–2018) at the Xinjiang Gonaisi Fine Wool Sheep-Breeding Farm, China. Subjectively-assessed wool traits, namely, spinning count (SC), crimp definition (CRIM), oil (OIL), and body size (BS), and objectively-measured traits, namely, fleece length (FL), greasy fleece weight (GFW), mean fiber diameter (MFD), crimp number (CN), and body weight pre-shearing (BWPS), were analyzed. The estimates of heritability for wool traits were low to moderate. The largest h² values were observed for FL (0.277) and MFD (0.290) with ssGBLUP. The heritabilities estimated for wool traits with ssGBLUP were slightly higher than those obtained with PBLUP. The accuracies of breeding values were low to moderate, ranging from 0.362 to 0.573 for the whole population and from 0.318 to 0.676 for the genotyped subpopulation. The correlation between the estimated breeding values (EBVs) and genomic EBVs (GEBVs) ranged from 0.717 to 0.862 for the whole population, and the relative increase in accuracy when comparing EBVs with GEBVs ranged from 0.372% to 7.486% for these traits. However, in the genotyped population, the rank correlation between the estimates obtained with PBLUP and ssGBLUP was reduced to 0.525 to 0.769, with increases in average accuracy of 3.016% to 11.736% for the GEBVs in relation to the EBVs. Thus, genomic information could allow us to more accurately estimate the relationships between animals and improve estimates of heritability and the accuracy of breeding values by ssGBLUP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms)

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