Archive
96 posts
Repair factor and engine utilisation factor calculations
Two coefficients are important for the calculation of repair costs and machine costs. The repair factor gives the proportion of new value incurred as repair costs in the course of service life. Fuel consumption, and hence fuel costs, are calculated using the average engine utilisation factor. On the basis of an empirical study both coefficients…
Challenges for alpine pastures
Although the national research programme NRP48 “Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps” dealt intensively with the Swiss mountain area, rather less research had been devoted to the alpine pastures. Therefore, many open questions remained in this area.In a preliminary study, stakeholder interviews allowed identifying the standard of knowledge, current challenges for alpine pastures and open…
Milk Production: what characterises expanding farms?
La suppression des contingents laitiers en 2009 va entraîner un profond changement de la production laitière. Une enquête représentative a été réalisée en Suisse orientale afin d’étudier ce qui caractérise les exploitations ayant connu une forte croissance du contingent. Les résultats montrent qu’un lien positif existe entre la croissance connue dans le passé et l’intention…
Durability of mastic asphalt floors in cattle housing
Floors and especially indoor exercise areas in cattle housing are exposed to high chemical and mechanical stresses. Dung/urine mixtures were analysed to obtain data relating to stresses on exercise area materials. These results, together with information from 52 working farms on the state and animal welfare promotion of exercise area materials, were used as the…
Effect of the suckler cow type on the post-weaning performances of Limousin yearlings
The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of the suckler cow type, milk or meat, on the post-weaning performances of the yearlings and to examine the production of light carcasses with large size animals. Females and castrated males (in a 1:1 proportion) of a Limousin (Li) sire and F1 Red Holstein X…
When income is no longer sufficient
Swiss farming families are under pressure as a result of developments in agriculture policies and the economy. For many of them, the income situation is unsatisfactory; some are even in precarious income situations. This article highlights the precarious situation of seven farming families. The reasons behind this precariousness are multi-layered and complex. Two basic patterns…
Uptake of agri-environmental measures on organic and conventional farms in Switzerland
The willingness of farmers to adopt agri-environmental measures depends greatly on the farm type and management as well on the geographic conditions of the farm. The present paper analysed the differences in the uptake of agri-environmental measures between organic and non-organic farms. A statistical comparison based on the 2005 Swiss Farm Census showed that organic…
Effect of summer pasturing payments
Summer pasturing payments are provided with the aim of ensuring the management and maintenance of summer grazing pastures. Calculations performed with the SILAS sector model show that these payments contribute decisively to transhumance, and hence to the management and maintenance of alpine pastures. Nevertheless, they cannot halt the trend of declining summer grazing of alpine…
Fattening performance of Angus and Hérens yearlings on a semi-intensive finishing diet after weaning
The suitability of an herbage based, semi-intensive finishing diet was tested in an indoor feeding trial with two beef cattle types. Castrated male and female (1:3) Angus and Herens suckler calves were weaned at the age of 10 months. They were raised by suckler cows which were exclusively fed grassland based forage. The basic finishing…
Fertile grasslands in the Alps: floristic changes
In this study, we investigated how the floristic composition of fertile grasslands in the Alps has changed over the last 25 years. To do this, we repeated between 2002 and 2004 in four regions a total of 259 phytosociological relevés from the years 1975 to 1986 on the same sites. At the plot level, the…
Temperature and nutritional quality of rapsed oil
In 2007, newspapers reported a decrease in oilseed rape Omega-3 fatty acid content, which was related to the breeding of modern varieties. The goal of the present paper was to evaluate this hypothesis and to document the role of temperature in the observed phenomenon. At Changins research Station, a significant decrease in alpha-linolenic acid content…
What is land mobility all about?
Particularly farming groups often demand increased land mobility. This paper shows that increased land mobility can only be achieved under deteriorating agricultural policy conditions. As for the extent of land mobility, it is unimportant whether this process takes place via price reductions or decreased direct payments. It is possible, however, to in-crease land mobility via…
The new agricultural policy totally operational in 2009
It is only when the second series of decrees are put into practice that the 2011 agricultural policy will be fully operational. The main features of this reform programme are the reduction in price subsidies, the abolition of export subsidies, the new use of funds thus freed up for direct payments not linked to production…
Influence of feeding strategy during the dry period on the composition of milk at the beginning of lactation
The possibility of influencing the composition of milk fat during lactation has already been the subject of multiple studies. At the beginning of lactation, some of the milk fatty acids are derived not only from the diet but also from body reserves which are mobilized to make up for the energy deficit. A project was…
Risks of plant protection products for beneficial arthropods
Beneficial arthropods predate on pests or parasitize them, and help to protect agricultural crops from damage. To maintain these ecosystem services, plant protection products should be used which do not harm beneficial arthropods. The industry performs studies to test the sensitivity of beneficial arthropods towards plant protection products and submits these studies as part of…
Is yield a measure for breeding improvement in wheat?
Between 1845 and 2005 yields of German wheat production increased more than 6-times to 75,2 dt/ha. Reasons are not only improved agricultural technology, but also particularly plant breeding. In combination with increasing yields, quality improved too. The negative correlation between yield and crude protein still exists. Breeding of new varieties, which takes current diseases into…
New tests with Westerwold ryegrass and Persian clover
Between 2006 and 2003 the two research stations Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART and Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW tested 34 varieties of westerwold ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. westerwoldicum Mansh.) and three varieties of Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum L.) at four to five experimental sites. The varieties were compared in yield in the 1st cut, total yield, juvenile…
Cervelat production with beef casings from different origins
In comparison to the common beef casings from Brazil, beef small intestines from the following countries were tested for their applicability as natural casings for cervelat, a typical Swiss boiled sausage: Brazil (BRA, control), Uruguay (URU), Argentine (ARG), Paraguay (PAR), Australia (AUS), New Zealand (NZL) and Panama (PAN). The sausages were produced with the different…
The aims for a multifunctional agriculture
A motion on extending the direct payments system demands that such payments be used in a more targeted fashion. The Federal Council is to submit a report to parliament on this subject by 2009. The report is to include an analysis of the current situation as well as proposals for extending the system. Targeted payments…
The spread of no-till farming in Switzerland
No-tillage, which has diverse ecological and economic advantages, is an effective measure for protecting against erosion that has become more important in Switzerland in recent years. Since the mid-1980s, the amount of land on which this method is used increased from a few hectares to about 12,000 hectares by 2006. Although this is still quite…
Caribu and Tigris – new italian raygrass varieties
With the recent registration of the new diploid varieties Caribu and Trigris, bred at the Research Station Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART, further progress in the genetic improvement of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum ssp. italicum Volkart ex Schinz et Keller) has been achieved. Caribu and Tigris are the result of targeted breeding efforts, aiming at improving the…
Dairy cow`s pastures. 1. Modelling the grazing management
A decision support tool for grazing management has been developed in the form of computing calculation sheets. Its utilisation is illustrated by initiation of a rotational grazing system on the farm of l’Abbaye in Sorens in 2003. Planning was based on grass-growth references for pastures with a yield potential of 9,5 t DM/ha/year and on…
Dairy cows` pastures. 1. Modelling the grazing management
This compilation of three tests was aimed at measuring the effect on meat quality of differences in growth rate between a period of reduced feeding level during summering on mountain pastures and a period of finishing. A total of 117 Limousin (LI) X Red Holstein(FT) crossbred steers were used for this synthesis comprising various modes…
Finishing of steers following a summering period on mountain pastures: effect of feeding intensity on fattening performance
Crossbred steers of the Limousin x Swiss Fleckvieh breed were summered on low input mountain pastures with varying stocking rates. During the subsequent finishing period, the effect of feeding intensity on fattening performance was investigated. Three intensity levels were compared whereby expected total energy supplies were calculated to correspond to 1,5 (int150), 1,75 (int175) or…
