Archive

498 posts

Categories
Select one or more categories (Optional.)
Reset
Animal production

von Niederhäusern R., Schmidlin L., Sotoudeh A., Neuditschko M., Wägeli S.

The role of the Franches-Montagnes on the Swiss horse market

Like many other local breeds of European origin, the Franches-Montagnes (FM) must fight against a fall in population and number of births, as well as a lack of profitability at the production level. As part of preparing a strategy report for preserving the FM breed, Agroscope Swiss National Stud Farm SNSF investigated the market compliance…
Animal production

Oehen B., Spengler-Neff A., Leiber F., Schmid O., Hoffmann F., Früh B.

Instruments for on-farm animal welfare assessments in beef production

Maximum animal welfare is a core concern in organic farming. With a view to improving animal welfare and making further progress in meeting animal welfare requirements, German and British organic farming associations have developed on-farm animal welfare assessment instruments. These instruments can be applied by the farmers themselves and in the context of organic inspections.…
Animal production

Müller A., Burren A., Jörg H.

Identifying ideal beef and dairy crossbreeds to optimise slaughter yields

Not every beef and dairy breed cross results in equally high slaughter yields. In Switzerland, however, no recommendations on the ideal pairings of beef and dairy breeds are available. This study aims to demonstrate which crossbreeds produce the best returns in terms of carcass weight, conformation and fat cover. The data set consisted of 601…
Animal production

Wyss U.

Effect of preservatives in moist hay

Field-dried hay must be sufficiently dry at harvest for problem-free storage. Alternatively, preservatives that prevent heating and spoilage may be added to the hay. In a trial, the efficacy of various microorganisms (lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and enzymes) as well as of a product containing various acids was tested in moist hay with a DM…
Animal production

Gutzwiller A., Reichenbach M., Hillmann E.

The presence of experienced piglets does not promote the growth of newl weaned piglets

In a feeding trial the hypothesis was tested that the presence of experienced piglets facilitates the adaptation of newly weaned piglets to solid food. The 72 four-week-old piglets in the experimental group were mixed at weaning with 12 piglets which had been weaned one week earlier, whereas their 72 siblings in the control group were…
Animal production

Ampuero S., Wyss U.

Forages in the light of NIRS

An insight into the determination of the chemical composition of forages via NIRS is presented. Predictive models developed at the Agroscope Institute for Livestock Sciences ILS show the typical values: R2 > 0.96 for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ADForg, NDForg, crude fibre (CF), cellulose, ash, fat, sugar and starch content in hay and…
Animal production

Wyss U., Arrigo Y.

Influence of the maize variety and the stage of development on the aerobic stability

In the years 2008 and 2010, the two maize varieties Amadeo and LG 32.52 were harvested in the milk ripeness, in the early and late dough stage and ensiled in 700 l containers. After opening the container, samples were taken to determine the fermentation quality and the aerobic stability with temperature measurements. With increasing development…
Animal production

Besier J., Strickler B., von Niederhäusern R., Wyss U.

Hay or haylage for horses: a comparison

In horse diets, hay is getting more and more replaced by haylage. In 2011, hay and haylage were produced in Avenches VD from an Italian ryegrass as well as from a mixture, which contained ten grasses and alfalfa. The conservation properties, the nutritional values and the microbiological quality of the feed were evaluated with regard…
Animal production

Schneider M. K., Homburger H., Scherer-Lorenzen M., Lüscher A.

Grazing intensity and ecosystem services in the alpine region

In the alpine summer-grazing area, grazing intensity is one of the most important management variables controlling vegetation and ecosystem services. In spite of this, grazing intensity is difficult to quantify on large, heterogeneous alpine pastures. For this reason, local grazing intensity on two alpine summer dairy farms in the canton of Obwalden and in the…
Animal production

Sutter M., Nemecek T., Thomet P.

Life cycle assessment of intensive and pasture-based dairy production systems

Swiss dairy farms must increasingly cope with climate protection, environmental conservation and the use of limited resources. In the context of the Hohenrain comparison of dairy production systems, a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts was conducted using the Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment method. The environmental strengths and weaknesses of seasonal full-pasture and indoor…
Animal production

Schmid D., Lanz S.

Feed-ration composition on Swiss dairy farms

As part of the 2014-2017 agricultural policy, the Swiss Federal Council is proposing a contribution for grasslandbased milk and meat production in the form of the socalled «production-system contributions». With a view to the structuring of this new instrument and its future evaluation, the current situation as regards the feeding of ruminants in Switzerland is…
Animal production

Sollberger E., Bracher A., Burren C., Spring P.

N-Efficacy in fattening pigs

In regions with high density of animal production, Import/Export-balances (IMPEX) are used to monitor the use of diets with reduced P- and N- concentrations. Based on the IMPEX data, the farms can claim a reduction in waste nutrients. The aim of the presentment study was to analyze 1665 IMPEX-balances from pig farms in the state…
Animal production

Willems H., Werder C., Kreuzer M., Leiber F.

Effect of grazing system on fattening performance and meat quality of lambs grazing alpine summer pastures

In Switzerland, the level of subsidy provided for summer grazing of sheep differs between grazing systems. They are higher for rotational grazing than for permanent pasture systems. In this controlled alpine grazing experiment, fattening performance and meat quality were compared between these two grazing systems. Fifty-five castrated male lambs (36.2±4.2 kg live weight, 27±3 weeks…

Project partners

  • Logo AGRIDEA
  • Logo Agroscope

© 2024 Agrarforschung Switzerland Terms and conditions