Claudia Lotti

Evaluation of dairy goat welfare in different production systems in Tuscany

There is very little published information on goat farming in Tuscany and even less on animal welfare on these farms. Specific evaluation systems on animal welfare for sheep and goats are needed. For this purpose, many research groups have utilised and modified the Animal Needs Index (ANI) 35 L method. In this paper, our research group proposes a new and easy evaluation questionnaire, specifically designed for goat farms, and considers 17 different aspects: seven are related to the goat housing, seven consider the condition of the structure and equipment, and the remaining three are related to animal health. The data was analysed by a one-way general linear model considering, as factors, the production system (organic, biodynamic, conventional), the province where the farms were located and the goat breed. In conclusion, we found important differences pertaining to the goat housing, condition of the structure and equipment and animal health between provinces and reared breeds. Very few differences were found between production systems. Regarding the provinces, the geographical position appears to greatly influence the conditions in which the animals are reared, primarily attributable to cultural and economic reasons. The Alpine breed was shown to be in better condition and the Garfagnina the worst. The questionnaire utilised was able to provide a general and concise idea on the animal welfare level of goat farms in Tuscany.

Influence of bitter lupin on consumption and digestibility in organic dairy cattle soya bean free diets

Abstract One of the main principles of organic husbandry is that animal feed must be GMO free, and soya bean is well-known as a high risk GMO alimentary source. About 25 dry dairy cattle of the Italian Holstein breed, from the Cooperativa Emilio Sereni of Borgo S. Lorenzo (FI), were fed in two successive diets: the first with extruded soya bean (A), and the second in which bitter lupin, faba bean and proteinic pea substituted the soya bean (B). We evaluated both the consumption and the apparent digestibility (using acid insoluble ash as internal marker) of the two diets, repeating the trial twice. The presence of bitter lupin did not influence either the consumption of other feed, or the faecal water content. The apparent digestibility of the organic matter resulted satisfactory in both the diets, but was significantly higher in diet (A) than in diet (B) (71,6% vs 67,3%). In conclusion, even though we wish the cultivation of sweet lupin would be increase in Italy, we retain that also bitter lupin (mixed with other feed to increase the palatability) could be used as alternative protein source in dairy cattle diets.