Giangiacomo Lorenzini

Productive performances of Maremmana young bulls reared following organic rules and slaughtered at 18 and 24 months of age

Fourteen Maremmana young bulls fed on pastures supplemented with mixed hay and concentrates, according to an organic method, were slaughtered at 18 and 24 months of age to evaluate in vita and post-mortem performances. At slaughter, carcass yield was determined and carcass evaluation according to EU rules was made. Physico-chemical characteristics of Longissimus thoracis (LT) and Caput longum triceps brachii (TB) muscles were determined. No differences for both carcass yield and quality were found between the two age groups. Animals of 24 months of age presented lighter and more yellow meat as well as higher hue angle and drip loss. TB muscle showed lower protein content and higher shear force, moisture, total lipids and ash than LT. The latter presented a higher percentage of C15:0iso, whereas TB showed higher values of C18:2n6, C20:3n6, C20:4n6, C18:3n3 and C22:5n3. Maremmana animals, irrespective of age, showed a low percentage of saturated fatty acids, good PUFA/SFA ratio and a great amount of unsaturated fatty acids of the n3 and n6 series, as well as a favorable atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes.

Efficiency and costs of the health management in an organic dairy farm where we use unconventional medicines

Abstract The EU organic regulation explicitly promote the use of unconventional therapies, like homoeopathy and phytotherapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficiency and the costs of these treatment methods. From December 2006 to September 2008, we analyzed the data recorded in an organic dairy farm where the animals are normally treated by classical unicistic homeopathy and phytotherapy, and only when indispensable, by allophaty, antiparasitic drugs, surgery and vaccines. The use of homeopathy resulted to be predominant in comparison with the others treatments. Besides, our trial showed that homeopathy and phytotherapy could be used to treat, with good outcomes, the majority of diseases that occur in a dairy cattle farm, even if, sometimes, conventional medicines have to be used. The costs for unconventional treatments are very low in comparison with conventional ones. This will allow the spreading of unconventional medicines in the Italian organic farms.

Morphological characteristics of Amiata donkey reared in Tuscany

Abstract In this work were studied morphological characteristics and biometric parameters of the Amiata donkey. The Amiata donkey is a local endangered breed and derives from the homonym mountain in Tuscany. This donkey, which was used, over the past, like pack animal in farms and in mines, is now involved in milk production, onotherapy and trekking. The averages and the standard deviations of the biometric parameters and the frequency of the morphological characters of foals, adult females and stallions were calculated. The measures of the adult females were estimated by ANOVA considering three different classes of age: 3-4, 5-6, over 6 years old. The average sizes were: height at withers of 129.8±4.7 and 125.8±5.6 cm, thorax circumference of 145.6±7.8 and 145.0±7.8 cm, front shank circumference of 18.3±0.8 and 16.9±1.5 cm, for stallions and adult females respectively. All the observed donkeys presented dark grey coat with the shoulder stripe. The zoometric indices of the adult females did not differ between the classes and showed that the somatic adult proportions had already reached in 3-4 years old donkeys. This breed showed the features of the ancestors: the shoulder stripe of the Equus asinus africanus and the legs stripes of the Equus asinus somaliensis.

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.

Herd structure in the bovine Calvana breed

Riassunto Struttura dell’allevamento dei bovini di razza Calvana. La struttura aziendale è uno dei fattori che maggiormente influiscono sulla redditività, sostenibilità e sopravvivenza stessa di una razza. Questo risulta ancora più vero quando sono coinvolte razze a numerosità limitata che sfruttano nicchie di mercato ben specifiche. Scopo del presente lavoro è fornire un quadro della situazione degli allevamenti di razza Calvana, razza che è classificata come a rischio di estinzione e inserita nel repertorio regionale previsto dalla L.R. 50/97 relativa alla tutela delle risorse genetiche autoctone.