Advisers must be cognisant of the key links between nutrition, health and fertility and comprehend relevant aspects of animal health and fertility records, and where feeds and feeding management can have a positive effect.
Ruminants
Candidates must be able to:
- Demonstrate practical awareness of the links between nutrition and fertility, general good health and welfare – and an ability to take a holistic approach to production and illustrate the impact on reducing emissions per unit of product
- Understand Nutrition and fertility link
- Dry matter / energy intake
- Acidosis & ketosis
- Protein excess
- Appropriateness and position of micronutrient nutrition in the overall picture
- Interconnected relationship with other diseases, e.g. lameness, ketosis, DA’s
- Nutrition and good health
- Calf / lamb nutrition especially colostrum
- Balanced diet – nutritional and physical aspects – without excesses
- Importance of dry cow nutrition to protect health – preventing transitional cow problems
- Nutrition and Welfare
- Animal comfort and measures to assess, e.g. cudding rates, happy rumen (same sheep and beef)
- Cleanliness, role diet has to play, e.g. faecal quality and hence dirty hinds and udder
- Be able to inform and explain to producers on welfare issues that impact on production, e.g. comfort, feed and water access, lameness and rumination efficiencies and how to access current status and how these can be improved
- Understand the five freedoms of an animal.
- Have an understanding of animal signals-difference between looking and observing
- Understand and identify risk periods of increased risk of disease, ailments and discomfort
- Be able to interpret a locomotion scoring and lameness assessment
- Be familiar with the types of lameness and causes
- Be able to assess adequacy and comfort of lying space
- Understand use rumen function assessments (e.g. cudding rates, rumen fill and dung scores)
- Be able to assess water, access, quality, quantity and location
- Be cognisant on the key issues affecting feed intake from a design and location perspective
- Recognise common on farm opportunities to improve fertility, health and welfare and recommend further input as appropriate e.g. vet, industry guidance on best practice e.g. DairyCo.
- Knowledge of systems available to help improve:
- Fertility – heat detection systems, heat detection and insemination services
- Health – locomotion scoring (application and aims)
- Disease control – vaccination / worming programs, e.g. IBR, BVD, fluke and worms
- Minimise the risk of health issues associated with feeding by providing appropriate feeding strategies that lead to reduced emissions per unit of production e.g. rumen and liver function
- Understand importance of ration presentation,
- Mix consistency, also at feed barrier
- How to reduce sorting and assessment
- Frequency and push ups
- Optimal forage to concentrate ratio – scratch factor
- Awareness of passageway access and feed barrier design to provide sufficient intake of feed and water
- Awareness of products, e.g. yeasts and buffers, to improve rumen performance.
- Be cognisant of key diseases that affect production performance e.g. fluke, worms, BVD, IBR, leptospirosis, pneumonia.
- Show understanding of disease which may impact on production/performance/fertility and the relationship between appropriate micronutrient supply and good health and fertility
- Be aware of links between key micronutrients and health and fertility
Pigs
Candidates must be able to:
Demonstrate practical awareness of the links between nutrition and, where relevant, fertility, general good health and welfare – and an ability to take a holistic approach to production and illustrate the impact on reducing emissions per unit of product.
- Nutrition and breeding success
- Nutritional strategy in the gilt rearing period
- Liveweight control and optimal reproductive development of breeding stock
- Protein / amino acid, energy, major mineral, vitamin and trace element supply for the sexually active animal
- Fertility – sows & boars
- Milk production
- Longevity
- Nutritional strategies throughout the sow reproductive cycle
- Supporting foetal growth in gestation
- Nutrition to optimise fertility and litter size (flushing concepts)
- Nutrition to maximise sow milk production and early piglet viability
- Transition nutrition to prevent farrowing problems and support onset of milk production
- Liveweight control of breeding sows and boars
- Nutrition and health
- Balanced diet appropriate to type and stage of production
- No nutritional deficiencies
- No nutritional excesses
- Interaction with environment
- Nutrition and welfare
- Animal wellbeing
- Mineral nutrition and culling for skeletal problems
- Effect of protein / amino acid nutrition on gut health
- Impact of feed composition on gut health – fibre supply/type, protein nutrition, impact of certain additives
- Correct nutrition to minimise occurrence of behavioural vices in pigs e.g. Tail biting
- Mineral nutrition and imbalances
- Be conversant with the essential key performance indicators, recognise symptoms of poor performance and help the farmer to identify the cause(s).
Key performance indicators- Fattening pigs
- Growth, feed intake, feed conversion, mortality
- Breeding sows
- Conception rate, returns to service, litter size, piglet weaning weights.
- Understand the relationship between appropriate micronutrient supply and good health and reproductive performance.
- Clearly defined basic requirement to avoid deficiency symptoms for each micronutrient
- Factors affecting “real” requirements
- Stress
- Nutritional interactions (esp. between trace minerals)
- Immune status and disease
- Performance response
- Supply in feed ingredients generally low and poor availability
- Higher specific requirement for fertility and reproduction
- Be able to inform and explain to producers the welfare issues that impact on production, e.g. feed and water access, air flow and quality, and how to access current status and how these can be improved.
- Recognise common on farm opportunities to improve, reproduction performance, health and welfare and recommend further input as appropriate e.g. vet, industry guidance on best practice.
- Farm Animal Welfare Council – 5 freedoms:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Correct feed for age and stage of production
- Feeder type and space appropriate to the number and size of pig
- Clean, fresh water available at all times
- Drinker type and number of pigs
- Water hygiene
- Freedom from discomfort
- Correct flooring type / bedding availability E.g., slat width Maintain environmental temperature and ventilation appropriate to the age of the type age of pig
- Ammonia build up / behavioural changes / vices = key warning of problem
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Veterinary health plan for all units
- Vaccination and worming
- Tail docking / teeth clipping using appropriate hygiene practice under veterinary direction
- Daily inspection and intervention as required
- Prioritise biosecurity measures on farm
- Maintenance of all essential farm equipment (feeders, drinkers, ventilation, etc.)
- Freedom to express normal behaviour
- Environmental enrichment
- Straw, toys etc
- Stocking density
- Limits set in codes of practice
- Freedom from fear or distress
- Daily routines essential
- Back-up power supply must be available
- Manage predation of piglets on outdoor units
- Minimise the risk of health issues associated with feeding by providing appropriate feeding strategies that lead to reduced emissions per unit of production.
- Match feed to type of pig and stage of production
- Nutrient specification based on best available practice
- Digestible amino acids to minimise nitrogen excretion
- Enzyme addition
- Phytase to maximise utilisation of plant bound phosphorus
- Cereal enzyme to improve diet digestibility and reduce manure output
- Micronutrient supplementation fit for purpose
- Highest digestibility ingredients economically available
- Feed form (pellet, meal, liquid) to optimise intake
- Feeding practice (feeder type and frequency of feeding)
- Access for all animals
- Efficient utilisation of feed
- Reduces emissions to the pigs environment
- Reduction in stressors to pigs – aggression, overstocking, disease challenges
- Improved overall performance and health
- Be cognisant of key diseases that affect production performance e.g. pig wasting disease, skin disease, avian flu, respiratory diseases.
Understand the importance of some key diseases on pig production:- Notifiable diseases (Incl. FMD, Swine Influenza, African/ Classical Swine fever and more)
- Circovirus (Wasting disease)
- PRRS virus
- Salmonella – implications for human health
- Skeletal weakness / leg problems
- Respiratory disease
- Skin diseases and problems (e.g. mange, shoulder sores in sows)
- Gut enteritis – general bacterial/viral scour
- Piglet scour – coccidiosis
Poultry
Candidates must be able to:
- Demonstrate practical awareness of the links between nutrition and performance, health and welfare, and where relevant fertility – and an ability to take a holistic approach to production and illustrate the impact on reducing emissions per unit of product.
- Diet selection, strategy and performance
- Development of the growing stock
- Liveweight control of the adult stock
- Separate sex feeding (if appropriate)
- Egg production (egg mass)
- Egg shell quality (reject eggs)
- Fertility
- Hatch of viable chicks / poults
- Nutrition, health and welfare
- Balanced diet appropriate to type and stage of production
- Ability to recognise imbalances e.g. litter quality, feathering, mortality and culling rates, stress, leg weakness
- Be conversant with the essential key performance indicators, recognise symptoms of poor performance and help the farmer to identify the cause(s).
- Key performance indicators
- Layer (cv. breed standard)
- Egg number, egg size, peak production, second quality (reject) eggs
- Feed intake, water intake, mortality
- Broiler / Turkey (cv. breed standard)
- Check (weekly sample) live weights, feed intake, water intake, mortality
- Flock (final) live weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, European production efficiency factor (EPEF)
- Breeding poultry
- As laying poultry
- Hatching egg production (including reject eggs)
- Fertility, hatchability and chick / poult grading
- Understand the need to supply the daily requirement for micro-nutrients and the impact of environmental conditions e.g disease, stress and production
- Have an overview of the role and necessity that micro-nutrients play in efficient animal production and of the effect that a range of environmental conditions have on their requirement and availability to the animal
- Be able to inform and explain to producers the welfare issues that impact on production, e.g. feed and water access, air flow and quality, and how to access current status and how these can be improved.
- Recognise common on farm opportunities to improve, reproduction performance, health and welfare and recommend further input as appropriate e.g. vet, industry guidance on best practice.
- Farm Animal Welfare Council – 5 freedoms to advise the farmer of his responsibilities:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Correct feed for age and stage of production
- Feeder type and space appropriate to the number of birds
- Clean, fresh water available at all times
- Drinker type and number for number of birds
- Water sanitisation / hygiene
- Freedom from discomfort
- Litter material, depth and quality
- Dry – avoid nutritional strategies that encourage wet droppings
- Maintain house temperature and ventilation appropriate to the age of the type age of bird
- Ammonia build up is key warning of problem
- Breed company recommendations (or industry best practice) using specialist equipment suppliers manual
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Veterinary health plan for all poultry
- Vaccination and worming
- Beak tipping as permitted or necessary under veterinary direction
- Daily inspection and cull as required
- Prioritise biosecurity measures on farm
- Maintenance of all essential farm equipment (feeders, drinkers, brooders, ventilation, etc.)
- Freedom to express normal behaviour
- Environmental enrichment
- Litter, straw bales, hanging ropes, etc.
- Windowed houses
- Stocking density
- Limits set in codes of practice
- Delays in killing programme can lead to over stocking issues
- Freedom from fear or distress
- Daily routines essential
- Back-up power supply must be available
- Manage predation of stock on free range units
- Provision of cover (trees, purpose built shelter)
- Minimise the risk of health issues associated with feeding by providing appropriate feeding strategies that lead to reduced emissions per unit of production.
- Match feed to type of poultry and stage of production
- Nutrient specification based on best available practice
- Digestible amino acids to minimise nitrogen excretion
- Enzyme addition
- Phytase to maximise utilisation of plant bound phosphorus
- Cereal enzyme to improve diet digestibility and reduce manure output
- Micronutrient supplementation fit for purpose
- Highest digestibility ingredients economically available
- Feed form (crumb, pellet, mash) to optimise intake
- Feeding practice (feeder type and frequency of feeding)
- Access for all birds
- Efficient utilisation of feed
- Optimise overall performance and health
- Reduces emissions to the poultry housing environment
- Reduction in stressors to poultry
- Be cognisant of key diseases that affect production performance e.g. skin disease, avian flu, respiratory diseases.
Understand the importance of some key diseases on poultry production- Notifiable diseases (Newcastle Disease, Avian Influenza)
- Coccidiosis – ubiquitous, gut active, in-feed routine use of Specified Feed additives
- Respiratory diseases – suppression of performance
- Gumboro – immunosuppression
- Enteritis – generalised gut bacterial/viral scour
- Blackhead – protozoan (no available treatment)
- Leg issues – economically important cause of culling in poultry
- Salmonella – implications for human health
- Campylobacter – implications for human health