Due to the increasing world population, conventional agriculture is facing increasing challenges, mainly concerning criticism from civil society regarding its sustainability. In this context, they focus especially on the use of non-renewable resources, environmental pollution and animal health. Over the years, the agri-food sector has started to shift towards some and various innovative and more sustainable production methods; among these, especially regarding animal husbandry, agroecology is probably one of the most effective ways to achieve a higher level of sustainability of the production. Indeed, this discipline constitutes an innovative approach to agri-food production because it considers the farm as a fundamental part of the ecosystem in which it is embedded. The health of the system is also perceived as the result of the interactions between all its components: environmental, human and production. Making the most of these interactions is the key to achieving the highest possible level of sustainability. In addition, because of the local input-based production, agroecological livestock farming systems place great attention on grasslands. Here, they can represent both a direct source of feed through grazing, and a source of preserved forage for periods of the year during which the animals are kept in stables, e.g., in winter. Consequently, assessing the health of the system is therefore fundamental in agroecology and, within the various models of analysis, the Global Health approach is perhaps the best to achieve it. Talking about this thesis work, it is based on a Global Health approach to define a set of indicators to assess animal health on agroecological farms. Eighteen agroecological dairy farms, rearing cows, goats and sheep, were monitored over a two-year period, during which four rounds of on-site visits were conducted to carry out measurements and observations on the reared animals, covering behaviour, health status, milk parameters, blood sampling, parasite analysis on droppings, pasture and feed sampling. Subsequently, the collected data were processed by using Microsoft Excel software, and then statistically analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA - R Software). The statistical results were combined with expert knowledge to extract a list of indicators, including as many aspects as possible, to analyse and define animal health within agroecological farms. Two lists of indicators were therefore produced: one for dairy cows, and the other for small ruminants, sheep and goats. Then these indicators were used to conduct an evaluation of the 18 farms followed during the study and to test their appropriateness. With regard to future perspectives of the work, it could be interesting to adopt the two tables of indicators for the evaluation of farms located in other geographical contexts and to implement them with supplementary specific indicators, to further deepen the analysis on animal health within these productive systems.
A causa dell’aumento della popolazione mondiale, l’agricoltura convenzionale sta affrontando sfide sempre crescenti, relative soprattutto alle critiche della società civile in merito alla sua sostenibilità. In questo contesto, l’attenzione è rivolta soprattutto all’uso di risorse non rinnovabili, all’inquinamento ambientale e alla scarsa attenzione verso la salute animale. Nel corso degli anni, il settore agroalimentare si è orientato verso diversi metodi di produzione più sostenibili. Fra questi, l’agroecologia rappresenta probabilmente una fra le vie più efficaci per raggiungere un più elevato livello di sostenibilità delle produzioni. Questa disciplina, infatti, costituisce un approccio innovativo alla produzione agroalimentare, poiché considera l’azienda agricola come parte integrante dell’ecosistema in cui è inserita. La salute del sistema viene intesa, inoltre, come il risultato dell’interazione fra tutte le sue componenti, sia ambientali che umane e produttive. Sfruttare queste interazioni in modo ottimale, rappresenta la chiave per il raggiungimento di un livello di sostenibilità più elevato possibile. Inoltre, poiché l’agroecologia prevede una produzione basata su fattori locali, le aziende zootecniche agro-ecologiche rivolgono grande attenzione verso lo sfruttamento sostenibile dei prati-pascolo. Essi, infatti, possono sia fornire direttamente l’alimento attraverso il pascolamento, che produrre foraggio per i periodi dell’anno in cui gli animali sono tenuti in stalla, ad esempio in inverno. Ciò detto, la valutazione della salute del sistema è quindi fondamentale in agroecologia e, fra le varie modalità di analisi, l’approccio Global Health è forse il migliore per realizzarlo. Riguardo al presente lavoro di tesi, questo si basa appunto su un approccio Global Health per definire un insieme di indicatori ai fini della valutazione della salute animale in aziende agro-ecologiche. Diciotto aziende agricole agro-ecologiche da latte, con bovini, caprini e ovini, sono state seguite per un periodo di due anni, durante i quali sono state condotte quattro sessioni di visite in loco. Qui, sono state effettuate misurazioni ed osservazioni sugli animali allevati riguardanti comportamento, stato di salute, parametri del latte, prelievi di sangue, analisi parassitarie sugli escrementi, campionamento dei pascoli e dei foraggi. Successivamente, i dati raccolti sono stati elaborati tramite il Software Microsoft Excel e poi analizzati statisticamente tramite Analisi per Componenti Principali (PCA – Software R). I risultati statistici sono stati poi combinati con le conoscenze di expertise del gruppo di lavoro per estrarre una lista di indicatori, comprensiva di più aspetti possibili, per analizzare e definire la salute animale. Due liste di indicatori sono state quindi realizzate: una per le aziende con vacche da latte, e l’altra per quelle con piccoli ruminanti, ovini e caprini. Al termine, i suddetti indicatori sono stati utilizzati per condurre una valutazione sulle 18 aziende seguite durante lo studio e per testare la loro appropriatezza. In futuro, lo studio potrebbe proseguire con l’adozione degli indicatori selezionati per la valutazione di aziende situate in contesti territoriali diversi, in modo da valutarne adeguatezza e adattabilità. Inoltre, potrebbe essere interessante implementare le due tabelle con altri indicatori, per approfondire maggiormente l’analisi della salute animale in questi sistemi produttivi.
Indicators for animal health on agro-ecological dairy farms
CEPPATELLI, ANDREA
2021/2022
Abstract
Due to the increasing world population, conventional agriculture is facing increasing challenges, mainly concerning criticism from civil society regarding its sustainability. In this context, they focus especially on the use of non-renewable resources, environmental pollution and animal health. Over the years, the agri-food sector has started to shift towards some and various innovative and more sustainable production methods; among these, especially regarding animal husbandry, agroecology is probably one of the most effective ways to achieve a higher level of sustainability of the production. Indeed, this discipline constitutes an innovative approach to agri-food production because it considers the farm as a fundamental part of the ecosystem in which it is embedded. The health of the system is also perceived as the result of the interactions between all its components: environmental, human and production. Making the most of these interactions is the key to achieving the highest possible level of sustainability. In addition, because of the local input-based production, agroecological livestock farming systems place great attention on grasslands. Here, they can represent both a direct source of feed through grazing, and a source of preserved forage for periods of the year during which the animals are kept in stables, e.g., in winter. Consequently, assessing the health of the system is therefore fundamental in agroecology and, within the various models of analysis, the Global Health approach is perhaps the best to achieve it. Talking about this thesis work, it is based on a Global Health approach to define a set of indicators to assess animal health on agroecological farms. Eighteen agroecological dairy farms, rearing cows, goats and sheep, were monitored over a two-year period, during which four rounds of on-site visits were conducted to carry out measurements and observations on the reared animals, covering behaviour, health status, milk parameters, blood sampling, parasite analysis on droppings, pasture and feed sampling. Subsequently, the collected data were processed by using Microsoft Excel software, and then statistically analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA - R Software). The statistical results were combined with expert knowledge to extract a list of indicators, including as many aspects as possible, to analyse and define animal health within agroecological farms. Two lists of indicators were therefore produced: one for dairy cows, and the other for small ruminants, sheep and goats. Then these indicators were used to conduct an evaluation of the 18 farms followed during the study and to test their appropriateness. With regard to future perspectives of the work, it could be interesting to adopt the two tables of indicators for the evaluation of farms located in other geographical contexts and to implement them with supplementary specific indicators, to further deepen the analysis on animal health within these productive systems.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12608/34570