 |
 Vol. 47 (1), April 2012
|
|
|
EditorialWhether you are a graduate student trying to finish your thesis and publications from it, busy with a demanding job, or already retired: we all have the same 24 hours a day and it is up to us to find a balance between essential work and regeneration of our energy. More than 7 billion people in the world offer unlimited opportunities to assist them in getting a balanced diet at a price which leaves some purchasing power for other goods and services to improve the quality of their lives.
In my younger years, I missed a lot of opportunities to learn as much as possible and just wanted to finish school as early as possible. After deciding what to study, and more so in graduate school, I realized that continued learning is not only a privilege, but also fun and helps to keep up with an ever changing world around us.
When we think of the global food chain, we should not forget that people “need” more than enough to eat. You probably heard expressions like “panem et circenses” in Latin or “der Mensch lebt nicht vom Brot allein” in German. If you ask Wikipedia on the internet, you will find that “Bread and Circuses”…was the basic Roman formula for the well-being of the population, and hence a political strategy unto itself… The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man.”
We seem to have a similar problem in affluent countries with a lack of communication between modern food production, especially animal farming, and a general public which knows less and less about the “real world” of food production, but has strong opinions how to change it (back to what stage in history?). This was the focus of a recent symposium in Berlin, from which we include the first two papers in this issue. Some of our readers have asked already for the second part of Don Bell’s analysis of field records with his results and comments on the variability of feed efficiency of modern laying hens. Also in response to questions from egg producers, Dr. Thiele explains how egg weight is determined by a combination of genetic potential and optimized farm management. The next two papers inform about turkey breeding and management opportunities to minimize foot pad dermatitis (FPD). Not for food, but for fun, is the last paper, which shows how horse breeding has evolved since their use as draft animals has been eliminated.
Most of our readers are primarily interested in poultry, many of them members of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA). If you are, you will be aware of and perhaps planning to attend the World Poultry Congress in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in August. The European Federation of the WPSA currently has 10 Working Groups, and the Asian Pacific Federation has 4 Working Groups, which connect specialists from all over the world to exchange timely information. These meetings as well as Branch meetings offer excellent opportunities to keep up with developments around the world. By keeping up with meetings and publications across species barriers and topics, you may pick up fresh ideas and reduce the risk of falling behind after early specialization.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This issue of Lohmann Information offers the following papers as “food for thought”:
1. Lohmann Animal Health GmbH, a subsidiary of the PHW Group, has agreed to leave the responsibility for publishing Lohmann Information exclusively to Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH, a subsidiary of the EW Group. During the first 40 years, the focus of this publication was on animal and poultry nutrition, with editors Dr. Gramatzki, Dr. Küther and Dr. Maria Seemann. Dr. Christian Plath, Director Corporate Development in the recently formed holding Lohmann SE, presents the current focus of the company: "A company Profile of Lohmann Animal Health".
2. Prof. Dr. Reinhard Fries, Meat Hygiene Institute, Veterinary Faculty of the Free University Berlin, gives a short summary of papers recently presented at a two-day symposium in Berlin with focus on the question “Wellbeing of Food Animals and Current Keeping Techniques: what is acceptable and what goes beyond acceptability?”. Proceedings with all papers will be published later this year (in German).
3. Pastor Karl-Heinz Friebe received special attention at this symposium with his presentation “A Christian View on Intensive Animal Farming: Position of the Lutheran Church”. We include a translation of his paper in full length and would welcome future contributions from other authors representing other religious groups.
4. Donald Bell, poultry extension specialist at the University of California, presents results of his analysis of extensive field records: “Experiences with Lohmann Selected Leghorn (LSL- Lite) Layers: Feed Consumption and Conversion”. The emphasis is on non-genetic sources of variation which should be controlled by farm management to achieve optimal economic results.
5. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Thiele, responsible for keeping management guides for all strains of Lohmann Tierzucht updated, reviews latest recommendations for managing pullets and laying hens to utilize their high genetic potential, with special attention to egg weight: “Management tools to influence egg weight in commercial layers”.
6. Dr. Abd El-Wahab recently completed his doctoral thesis at the Foundation Veterinary Faculty of the University Hannover. The paper “Investigations on diet composition, litter quality and experimantal infection on the severity of foot pad dermatitis in young turkeys housed with or without floor heating” is co-authored by six colleagues at five institutes who co-operated in a series of four experiments.
7. Mr. Magnus Swalander, Director of Global Genetics, Aviagen Turkeys, recently reviewed the breeding program of his company at the 6th Symposium of Working Group 10 (Turkey) of the WPSA. The Proceedings of this meeting were edited and published by Prof. Hafez, who kindly allowed us to reproduce it in this issue under the title “Balanced Breeding of Turkeys for Health and Welfare Traits”. Welfare traits have been receiving increasing attention in modern selection programs, but need to be supported by optimized management to answer concerns of welfare.
8. Dr. Hanfried Haring, former CEO and General Secretary of the German Equestrian Federation and President European Equestrian Federation, provides insight into a different world, involving a species which is seldom used as a source of meat and lost its traditional role as draft animal in agriculture and transportation: “The changing role of horses in our society” is focused on business aspects of top sports, but the vast majority of horses is kept by amateurs who have to understand the needs of the animals to enjoy their hobby.
With kind regards,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
