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Livestock Innovation
Brought to you by LRIC
November 15, 2019
Driving livestock sector innovation
In recent meetings with LRIC members, I heard a clear message that awareness of research and effective communication of results are key to innovation. 

Well, welcome to Livestock Innovation, a newsletter focused on keeping you up to date on research that affects your sector or the broader livestock sector. We also bring you information on issues that are on the horizon, those issues that will impact your business in the future.

Help spread the word: pass this along to anyone you know that is interested in livestock innovation.
Mike McMorris, CEO, LRIC
Sector-specific
Poultry: In search of a necrotic enteritis vaccine
Thanks to work by scientists from University of Guelph and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a vaccine for necrotic enteritis could become commercially available in as soon as three years. It's a condition that costs the global poultry industry an estimated $6 billion a year.

Swine: Celery, cereals or peanuts? Piglets like variation
A varied diet shows promise as an effective feed strategy for piglets, a new study from Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands has found. Getting piglets to eat solid feed before weaning helps reduce weaning-related problems - increasing post weaning gain.

Beef: Brazilian study identifies genes potentially associated with heat and drought resistant cattle
Researchers in Brazil and Australia have identified 16 genes in Nellore cattle could make them more resistant to climate change stresses. The genes are linked to various biological processes, including inflammatory and immune responses.

Dairy: A new app helps estimate herd prevalence of bovine respiratory disease
A new phone app can help producers score their pre-weaned calves for signs of Bovine Respiratory Disease, one of the most significant cattle diseases. The app is designed to be used together with a new risk assessment tool, which is herd-specific and can help dairy farmers identify their herd's BRD risk, as well as needed management changes to control the illness.

Sheep: Raw soybeans for sheep to reduce feed costs
Adding raw soybeans to the rations of sheep can increase their milk production, according to a study from Brazil. Lamb survival and development are directly linked to ewe milk yields.

Aquaculture: Aquaponic farming - harnessing natural processes for an urban circular economy
Aquaponics is an emerging field that combines fish farming with plant farming in controlled systems - allowing a single producer to sustainably grow produce and raise fish in a local community.

Cross-sector
Antimicrobial use: Resistance is rising dramatically, research shows
The rate of infections of antimicrobial resistant bacteria is rising rapidly in livestock in low and middle income countries. That's according to research from Switzerland, which identified high rates of antimicrobial resistance in animals in northeast China, northeast India, southern Brazil, Iran and Turkey.

Smart farming: Eight ways smart livestock farming can bridge the efficiency gap
More data than ever before is being collected on farms - and predictive technology, Internet of Things and sensors are changing how farmers raise livestock.

On the Horizon
Alternative proteins: Flavour and cost remain clean meat's major hurdles
According to a recent study from Israel, flavour and cost remain cell-based meat's two biggest hurdles to gaining wide-spread consumer acceptance - but customizable products are on the horizon.

Environment: World is getting wetter, but water is getting scarcer
Plants adapting to a changing climate will consume more water in the future than they do currently, leaving less available for people and livestock in North America and parts of Europe and Asia. That's despite anticipated higher precipitation levels, a new study shows.

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear your feedback about LRIC - both what we're doing and what you think we should be doing! Please contact us at [email protected] with any questions or comments.