SOW HOUSING .

Honesty, transparency and understanding – those were the key words used when describing the outcome of the first Tri-State Sow Housing Conference, preparing the US for a future with group housing for sows. The conference consisted of a day of educational material to prepare Indiana, Michigan and Ohio producers in the transition from individually housed systems to group housing for gestating sows. The day-long conference covered a variety of topics related to sow housing including the retailer and consumer perspective on sow housing options. Read more;@ pigprogress.com

'Sweaty billboard' could help fight Zika.

A billboard that attracts and kills mosquitoes has been designed by marketing agencies in Brazil. The board releases a mixture of a lactic acid solution that mimics the smell of human sweat, and carbon dioxide, which is in human breath.At night, fluorescent lights increase the attraction. The mosquitoes get trapped in the display, later dying from dehydration, according to the project. Its inventors have released the blueprint for free and are encouraging people around the world to make them. However, one expert warned it could attract insects to areas where there are many humans. The mosquitoes the billboard targets fly around four feet high, the trapping mechanism is located at that height. It can attract the insects from a distance of up to around 1.5 miles, the Mosquito Killer Billboard site says. The Brazilian project was created by the ad agencies NBS and Posterscope. read more www.bbc.com

EMERGENCY VET ATTENTION FOR DOG THAT ATE FLOUR WITH RAISINS.

A dog who chomped through a packet of dried fruit has sparked a "deadly raisins" warning.Jasmine Quick from Plymouth had brought baking ingredients home after a competition when boxer Ray made his move on the leftovers. The eight-year-old pet ate a kilo of sugar and its wrapping, a bag of flour and a packet of raisins and sultanas. Ray was absolutely covered in flour and sugar, and was guzzling his way through the raisins, when the chaos was noticed and the owner called the vet immediately. The Veterinarian, Erin Beale noted that this was a potentially disastrous cocktail because grapes, raisins and sultanas are all highly toxic to dogs and even small amounts can be fatal, depending on their size. Ray he got help straight away, and recovered quite quickly and was soon back to his normal self. read more at bbc.com

Vetpreneur @ crowdfunding..

A crowdfunding platform Patreon,launched in 2013 was created by Jack Conte and Sam Yam . The site is a Kickstarter for creative professionals: but rather than fund specific projects, it lets fans support individual artists - from musicians to illustrators and film-makers. Fans pledge financial support, paid either as a monthly sum or per piece of new content. In return, backers receive exclusive content. It's not just videos. "Writing is a really popular category. We have writers making a few thousand bucks per article," says Conte. "It doesn't matter if you're doing video, comics, music, writing - people are being paid for putting something online." The goal, he says, is to fund what he calls "the emerging creative class". The service now has more than 20,000 individuals using it for income, including the musician Amanda Palmer read more at www.wired.co.uk

RABIES IN A HORSE IN SANTA CRUZ.

The Arizona Department of Agriculture said a horse in Santa Cruz County has become the state's first case of rabies in a domesticated animal in nearly seven years. The horse, whose owner lives in the Nogales area, was hospitalized but did not respond to treatment, according to a news release. The horse was later euthanized, state agriculture officials said. Rabies among domestic animals is extremely rare, with this being the first case in almost seven years, we are reminded of the importance of keeping our animals' vaccinations current," said Dr. Susan Gale, the acting state veterinarian. Rabies is a virus that attacks the nervous system of mammals, causing erratic behavior and eventually death, according to the Centers for Disease Control . Rabies is most often found in wild animals, including bats, skunks and foxes. The state Department of Agriculture urges livestock, horse and pet owners to speak with their veterinarian about how to protect their animals. Read more http://www.abc15.com/news/state/santa-cruz-horse-is-first-arizona-domestic-animal-rabies-case-in-nearly-seven-years

A veterinarian's story

Reversing the downward spiral

ANTIBIOTIC REDUCTION IN GERMAN PIG INDUSTRY.

The German animal husbandry sector has reduced the use of antibiotics in production by using strategic methods to minimize the use. The level of reduction was identified by cooating of data from veterinarians who recorded when antibiotics were administered and the length of time the treatment lapsed. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) reported the decline in the use of antibiotics. This office is reporting the total usage in animal husbandry, in combination with the frequency of treatments,every 6 months and new frequency figures become available. The new figures became available for the last 6 months of 2015 and highlighted the following ; 2 benchmark figures emerged; first of all, a treatment frequency goal, which is being met by 75% of all pig farms. Piglets up to 30 kg were treated on average 13.57 times – a reduction of over 7 treatments in comparison to the first 6 months of 2015. In finisher production, the frequency dropped from 6.5 to 4.6 times. The broiler and turkey production sector showed similar trends; Broilers were given antibiotics on average over 22 times, compared to 27 times in the first 6 months of 2015. In turkeys, the frequency dropped from over 40 to over 32. The other benchmark figure is a frequency goal which is met by 50% of all farms. Here also the development is positive over all animal species. The German Farmers' Association (DBV) said the frequency figure is being calculated on the basis of vets, who need to report every 6 months how many animals they been treated with antibiotics. In addition, they are required to report how long these treatments took and also the types of antibiotics need to be recorded, but these are not expressed in the final figures. For all data, a central reporting office has been set up. The BVL multiplies the number of treated animals with the number of treatment days and divides the result by the average amount of animals on these farms in these 6 months. Individual farms that exceed the benchmark of 50%, are requested to contact their veterinarians to discuss how to lower their usage. Despite question marks about the accuracy of these figures, it looks like the sector has eventually managed to reduce antibiotic consumption. It remains to be seen how much lower this can get. materials from pig progress.