Achieving sustainable production of pig meat Volume 3: Animal health and welfare
About this ebook
Animal Welfare
Pig meat is the most widely-consumed meat in the world. Previous growth in production has relied, in part, on more intensive systems. In meeting rising demand, these systems face challenges such as the ongoing threat of zoonotic diseases, the need to improve feed efficiency in the face of rising costs, the need to reduce the environmental impact of pig production and increasing concerns about animal welfare.
This volume looks at animal health and welfare. Part 1 reviews the main diseases affecting pigs as well as ways of managing diseases and boosting pig immune function. Part 2 reviews what we know about pig behaviour and appropriate welfare standards. It also assesses the welfare of different groups of pigs, from gilts and sows to weaned piglets and finishing pigs, as well as transport, lairage and slaughter.
With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for researchers in swine science, producers, government and other organisations involved in supporting pig production. It is accompanied by two companion volumes which focus on safety, quality and sustainability as well as animal breeding and nutrition.
About the author
Dr Julian Wiseman is Emeritus Professor of Animal Production at the University of Nottingham, UK. He has published widely in the area of non-ruminant nutrition and product quality, has presented papers at some of the leading international conferences in this area and has written or edited a number of books on animal nutrition. He was co-organiser of the annual Nottingham Feed Conference. Professor Wiseman is editor of two earlier Burleigh Dodds Science volumes: Achieving sustainable production of pig meat Volume 2 Animal breeding and nutrition; and Achieving sustainable production of pig meat Volume 3: Animal health and welfare (both published in 2017).
Dr Mick Bailey is Professor of Comparative Immunology at the University of Bristol’s world-famous Veterinary School. Professor Bailey has an international reputation for his research on the development of the mucosal immune system in pigs.
Dr Dominiek Maes is Professor of Porcine Health Management in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University, Belgium.
Dr Jeroen Dewulf is a full Professor in Veterinary Epidemiology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University. His main research interests are quantitative epidemiology and control of zoonoses with a specific emphasis on antimicrobial use and resistance in animals as well as the prevention of epidemic and endemic diseases with a focus on the application of biosecurity measures. He is the head of the Veterinary Epidemiology Unit and is supervising over 10 Ph.D. students who are doing research in the field of veterinary epidemiology. He is (co-)author of over 300 A1 publications in the field of veterinary epidemiology with an H-index of 45. He is the principal author of the annual Belgian report on Antimicrobial Consumption in Animals (BelVetSac) and chair of the JPI-AMR network on the quantification of antimicrobial consumption in animals at herd level. Since 2009 he is a member of the scientific committee of the Belgian federal food agency and is the founder and chair of the board of the center of expertise on antimicrobial use and resistance in animals (AMCRA) in Belgium.
Dr Sandra Edwards is Emerita Professor in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. Professor Edwards is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on pig welfare with over 200 publications in the field. She has won numerous awards, including from organisations such as UFAW, EAAP, RSPCA and BSAS. She is a former President of the British Society of Animal Science, a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as well as a former member of the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council and the Animal Health and Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Agency.
