NEWS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE December 2023 97 sure on biodiversity and land and water resources, as well as decrease greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate environmental degradation." Ruud Tijssens, IFIF Chairman, underlined, “The animal feed industry plays a crucial role in supporting sustainable livestock production by leveraging innovation and efficiency. Animal nutrition supports animal health and welfare, as well as productivity, and allows farmers to produce more with less and optimise environmental resources.” He highlighted, “The publication of the updated FAO and IFIF Manual on Good Practices for the Feed Sector was a key milestone as we worked together on Capacity Development for feed safety. IFIF continues to contribute to FAO’s work to address antimicrobial resistance, including through advancing nutritional innovation to support animal health. IFIF looks forward to the 17th International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) in 2024, which is another great example of IFIF FAO collaboration positively impacting the feed and food chain. Read more>> The International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture (ICASA) awarded three grants totaling $377,503 to track antimicrobial usage and support better-informed antibiotic treatment for bacteria that cause diseases in swine and beef cattle. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded Dr. Kathryn Havas from Pipestone a $202,555 grant through ICASA to develop a protocol that tracks antibiotic use across large-scale commercial swine production systems and compares it in real-time with its respective on-farm antibiotic use. The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) is tracking ARM data at the level of the meat case, the harvest facility, and across cases of human foodborne illness; however, no such effort exists at the level of the swine farm. This project expands upon previous research, including data collection from participating swine farms and preliminary statistical analysis of antimicrobial use and resistance data. Additionally, the livestock industry is plagued by bovine respiratory disease (BRD), an infectious condition that can spread through a herd and comprises an estimated 80% of antibiotic treatments. ICASA awarded Ergense Inc. and Kansas State University (K-State) grants to improve understanding of BRD and reduce excess antibiotic usage. FFAR awarded Thomas Darbonne from Ergense Inc. a $50,000 grant through ICASA to develop an acoustic monitoring technique to inform antibiotic treatment of cattle for BRD. The standard procedure for cattle arriving at a feedlot is to place each lot of cattle into a receiving pen for at least 24 hours to let them settle, and the livestock management workers decide whether the entire pen should receive antibiotic treatment based on various animal health factors. To reduce treatment subjectivity, Darbonne is developing an audio monitoring technique that uses machine learning to analyse the acoustic signatures of animal vocalisations to inform the BRD treatment decision. FFAR awarded Dr. Natalia Cernicchiaro and Dr. David Renter from K-State a $124,948 grant through ICASA to improve understanding of how feedlot cattle are classified based on BRD risk. These researchers are gathering information from industry stakeholders on current practices and knowledge gaps related to wholepen antibiotic metaphylaxis administration for BRD. Additionally, Cernicchiaro and Renter are designing a survey of feedlot managers, veterinarians, and other decision-makers to establish what information is used to classify BRD risk and animal treatment. Read more>> ICASA awards grants to address antimicrobial resistance in cattle and swine
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