The 17th International Conference on Production Diseases in Farm Animals: Editorial

The growing demand of an increasing global population for animal derived food and products requires intensive livestock farming. During the past decades, performance across all livestock species worldwide increased continuously. Breeding and husbandry of livestock, however, are also accompanied by a conflict of interest between biological requirements of the animal and economic needs of the producer. This conflict is increasingly gaining attention not only by producers, animal scientists, and veterinarians, but also by the public. An inadequate breeding strategy or animal housing and feeding may lead to production diseases, coming along impaired animal welfare, but also reduced income for the producer, and reduced product quality for the consumer.

This supplement issue / volume of the Journal of Animal Science represents the span of invited papers presented at the 17th International Conference on Production Diseases in Farm Animals (ICPD) held in Bern, Switzerland, June 27 to 29, 2019. The ICPD is a traditional conference, held for the first time in 1968 in Urbana, Illinois, and from then on mostly in 3-year intervals either in Europe or in the US. In contrast to most conferences related to farm animals, the ICPD focusses mainly on production diseases and their prevention in ruminants, swine, and poultry.

From the very beginning, the ICPD has been commonly organized by farm animal and veterinary scientists. It is the goal to gather the different fields of science to exchange and discuss results and developments, and to create novel ideas to prevent production diseases and to increase animal welfare and product quality in farm animal production. The ICPD always attracted international scientists from various disciplines. In this unique interdisciplinary environment, latest and groundbreaking research from scientists meets the questions, experiences and approaches of practitioners, industry, and consumers. Although a traditional conference, each ICPD addressed the most current issues of farm animal production. The main topics of the 17th ICPD were the use of antimicrobials with emphasis on security and safety for producers and consumers, the impact of locomotion disorders on performance and welfare of farm animals, the interactions of gut microbiome, climate change, microclimate, genetics, metabolic status and mineral homeostasis with reproduction, performance, animal health and welfare. Behavioral signs indicating an impaired animal welfare are the basis for precision livestock farming technology and development of new management strategies. Aspects of infectious diseases, raising neonates and their development are completing the program. Progress in analytical procedures, new regulations, the problem of antimicrobial resistance, and the implementation of sensor and precision livestock farming technology do not only trigger new management strategies on the farms. We are facing significant challenges and need to address those: Big data and data security, consumer perceptions, and a growing demand for animal-derived food products in the developing countries.

Although antimicrobials have emerged an indispensable part of most therapies against infectious diseases, security and safety aspects for producers and consumers become more and more important. Unfortunately, antimicrobials are still imprudently used, e.g. prophylactically or as growth promoters. Magnusson (2020) shows different strategies to reduce the need as well as ways to more efficiently use antimicrobials in the livestock sector for maintenance of animal health and productivity with the general aim of lowering the risk of increasing the resistance among human pathogens. In Europe, the Netherlands were pioneering in reducing antimicrobials in livestock production. In dairy cattle, the amount of applied antimicrobials that are considered critically important for human health by the WHO significantly decreased (Lam et al., 2020), but did not harm udder health. The review paper by Lam et al. (2020) further highlights the consequences for human health, e.g., current prevalence data on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. Although it might seem contradictory at first sight when we look at the critical issues for pig health (frequent use of antimicrobials, risk for introduction of epidemic diseases), intensive pig production offers advantages in terms of animal health, food safety, hygiene, biosecurity, and welfare outcomes when compared to extensive production. Maes et al. (2020) compare intensive with extensive pig production systems and demonstrate how modern housing and management implementing precision livestock farming tools can improve animal health, product quality, and welfare. Similar to pigs, large stock sizes with high-performing animals are characteristic for the poultry sector. Keel bone fractures and respiratory diseases like infectious laryngotracheitis are two examples for production diseases in poultry causing economic and welfare losses. The review paper of Wolfrum (2020) traces the historical development of treatment approaches back for more than 90 years up to the current status of vaccination against infectious laryngotracheitis. Makagon and Rufener (2020) summarize the impact of age, strain, and housing system on the prevalence of keel bone fractures. Research about the regulation of skeletal stability does not only benefit livestock animals. Bone atrophies and fracture are serious themes in companion animal and human medicine as well. Amundson and Crenshaw (2020) provide with the hypovitaminosis D kyphotic pig a realistic in vivo model to study osteochondrosis-like lesions with transferable prevention and treatment strategies for livestock animals, companion animals, and humans. Besides infectious diseases and bone lesions, intensive poultry production faces a high pressure of ectoparasites, too. The impact, control, and monitoring possibilities of the poultry red mite are subject of the review by Sparagano (2020). Besides precision livestock farming tools for detection of early deviations in poultry behavior and welfare, Kostal et al. (2020) studied if the cognitive bias paradigm can help us to better understand avian emotions and serve as tool for assessing poultry welfare.

Undoubtedly, climate change affects livestock production and performance. The review by Roth (2020) summarizes heat stress effects on reproduction of dairy cows and points out new strategies for reproductive management besides cooling to alleviate the effects of heat stress. At a microenvironment level, Miyamoto et al. (2020) focus on the recognition of sperm-inflammatory responses in the uterine and oviduct milieu of dairy cows. Further contributions address aspects relevant for reproduction in sows. Hyperprolific sows experience manifold farrowing complications, such as postpartum dysgalactia and retention of placenta. Recent findings to alleviate these problems are compiled by Peltoniemi et al. (2020), whereas Grahofer et al. (2020) give an update on biomarkers related to endometritis and cystitis in sows. The review paper of Kemper (2020) gives an update on dysgalactia in sows, which may have severe consequences when essential colostrum is not available for piglets. Colostrum is a unique nutrient source of immunoglobulins and other bioactive substances. The review of Geiger (2020) summarizes facts around colostrum in bovine species. Particularly immunoglobulins must be orally provided to ungulate species for passive immunization as the dams’ placenta type does not allow a direct transfer to the fetus. An overview on the current knowledge on control of onset and cessation of colostrogenesis in swine is provided by Farmer and Quesnel (2020). “Farm blindness” may manifest in the failure to implement recommended practices like timely colostrum feeding and result in a poor youngstock rearing success. Mee (2020) shows how to overcome farm blindness and to improve youngstock rearing. Breeding for more resilience in farm animals is one of the recent developments in animal genetics. Although selection markers are not finally set, first implementations and opportunities in a pig breeding program are described by Harlizius et al. (2020). Similar approaches are in the pipeline for dairy cows, where highest incidence rates of production diseases are observed during the energy deficient stage in early lactation. Trevisi et al. (2020) recapitulate in this issue the interaction between inflammation and metabolism in periparturient dairy cows. More specifically, Loor et al. (2020) summarize the role of amino acids in the regulation of oxidative stress and immune function in dairy cattle.

Collectively, the reviews found in this volume reflect only a small segment of current research related to production diseases in farm animals. They offer, however, a current view on the broad spectrum of up-to-date issues in livestock production. In keeping with previous ICPD meetings, the success of this 17th meeting was based on the diversity of discussion panels and disciplines that continue to stimulate for further investigation and exchange to improve health and welfare of farm animals.