POWER (Tierwohl und Resilienz in der Bioschweinehaltung)

Für die Bioschweinehaltung in Europa ist die ökologische und wirtschaftliche Wettbewerbsfähigkeit nach wie vor eine Herausforderung. Hohe Ferkelsterblichkeit, Gesundheitsprobleme nach dem Absetzen und Umweltgefährdung infolge Ammoniakemissionen und Nährstoffauswaschung erfordern eine verbesserte Resilienz auf Tier- und Produktionssystemebene. POWER liefert neue wissenschaftliche und praktische Erkenntnisse für: 1) Design und Management von Haltungssystemen, die den Zuchtschweinen eine reizvolle (natürliche) Umgebung bieten und gleichzeitig das Risiko von Emissionen aus Freilandflächen verringern, 2) Design von Abferkelnestern und der Genetik für eine bessere Überlebensrate der Ferkel und 3) Managementstrategien zur Verbesserung der Darmgesundheit und der Aufzuchtleistung nach dem Absetzen.

An dem Projekt sind Partner in 8 Ländern beteiligt. Das Projekt wird innovative Praxissysteme von Stall- und Weidehaltung in Bezug auf Tierwohl, Futtereffizienz und Umweltauswirkungen identifizieren und analysieren. Eine Gesamtbewertung der ökonomischen Effizienz und der Umweltauswirkungen der untersuchten Innovationen wird praktische Leitlinien für eine kosten- und ökoeffiziente Schweinepraxis gewährleisten.

POWER addresses some of the main challenges to European pig farming, with a focus on the young animal (suckling piglets, weaners and growing-finishing pigs).

It has one overall aim: to support the development of a variety of resilient and competitive organic pig production systems across Europe, with low ecological footprints and high animal welfare.
The specific objectives are:

1. To investigate the effects of different designs of concrete outdoor runs on growing-finishing pig behaviour, health and pen hygiene. This will improve animal welfare and reduce nutrient losses;
2. To investigate the effects of the farrowing pen design, as well as improved genetics on maternal behaviour and piglet mortality;
3. To investigate the effects of different management strategies (e.g. iron or probiotic supply, prolonged lactation) on piglet growth and health during lactation and after weaning;
4. To identify and field-test best practice examples of different combinations of housing and pasture systems, considering productivity, feed efficiency, animal health and manure/pasture management;
5. To evaluate the overall effect of the identified innovative solutions of points 1 to 4 on cost effectiveness, system resilience and ecological footprints of a variety of systems practiced across Europe;
6. To provide guidelines for organic pig producers across Europe on the development of ecological and economically competitive pig systems with high standards for animal welfare.

A key to these objectives is the improvement of resilience at the animal and production system level:

• at animal level: the ability to withstand and overcome e.g. diseases, social and nutritional challenges;
• at the production system level: the ability to successfully negotiate changes in feed costs, revenues or legislation.

The project builds on earlier work which suggests that husbandry conditions have an effect on disease resistance in pigs, possibly through stress reduction.

This leads to our overarching working hypothesis that it is possible to increase overall resilience of organic pig systems across Europe through targeted welfare, environmental and economic research, in combination with stakeholder-driven identification of best practices.

• Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft / CORE Organic Cofund

• Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft (BLW) – Förderung von Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
• CORE Organic Cofund/ Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft (BLW)

• AU-AGRO: Aarhus University, Department of Agroecology
• BOKU: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
• TI-OL: Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute of Organic Farming
• CREA-SUI: Consiglio per Ia ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria
• WUR: Wageningen Livestock Research
• INRA: INRA UMR 1348 Physiologie, Environnement et Genetique pour I'Animal et les Systemes d'Eievage
• RISE: SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden

• Früh Barbara (Dipartimento consulenza, formazione & comunicazione)

• Alföldi Thomas (Dipartimento consulenza, formazione & comunicazione)
• Eppenstein Rennie C. (Dipartimento di scienze animali)
• Holinger Mirjam (Dipartimento di scienze animali)
• Jenni Anna (Dipartimento di scienze animali)
• Meier Matthias (Departement für Agrar- und Ernährungssysteme)
• Moakes Simon (Departement für Agrar- und Ernährungssysteme)
• Weidmann Gilles (Dipartimento consulenza, formazione & comunicazione)

Projektpartner

• Consulenza & formazione (Dipartimento consulenza, formazione & comunicazione, FiBL Schweiz)
• Detenzione degli animali & selezione animale (Dipartimento di scienze animali, FiBL Schweiz)
• Sistemi agroaliementari (Dipartimento di scienze dei sistemi agroalimentari, FiBL Schweiz)
• Sostenibilità (Dipartimento di scienze dei sistemi agroalimentari, FiBL Schweiz)
• Strumenti di consulenza (Dipartimento consulenza, formazione & comunicazione, FiBL Schweiz)