Back

Caring for animals

Enhanced well-being and performance while encouraging the animals’ natural defenses.

How? 

How? 

Tell me how…

What is ANIMAL GENETIC SELECTION?

How do you ASSESS ANIMAL WELFARE?

How do you MAKE ANIMAL WELFARE THE CORE OF PERFORMANCE?

How do you DEVELOP MORE ROBUST ANIMALS?

How do NEW TECHNOLOGIES WORK FOR ANIMAL WELFARE?

How do you DEVELOP A BACTERIAL ECOLOGY DIRECTED AGAINST PATHOGENIC MICROBES?

Animal genetic selection consists in measuring with precision the individual characteristics of the animals, in order to choose the champions on the soughtafter criteria. It is a continuous process, the efficiency of which depends on the number of animals measured, measurement accuracy, quality of the calculation algorithms enabling selection of the best ones. These champions are the breeders of the next generation.

“The well-being of an animal is the positive mental and physical state associated with the satisfaction of its physiological and behavioural needs and expectations. This state varies according to the animal’s perception of the situation.” (Anses, 2018)

The ability to observe animals is crucial for early detection of behavioural changes that are often the first signs of an unwell state.

Other indicators based on their health status, physiology, or production data can alert to an animal welfare problem.

Connected technologies (see p 31) allow early detection and therefore resolution of stressful situations. All of our teams in contact with the animals undergo initial awareness training to enable them to measure and monitor the well-being of our animals as closely as possible. Training courses on good animal welfare practices are then regularly organised.

The potential of a champion can only be expressed if he feels good. Developing animal welfare is therefore a necessity in order to be able to select them accurately. To achieve this, an ‘Animal Welfare’ policy was created in each of our genetic selection branches. Its mission?

– Monitor our compliance with standards and best practices,
– Ensure continuous improvement towards optimum Animal Welfare,
– Identify potential competitive advantages to be developed around Animal Welfare.

We are convinced that livestock performance and animal welfare are two mutually interacting notions.

In animal husbandry, robustness is the ability of an animal to express its potential in a variety of environments while maintaining good physical health.

The diversity of farming environments encountered throughout the world makes robustness an essential criterion for the well-being of animals and therefore for the expression of their genetic potential.

In addition to the standard conditions of a highly protected and confined environment in the breeding stations, each species selected by Groupe Grimaud is exposed to a wide variety of field conditions in order to assess their adaptability.

The data collected in this way is used in the genetic evaluation calculations. Thanks to this system, robustness is a character at the heart of our selection objectives.

New technologies, especially connected ones, enable the implementation of new traceability, animal welfare and performance indicators in farms.

How does it work? Livestock buildings are equipped with sensors and cameras connected to selflearning algorithms (artificial intelligence) created by our data scientists. These algorithms predict zootechnical performance at 14 days (such as animal weight), and can also detect environmental effects, making animals uncomfortable or exhibiting abnormal behaviour Thanks to parameterised alerts, farmers are warned as soon as the first symptoms appear and can quickly implement corrective measures. All this data is recorded and can be used to trace the well-being of each animal up to the final consumer!

More comfort and performance for the farmers, more transparency for consumers and greater well-being for the animals!

Not all microbes are pathogenic. Some, such as lactobacilli, have virtuous effects. Implanting ‘friendly’ bacteria in the farm, in the form of bacterial flora, helps to protect it against undesirable germs by actively competing with them.

Likewise, colonising the digestive tract of animals by ingesting bacterial complexes in the drinking water makes it possible to provide this natural protection to the animals themselves.

tell me how…

WHAT IS ANIMAL GENETIC SELECTION?

Animal genetic selection consists in measuring with precision the individual characteristics of the animals, in order to choose the champions on the soughtafter criteria. It is a continuous process, the efficiency of which depends on the number of animals measured, measurement accuracy, quality of the calculation algorithms enabling selection of the best ones. These champions are the breeders of the next generation.

HOW DO YOU ASSESS ANIMAL WELFARE?

“The well-being of an animal is the positive mental and physical state associated with the satisfaction of its physiological and behavioural needs and expectations. This state varies according to the animal’s perception of the situation.” (Anses, 2018)
The ability to observe animals is crucial for early detection of behavioural changes that are often the first signs of an unwell state.

Other indicators based on their health status, physiology, or production data can alert to an animal welfare problem.

Connected technologies (see p 31) allow early detection and therefore resolution of stressful situations. All of our teams in contact with the animals undergo initial awareness training to enable them to measure and monitor the well-being of our animals as closely as possible. Training courses on good animal welfare practices are then regularly organised.

HOW DO YOU MAKE ANIMAL WELFARE THE CORE OF PERFORMANCE?

The potential of a champion can only be expressed if he feels good. Developing animal welfare is therefore a necessity in order to be able to select them accurately. To achieve this, an ‘Animal Welfare’ policy was created in each of our genetic selection branches. Its mission?

– Monitor our compliance with standards and best practices,
– Ensure continuous improvement towards optimum Animal Welfare,
– Identify potential competitive advantages to be developed around Animal Welfare.

We are convinced that livestock performance and animal welfare are two mutually interacting notions.

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP MORE ROBUST ANIMALS?

In animal husbandry, robustness is the ability of an animal to express its potential in a variety of environments while maintaining good physical health.
The diversity of farming environments encountered throughout the world makes robustness an essential criterion for the well-being of animals and therefore for the expression of their genetic potential.

In addition to the standard conditions of a highly protected and confined environment in the breeding stations, each species selected by Groupe Grimaud is exposed to a wide variety of field conditions in order to assess their adaptability.

The data collected in this way is used in the genetic evaluation calculations. Thanks to this system, robustness is a character at the heart of our selection objectives.

HOW DO NEW TECHNOLOGIES WORK FOR ANIMAL WELFARE?

New technologies, especially connected ones, enable the implementation of new traceability, animal welfare and performance indicators in farms.
How does it work? Livestock buildings are equipped with sensors and cameras connected to selflearning algorithms (artificial intelligence) created by our data scientists. These algorithms predict zootechnical performance at 14 days (such as animal weight), and can also detect environmental effects, making animals uncomfortable or exhibiting abnormal behaviour Thanks to parameterised alerts, farmers are warned as soon as the first symptoms appear and can quickly implement corrective measures. All this data is recorded and can be used to trace the well-being of each animal up to the final consumer!

More comfort and performance for the farmers, more transparency for consumers and greater well-being for the animals!

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP A BACTERIAL ECOLOGY DIRECTED AGAINST PATHOGENIC MICROBES?

Not all microbes are pathogenic. Some, such as lactobacilli, have virtuous effects. Implanting ‘friendly’ bacteria in the farm, in the form of bacterial flora, helps to protect it against undesirable germs by actively competing with them.
Likewise, colonising the digestive tract of animals by ingesting bacterial complexes in the drinking water makes it possible to provide this natural protection to the animals themselves.

Pin It on Pinterest