Nowadays those who live or work in the countryside have increasingly access to technologies that favor the development of their daily activities. Smartphones and tablets with android operating systems, which are every day more accessible to the farmers, offer opportunities for the use of applications that support them in decisionmaking. These new tools are available to the rural man, rural extension and/or technical assistance professionals, and can be used to increase the competitiveness of their properties. This study aimed to assess the C7 Milk II application to find out its strengths and weaknesses, as well as to contribute to the provision of a free management system, which is efficient and easy for the farmers and technicians to use, positively influencing the management of dairy farming properties. Thus we tested the use of this application in two family farms: one in the city of Alto Alegre/RS and another in the city of Espumoso/RS. We accompanied the development of the activities related to the tool use, and recorded the farmers´ perceptions on it. We also used contacts and questionnaires to find out the perception of field technicians who work in the region in order to identify the potential and limitations of the use of the applications among the rural men. At the end of the study, we found out that the application has potential as a tool to give greater precision to the dairy management, since it has several strengths. However, it also has some weaknesses, which need to be improved to have greater acceptance by farmers and technicians. Among the limitations of the application use, there are some difficulties for the farmers to adopt a notes routine about the activity, as well as their lack of ability to work with new technologies. These aspects impair their use in a big scale as a complementary tool in the management of dairy farming. The agility and the mobility of the tool; the generating of information for decision-making with low cost access and application service; and the farmer´s thinking on his activity have being considered potential factors. / Atualmente quem mora ou trabalha na zona rural tem cada vez mais acesso a tecnologias que favorecem o desenvolvimento das atividades. Os aparelhos smartphones e tablets com sistema operacional android, cada dia mais acessíveis ao homem do campo, oferecem oportunidades para utilização de aplicativos que auxiliam o produtor (a) rural na tomada de decisões. Estas novas ferramentas disponíveis ao homem do campo, profissionais da extensão rural e/ou assistência técnica podem ser utilizadas para aumentar a competitividade dessas propriedades. Este trabalho buscou avaliar o aplicativo C7 Leite II, seus pontos fortes e a melhorar, com isso, contribuir para a disponibilização de um sistema gerencial gratuito, eficiente e de fácil utilização por parte de produtores e técnicos, influenciando positivamente no gerenciamento de propriedades rurais que trabalham na atividade leiteira. Para esta avaliação foi testado a utilização do aplicativo em duas propriedades rurais da agricultura familiar, uma no município de Alto Alegre/RS e outra em Espumoso/RS, sendo acompanhado o desenvolvimento das atividades de utilização da ferramenta e registro das percepções dos produtores. Também foi levantado através de contatos e aplicação de questionários, a percepção de técnicos de campo que atuam na região de estudo, tentando identificar os potenciais e os limitantes da utilização de aplicativos junto ao seu público assistido. Ao final verificou-se que o aplicativo tem potencial como ferramenta para dar maior precisão no gerenciamento leiteiro, por apresentar vários pontos fortes, mas também precisa melhorar em outros pontos para que tenha maior aceitação pelos produtores e técnicos. Entre os limitantes do uso do aplicativo, aparecem com maior força as dificuldades dos produtores adotarem uma rotina de anotações sobre a atividade, e a falta de habilidade em trabalhar com as novas tecnologias, aspectos que comprometem até certo ponto o uso em maior escala de aplicativos como ferramenta complementar no gerenciamento da atividade leiteira. Já como potenciais aparecem a agilidade e mobilidade da ferramenta, geração de informações para tomada de decisão com baixo custo de acesso e manutenção do aplicativo, e a reflexão gerada no produtor (a) sobre como vem conduzindo sua atividade.

Broilers are nearing their genetic potential and nutritional strategies are the primary means to improve their performance. Improving raw material quality, especially soybean meal, could improve broiler performance, health and welfare. Inadequate processing of soybean meal leads to high residual anti-nutritional factors (ANF) which has a negative influence on broiler performance. High trypsin inhibitor content in low- quality soybean meal causes decreased protein digestion and absorption. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the optimal quality of soybean meal for commercial use to promote performance and welfare parameters of broiler chickens. Ten dietary treatments were formulated to the same nutritional specifications, but with different soybean meals that ranged from very high-quality (Treatment 1) to the lowest quality (Treatment 10). The quality of soybean meal was determined using Table 2.1 as target values for each soybean meal quality parameter. Soybean meal quality was evaluated using urease levels (pH change), TIA (trypsin inhibitor activity), Evonik TIA, KOH (potassium hydroxide solubility), Evonik KOH, Evonik PDI (protein dispersibility index) and Evonik PCI (processing conditions indicator). The treatment diets were fed to 4800 broilers that were randomly allocated to 80 pens, each with 60 birds and eight replicates. Over a 35-day growth trial, broiler performance, welfare and physiological traits were measured on a weekly basis. Overall, improved performance was observed with higher-quality soybean meal outperforming the lower-quality soybean meal. High-quality soybean meal showed significantly better feed conversion ratio’s (FCR) and European performance efficiency factor (PEF) throughout the 35-day period, and significantly higher average daily gain (ADG) up until day 21. Bodyweight (BW), feed intake (FI) and mortality showed no significant differences irrespective of soybean meal quality. No significant differences were found in physiological traits namely: pancreas weight as a percentage of bodyweight, pancreas length to bodyweight ratio, gizzard and proventriculus weight as a percentage of bodyweight and gizzard erosion score, (PW%BW, PL:BW, GPV%BW, GE score) irrespective of soybean meal quality. High quality soybean meal showed lower incidence and lower severity of rapid feed passage (RFP) and foot pad dermatitis (FPD). Evonik PCI and urease levels (pH change) showed the strongest correlation to broiler performance, health and welfare. This study suggests using soybean meal with the following quality parameters: urease levels of around 0.05, TIA levels of below 4mg/g, KOH levels of 78-80%, PDI levels of around 15 and PCI levels of around 11. The Evonik PCI and urease (pH change) analyses for soybean meal quality was found to be the easiest and cheapest method and can be recommended as the primary quality assays for commercial feed companies in the future. / Dissertation (BSc (Agric) Animal Science)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / AFGRI / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / BSc (Agric) Animal Science / Restricted

Dairy producers play a central role in evaluating and seeking treatment or care for animal pain. The primary aim of this study is to examine dairy producers’ emotional states and professional quality of life and analyze the relationship between these variables and their perception of pain in dairy cattle. Dairy farm owners and managers of 65 southeastern U.S. herds participated in a survey that included demographic information, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, a modified Professional Quality of Life Scale, and 23 items requiring participants to evaluate various painful conditions in cattle.

<p>  </p> <p>School-based agricultural education programs use laboratories to develop cognitive, psychomotor, and procedural skills (Phipps et al., 2008). It is important to help preservice teachers develop the ability to design instruction to cultivate skills that are taught in laboratory settings. Shulman (1986) authored a term called Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), which is a teacher’s knowledge of teaching. Animal science dissection was the topic chosen for this study, as PCK is topic-specific (Chan & Hume, 2018). There are many interpretations of PCK. The Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of PCK in Science Education (Carlson et al., 2019) was the conceptual model used in this study, as it is the most recent PCK model, and was developed by experts in science education from multiple countries. This model asserts that PCK is comprised of three realms: Collective PCK (cPCK), Personal PCK (pPCK), and Enacted PCK (ePCK). The first purpose of this study was to describe preservice agriculture teachers' Professional Knowledge Bases (which informs pPCK), before and after instruction, on the topic of animal science dissection in a Laboratory Practices in Agricultural Education (LPAE) course. The second purpose was to describe preservice agriculture teachers' cPCK, after instruction, on animal science dissection in an LPAE course. Content Representations (CoRes), a common tool used for PCK research, were used identify evidence of the Professional Knowledge Bases (PKBs) in preservice agriculture teachers’ instructional planning. Results from this study showed elevated descriptions of Professional Knowledge Bases, and participants collectively gained new ideas and collaboration skills. Overall LPAE dissection experience appeared to push the depth of student thinking and ability to make connections with future learning. Future research recommendations include using the RCM of PCK (Carlson et al., 2019) and CoRes in agricultural education; more PCK research, specifically exploring the development of Curricular Knowledge, on preservice teachers in agricultural education; and PCK research on other topics in agricultural education. It is recommended to not only include PCK development in teacher preparation programs but also have more than one exposure to PCK development.</p>