Appropriate research planning is important to utilize various types of data from the field. This includes selection of research methods, sampling schedules, diagnostic techniques, data managements, utilization of computer software and feedback of the results. A new benchmarking system (PigINFO) has been developed for Japanese swine farms with collaboration of National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH) and Japanese Association of Swine Veterinarians (JASV). In this system, production data obtained from farms are submitted to NIAH for analysis, and the results are returned to farmers by the veterinarians in JASV. Accumulated data through this system has been utilized for epidemiological studies such as the observation of the annual trends of farm productivities and their associations with the existence of some diseases. Data from the field will contribute to a variety of epidemiological research, resulting in benefit for animal owners and veterinarians.

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A dairy farm owns much production data that are governed by some different cooperative societies. When we use those production data to study, we have to collect the data from some societies, integrate them using ID number of cattle or farm name, and use to analyze the association between a factor of research interest and production problems. Environment of dairy cattle in Japanese farms becomes diverse depending on the climate characteristics, self-sufficiency ratio for forage, land area for grass production, and so on. Most disorders in dairy cattle are known as environmental multifactorial problem. If a lot of risk factors for disorders are accumulated, as a result of that, some cattle become subclinical or clinical diseases. Therefore, to investigate an association with a problem in farms, we have to consider a number of factors in wide area and should select observational studies of epidemiology to large database. Now only a few scientists try to study about the field problems using production data in Japan. The reason for the number of the scientists has some possible causes, for example 1) no uniform management system for production data, 2) the cumbersome procedure to collect the production data, and 3) a few educational curriculum or training class to handle the production data. We have to think strategically into the future that we will unify all Japanese production data and make a system how to use the data for maintaining and improving Japanese livestock agriculture. Nobody doubts that Japanese production data is a repository of useful information. Shall we start epidemiological study using production data in Japanese dairy farms?

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Feeding back the data obtained at the slaughterhouses to pig farms is important to understand the problem in farms, and construct good planning, evaluation, and sanitary requirements. Regular data from each of the farms are obtained at the meat inspection center at Niigata prefecture and submitted to livestock hygiene service centers. Database were created from the submitted data and used for advising swine farmers to control infectious diseaseses. We create databases based on the data from meat inspection center, and guide pig farms using the data to inform infectious disease control.

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Anicom has acquired the license of operating “Animal health insurance” from the Financial Services Agency and has now been issued the insurance policies to more than 430 thousands animals (89% dogs, 10% cats, and 1% birds/rabbits/ferrets) as at December, 2012.
When animals are registered to Anicom’s insurance system, the individual data (species, breed, sex and age etc.) of animals are recorded in the computer database systems. Information on insurance coverage such as disease classification, time, breeds, areas and hospital, can be accumulated in above computer database. These insurance coverage data can be utilized for epidemiological study on animal diseases and the results can be useful in preventing future disease occurrence. For example, foreign body ingestions by dogs are dangerous behavior which can result in deaths, and careful monitoring of these behaviors should be carried out by veterinary personnel. We investigated data in regard to incidence of foreign body ingestion in order to understand the current situation and to prevent future incidence.
Dogs can be a good sentinel animals for human health since environmental conditions and many diseases are shared between dogs and humans. We are trying to expand our epidemiological research using insurance data for the sake of mutual benefits and bonds between animals and humans.

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The use of a fostering technique is common in commercial breeding herds. Using a fostering technique makes it possible for the number of pigs weaned (PW) by a sow to be higher than the pigs born alive (PBA) to that sow at farrowing. The objective of the present study was to examine fertility measurements of the sows having more PW than PBA in Japanese breeding herds. The present study included 163,047 parity records of 60,790 sows and lifetime records of 22,711 sows that farrowed during 2007 and 2008 in 113 herds. Sows were categorized into two groups on the basis of the difference between PBA and PW : namely Increased-PW (PBA<PW) and Decreased-PW (PBAPW) groups. Two-level mixed-effects models were applied using a herd at level 2 and an individual record at level 1. Increased-PW sows in parity 1 accounted for 32.3% of all weaned sows, and for parity 2 or higher sows the proportion was 23.3%. Increased-PW sows had heavier adjusted 21-day litter weights than Decreased-PW sows (P<0.05). However, the Increased-PW sows had a longer weaning-to-first-mating interval, lower farrowing rates and fewer subsequent PBA than Decreased-PW sows in all parity groups (P<0.05). As PW increased from 4 to 15 pigs, the WMI of Increased-PW sows in parity 1 increased by 1.14 days, whereas those in parity 2 or higher increased by 0.50 days. Furthermore, Increased-PW sows that were categorized at parity 1 farrowing had lower retention rates at farrowing by parity 3 than parity 1 categorized Decreased-PW sows (P<0.05). However, there was no difference in the retention rates at farrowing in parity 3 between Increased-PW sows and Decreased-PW sows categorized at parity 2 farrowing (P=0.15). Increased-PW sows categorized at parity 1 or parity 2 farrowing had lower parity at removal and fewer average lifetime PBA than Decreased-PW sows (P<0.05). In conclusion, Increased-PW sows had better lactational performance, but had lower reproductive performance and lifetime performance than Decreased-PW sows. Therefore, it is not recommend that producers have parity 1 sows foster too many piglets.

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This study was conducted to create a new benchmarking system for farrow-to-finish swine farms in Japan. Descriptive statistics of the profitability and production variables were calculated using data obtained from 94 farrow-to-finish swine farms in 2010. The mean values±SD for crude profit, carcass weight, price of marketed carcasses, and feed price were $4,633/sow±861, 1,608 kg/sow±184, $5.47/kg±0.31, and $0.51/kg±0.05, respectively. The mean values±SD for pigs weaned per mated female per year, litters per mated female per year, and pigs born alive per litter (PBA) were 23.0/(femaleyear)±2.19, 2.33/(female·year)±0.12, and 10.79/litter±0.79, respectively. The postweaning mortality risk was positively correlated with feed conversion rate (P<0.01) and the preweaning mortality risk was positively correlated with PBA (P<0.01). A sensitivity analysis was simulated within a production tree and the price of marketed carcass had the greatest effects on crude profit per farm. The present benchmarking system is useful in identifying weakness within the farm production system and the estimated financial returns from improvements in production variables could encourage farmers to achieve better production efficiencies.

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Lipoproteins are macromolecule complexes of protein, phospholipids, cholesterol, cholesterol esters, and triglycerides, and the lipoproteins transport cholesterol and triglycerides throughout the animal body. The objective of the present study was to investigate a profile of cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in four lipoproteins during the peripartum period in Holstein dairy cows. Sixty nine blood samples for lipoprotein analysis were taken from 41 periparturient cows on 16 dairy farms. The analysis determined cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in four lipoprotein fractions which included chylomicron (CM), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), and high density lipoprotein (HDL). Analysis of covariance compared cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in four lipoprotein fractions between pre- and post-partum periods in cows. Correlation analysis was performed between cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in the four lipoproteins. Means (±SEM) of total concentrations of cholesterol and triglyceride in pre-partum cows were 83.61 (±3.9) and 14.1 (±0.69) and mg/dl, respectively. After calving, the total concentrations of cholesterol and triglyceride decreased to 70.31 (±4.07) and 5.53 (±0.57) mg/dl, respectively. The highest HDL cholesterol concentration and the highest VLDL triglyceride concentration were found among the four lipoprotein fractions. Cholesterol concentrations in all the four fractions decreased from pre-partum to post-partum periods (P<0.05), whereas triglyceride concentrations in the two fractions of VLDL and CM decreased (P<0.05). Especially, VLDL cholesterol and VLDL triglyceride concentrations decreased by 70% or higher. In both pre-partum periods and post-partum periods, cholesterol concentrations were correlated between VLDL, LDL and HDL (P<0.05), but no such correlations were found for triglyceride concentrations. In conclusion, cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in four fractions are differently related with the calving in dairy cows.

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The Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant disaster after the Great East Japan Earthquake has caused radioactive contamination in food. Using the market basket method and duplicated diet method, total diet samples were prepared in various areas and analyzed for radioactive cesium in order to estimate the annual committed effective doses from food. The estimated doses of radioactive cesium with use of market basket samples were 0.017-0.021 mSv/year in September to November of 2011, and 0.0009-0.0094 mSv/year in March 2012. The estimated doses of radioactive cesium with use of duplicated diet samples were 0.0012-0.0039 mSv/year. These estimates were significantly lower than the maximum permissible dose limit (1 mSv/year) determined by the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, Japan.

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In a rise of consumers’ concern over food safety, an approach to mitigating risks at every stage of food production from farm to table (food chain approach) is becoming indispensable. “Certification criteria for livestock farms which conduct hygiene management based on the hazard analysis and the critical control point (HACCP) approach” was issued in 2009 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A project to set up Livestock Farm HACCP certification using these criteria has been underway since 2011. This project is expected to contribute to the mitigation of the risks caused by hazards on livestock farms, and consequently to the improved animal health and more efficient production on livestock farms.

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Qualitative risk assessment was carried out to evaluate the risk of introducing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) by importation of cattle and buffaloes into Thailand via Mae Hong Son province. The assessment was based on animal movement data collected from Mae Hong Son Animal Quarantine Station (M A qualitative risk assessment was carried out to evaluate the risk of introducing HS-AQS) in the year 2009, trader questionnaire, a three-day workshop between related government officers by KU-DLD-JICA in February 2010, expert opinion and available relevant published and unpublished information. To reliably assess the risks, six qualitative categories and three levels of uncertainty categories (EFSA, 2006) were utilized. The risk of FMD virus infection from imported cattle to the local ones is a function of two elements, the probability of entry, and the probability of exposure. The probability of entry is a chance to import FMD infected cattle into Thailand, which depends on the FMD incidence in the place or origin and the volume of live animal trade. Retrospective data from available sources and from MHS quarantine station were assessed to evaluate the probability of entry. Probability of entry in this study was rated “High”. Probability of exposure is a chance that FMD virus spread from infected animals to local cattle, which depends on the potential of transmission to nearby farms and the potential for transmission to designation. The probability of exposure was evaluated from the chance of releasing animal in carrier stage, during incubation and involvement of wild animals. The probability of exposure was ranked as “Low”. Combining these parameters, the probability of occurrence of the hazard, or the overall risk of introducing FMD virus into Thailand was evaluated as ‘Low’. Due to the limitation of retrospective data, a qualitative risk assessment could not be performed, however, this investigation served as a useful initial approach, prior to undertaking a quantitative risk assessment. The methods and results are presented to serve as a basis for further discussion.

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