Animal Welfare

Spring calving warning

After a summer of exceptional grass growth, beef cows across the country are generally in very good condition. Beef farmers should consider delaying weaning over the winter months to ensure cows…

SRUC
30/10/2019

Good vibes in tickled rats are contagious

Just as laughter is contagious in humans, the positive mood induced in rats when tickled can be catching.…

SRUC
18/10/2019

Whale's entanglement wounds among 'most severe'

A Sowerby’s beaked whale found on an East Lothian beach suffered some of the “most severe” entanglement wounds ever recorded by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS).…

SRUC
17/10/2019

Managing the risk of Grass Staggers

In the last week, there has been a large increase in cases of hypomagnesemia (Grass Staggers) in beef cows. SAC Consulting, part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), has now issued advice to farmers to…

SRUC
16/10/2019

The curious incident of porpoises killed by ‘dog-bite’ bacteria

Scientists from a wide range of backgrounds have pooled their resources to solve the mystery of a ‘dog-bite’ bacteria attributed to the death of harbour porpoises.…

SRUC
11/10/2019

Finding the positives in animal welfare

Researchers at SRUC have found a significant overlap between the views of farmers and scientists on positive animal welfare. In the first study of its kind, livestock farmers were asked directly what…

SRUC
09/10/2019

Improving the welfare of laying hens

A multi-million pound European-wide project to improve the conditions of egg-laying chickens is launched today (Friday 4 October), to coincide with World Animal Day.…

SRUC
04/10/2019

Free calf health and management advice for dairy farmers

Dairy farmers will learn about reducing calf losses, the impact of early disease detection, calf nutrition and maximising growth performance at an open farm event organised by SRUC. Calf mortality in…

Dairy Research and Innovation Centre
04/10/2019

Sheep sharing

An EU network to increase sheep productivity and flock profitability by knowledge exchange is celebrating the end of its three-year partnership with an event in Perth. During this time, the SheepNet…

SRUC
24/09/2019

Cathy to champion animal welfare

An animal welfare expert at Scotland’s Rural College has been named as chair of the first-ever independent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.…

SRUC
24/09/2019

Beefing up cattle production in New Mexico

Scotland’s Rural College is part of a new multi-million dollar research project investigating how to improve beef cattle production in the United States using precision farming methods.…

SRUC
23/09/2019

£1 million project to tackle antimicrobial resistance in poultry

A new treatment to control the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens in poultry is to be developed by researchers in the UK and China.…

SRUC
05/09/2019