Science and the Future of Livestock Industries

What is it about?

Livestock industries have been forced to respond to major pressures from society, particularly with respect to methane emissions and animal welfare. These challenges are exacerbated by the inevitability of global heating and the effects it will have on livestock productivity. The same challenges also led to questions about the value of animal-sourced foods for feeding the world. The industries and the research communities supporting them are rising to meet those challenges. For the ruminant methane problem, we can now envisage solutions, and there is a ‘win-win’ situation because those solutions will also improve the efficiency of meat and milk production. Animal welfare is a complex mix of health, nutrition and management. With respect to health, the ‘One Health’ concept is offering better perspectives, by taking on board zoonotic diseases so the management of health in humans and livestock is coordinated. In addition, major livestock diseases, such as helminth infection, these days compounded by resistance against medication, are being resolved through genetic selection. With respect to nutrition and stress, ‘fetal programming’ and the epigenetic mechanisms involved is a very ‘hot’ area of research, with intriguing possibilities for improving productivity. Obviously, stress needs to be minimized, including stress caused by extreme weather events, and solutions are emerging through technology that reveals when animals are stressed, and through an understanding of the genes that control susceptibility to stress. Indeed, discoveries in the molecular biology of all of the physiological processes that underpin ‘clean, green and ethical’ management will greatly accelerate genetic progress and contribute to genomic solutions.

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Why is it important?

The global context is clear – animal-sourced food is an important contributor to the future of food for humanity.

Perspectives