Veehouderijsystemen (KB-12-006.01-004)

Are animal husbandry systems thinkable, in which animals are healthy and the risks for public health mitigated to an acceptable degree? Sustainable animal production requires healthy animals as well as healthy people. At the same time, the environment, quality of the landscape, economy and animal welfare are design criteria. In this project the possibilities were investigated together with stakeholders in a series of interactive design workshops. Pig husbandry was the leading case. In the last year of the project work was done in the anchoring of knowledge and ideas in practice.

Four designs resulted from two design workshops in 2012 and 2014. These designs are based on three principles:
1.    Dealing with pathogens; reduce of the number of pathogens in the system to a level as low as possible
2.    Interaction between the animal and his environment; building up of resistance, prevention of stress and gradual transitions contribute to this, as well as a good living climate.
3.    Interaction between the farm and its environment; this concerns the physical effects on the health of people, but the social and functional relations of the firm with its environment as well.

A further description of the four designs and their background can be found here (in Dutch).

The project has immediate follow-up in an SBIR-funded project on recirculation of air, and possibly in the realisation of a proof of principle of a mobile pig sty.