Animal production around the world is undergoing profound changes as a result of societal issues. A variety of major challenges can be ascertained in the field of antibiotic resistance and the growing pressure from NGOs with regards to the living conditions of production animals, particularly rabbits.
In Asia, medicated premixes have been banned since April 2017 in Vietnam, since January 2018 in the Philippines, and since July 2020 in China. There are a number of technical driving forces to help producers take on this challenge: quality management for drinking water, air quality control, and improved biosafety are all training modules offered by Wisium to approach demedication in a structured manner.
Following the implementation of the Ecoantibio plans in France, the use of antibiotics was reduced by 70% over a span of 10 years, with continuing progress. Wisium has decided to formalize this global approach through its P4L (Partner for Life) concept. This new offer is based on 3 pillars: Nutrition strategy, including food distribution, farm management and product solutions, including drinking water products. Monitoring tools are available such as the Nutrition Reference Framework and Lapety ADELIE, allowing customers to compare their performances thanks to a database and to define their own progress goals.
In addition, the DEFFI Lapety, a farm audit, defines the farmers’ individual profile and highlights technical strategies to answer the demedication challenge. This audit is available via a digital and mobile application named “In My Farm Audit”.
THE LAPETY WELLAP : THE ANSWER TO THE ANIMAL WELLBEING
In collaboration with its food-manufacturing customers and production groups, WISIUM has developed a new concept for rabbit breeding: LAPETY WELLAP. This is a global approach that takes into consideration consumer expectations, the rabbits’ well-being, and the comfort of the habitat, with a focus on appropriate feed. This concept is one of the possible alternatives to cages, found in 98% of breeding sites.
A new, innovative breeding alternative
Since 2018, we have been working with our customers to create a Prospective Club to look at the future of rabbits… With regard to consumer expectations, the R&D teams at NEOVIA and WISIUM, along with their customers, have devised this cage-free system that grants the rabbits access to an outdoor feeding path. It allows the rabbits to enjoy natural light and responds to the five main animals’ freedoms: standing up, jumping, eating, and freely occupying their own space. A seasonally adapted feeding program is used when feeding the rabbits, enriched with nutritional additives that eliminate the need for antibiotics in feed.
5000 rabbits have been raised in a prototype at ADM’s experimental station “Lapin” to better understand their feeding habits, natural behaviour, and the use and exploration of the available spaces… Today, the 1st production building will wean its first rabbits at the end of the year, a collective effort taking place on-site. This achievement is being recognized by the agricultural community through the presentation of 2 awards for this major innovation: Innov’space** 2020 and a “Sommet d’or”.
