Robust, Resistant, Resilient: R words that are alike, yet not the same

A common Dutch saying is that ‘the letter “r” is back in the month’s name’. Traditionally it means the start of the mussel season. But it also means that - as of September - the days are getting colder and darker, which spurs people to get a little extra care and vitamins. But when you are robust, resistant and resilient, you can easily withstand the harsh winter months.

Although all of these ‘r’ terms are alike and within the spectrum of health, they are not the same. They are also not new. But they pop up everywhere, and more often: in human health, during management courses, but also in livestock.

Let’s first ask the official dictionaries how they phrase it:

?? Being robust: the quality of being strong, and healthy or unlikely to break or fail.

?? Animal example: A robust dairy cow is one that calves without assistance and have good reproductive performance.

?? Being resistant: Immune and not harmed or affected? by something.?

?? Animal example: A chicken can be resistant against a certain disease after it went through an earlier natural infection or received vaccination.

?? Being resilient: able to withstand, recover, and bounce back quickly from difficult conditions and challenges.

?? Animal example: A pig is resilient when it recovers fast from an infection, without any negative side / after effects on performance or health.

Improving resilience is key

Looking at these three definitions above, we can certainly state that they are all relevant, depending on the situation. Some also include disease tolerance (not an r word, shame), meaning that the animal has a defence mechanism in place for the pathogens. This is different than being resistant. However, it seems that being resilient is the highest - and most complete - level of them all, as it enables an animal to not only "bounce back" after challenges, but also do it quickly. Resilient animals grow better, produce more, are less dependent on medication and suffer fewer illnesses.?

Improving resilience is key to turn current livestock production methods into more sustainable, healthier and welfare-friendlier systems. It is not per se focused on ruling out pathogens or environmental challenges completely, but it is about learning and pushing the animal to cope with them. “Because when you know how to sail the ship, you should not be afraid of the storm.”?

Focus on natural behaviour

Last January I attended a dedicated symposium on this topic. The event: Resilience of livestock production systems, was organised by Wageningen Livestock Research (part of WUR). One of the speakers was Ingrid van Dixhoorn, who recently obtained her PhD at WUR on this topic. Van Dixhoorn looked at dairy cows and pigs specifically and found out that meeting the natural and physiological needs of animals has a positive impact on their resilience.?

This may sound logical, but in today’s modern systems, these needs are not always met. But with simple adjustments, resilience can be reinforced, she said. Think of safeguarding a proper day-night rhythm and enough feed for dairy cows during the transition period, and providing enrichment for pigs to chew on and play with. Pigs with enrichment recovered faster from a lung infection, and were less affected by it.?

Indicators of resilience

She also looked at (dynamic) indicators of resilience ((D)IORs) in dairy cows and pigs. This can help to better assess and improve resilience in the future. For pigs, the predicting IORs for the severity of a co-infection with PRRSV and A. pleuropneumoniae included: a higher level of lymphocytes, na?ve T helper cells, memory T cells and higher relative levels of granulocytes and raised concentrations of natural (auto-) antibodies.

In dairy cows, high average of eating time, high variance in ear temperature and strict regularity in behaviour including rumination and activity, were found as (D)IORs for duration and severity of postpartum diseases, summarised as a Total Deficit Score.?

More r words can be added

There is actually a fourth r word in agriculture: regenerative. Although this one is more often used in crop farming, it represents that we can transform from a current state to a much better, healthier and sustainable state. And there is a fifth r word that we can add as well, used in the contexts of nature and our environment in general: Rewilding.?Rewilding is about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through rewilding, wildlife's natural rhythms create wilder, more biodiverse habitats.

I believe that all of these terms are somehow connected, and all about going from level to the next one (and hence progress). But focusing on robustness ("level 1") alone is not good enough anymore. Resilience should be a default built-in trait that all farm animals possess, and the research work from Ingrid helps to achieve more resilient livestock systems in the coming years.

It's the season right?

I might suffer from the frequency illusion, meaning I see r words everywhere, but I guess it's the season! ??