The promotion of Heat Stress awareness and Animal Nutrition for egg and hog production on Guam and the Western Region

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Commodities

• Animals: poultry, swine
• Animal Products: eggs, meat

Practices

• Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage
• Education and Training: extension, focus group

Guam and the North Mariana Island are islands that are located on the pacific ocean. This WSARE Professional Development Program grant proposal requests funds to increase the awareness of Heat stress(HS) and Animal Nutrition to the professionals in hope to educate the trainers and promote the sustainability of local livestock production and the awareness of animal welfare.

The CNMI and FSM are islands that are located close to the equator, with a limited amount of land and resources. In 2019, it was reported that in Guam over 90% of the food consumption was imported from the US. Since covid, with the increased cases of delay of supply shipment and the soaring price of shipping cost, it wasn’t long to figure out just how fragile the food security and agriculture production is for the island. Livestock production among the CNMI and FSM are often limited by a couple of factors. 1. Limited land resource that is suitable for livestock production. 2. Reliance on import for feed causes a higher cost compared to US mainland producers. But even with the challenges and higher cost of production, there is still a strong demand for fresh protein sources which includes both eggs and red meat. Back door farming is quite common, especially for egg production, which people often view as a way of getting fresh eggs and a source of fun and fulfillment as well as a source of extra income.

The purposes of this project are to 1. increase awareness of HS to improve animal production and increase awareness of animal welfare of the region. 2. Education on animal nutrition for basic knowledge to use local supplements in formulating well-rounded nutritional feed to further decrease the cost of production without sacrificing the quality of production.

1. To increase ag professionals' knowledge and awareness in heat stress and animal welfare.
2. To increase ag professionals' knowledge in animal nutrition and formulation of feed.
3. To increase the sustainability of livestock production and further increase food security for the CNMI and FSM islands.