scholarly journals The most important dilemmas regarding the welfare of farm animals

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-340
Author(s):  
Slavca Hristov ◽  
Branislav Stankovic ◽  
Dusica Ostojic-Andric ◽  
Nevena Maksimovic ◽  
Dimitar Nakov
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Movement Restriction ◽  
Tail Docking ◽  
Line Breeding ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Large Farms ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Better Than

In this review paper, contradictions in modern livestock production as dilemmas of farm animal welfare are considered. The main dilemma concerns the question of whether extensive production in small farms is generally better than intensive production in large farms. The next dilemma relates to an intensive selection of animals and its impact on the emergence of welfare problems. Another dilemma is related to the two main interconnected problems of pig welfare in individual farrowing pens: the piglet death by crushing and the sows? movement restriction. Similarly, welfare dilemma is the paradox of parent flocks of broiler line breeding that could not be solved until the pressure for genetic advancement in production is required due to the economic efficiency. The next example of the dilemma is the widespread practice of tail docking in piglets in order to reduce the risk of tail biting. Although the tail docking is painful and may cause death, anaesthesia is usually not applied on farms. A similar example of the dilemma is debeaking in the laying hens and the occurrence of feather pecking in free rearing systems. It is important to notice the difference between the described dilemmas, where one premise opposes the other, which is essentially a conflict between the animal welfare goals and other values, such as economic, ethical and moral issues. Finally, there are also some dilemmas about the consumers? willingness to pay a higher price of products that originate from welfare friendly rearing conditions.

scholarly journals Early Life Painful Procedures: Long-Term Consequences and Implications for Farm Animal Welfare

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. J. Adcock
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Tail Docking ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Beak Trimming

Farm animals routinely undergo painful husbandry procedures early in life, including disbudding and castration in calves and goat kids, tail docking and castration in piglets and lambs, and beak trimming in chicks. In rodents, inflammatory events soon after birth, when physiological systems are developing and sensitive to perturbation, can profoundly alter phenotypic outcomes later in life. This review summarizes the current state of research on long-term phenotypic consequences of neonatal painful procedures in rodents and farm animals, and discusses the implications for farm animal welfare. Rodents exposed to early life inflammation show a hypo-/hyper-responsive profile to pain-, fear-, and anxiety-inducing stimuli, manifesting as an initial attenuation in responses that transitions into hyperresponsivity with increasing age or cumulative stress. Neonatal inflammation also predisposes rodents to cognitive, social, and reproductive deficits, and there is some evidence that adverse effects may be passed to offspring. The outcomes of neonatal inflammation are modulated by injury etiology, age at the time of injury and time of testing, sex, pain management, and rearing environment. Equivalent research examining long-term phenotypic consequences of early life painful procedures in farm animals is greatly lacking, despite obvious implications for welfare and performance. Improved understanding of how these procedures shape phenotypes will inform efforts to mitigate negative outcomes through reduction, replacement, and refinement of current practices.

scholarly journals Precision Technologies to Address Dairy Cattle Welfare: Focus on Lameness, Mastitis and Body Condition

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2253
Author(s):  
Severiano R. Silva ◽  
José P. Araujo ◽  
Cristina Guedes ◽  
Flávio Silva ◽  
Mariana Almeida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Economic Sustainability ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Technological Support ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
Cow Welfare ◽  
Time Assessment

Specific animal-based indicators that can be used to predict animal welfare have been the core of protocols for assessing the welfare of farm animals, such as those produced by the Welfare Quality project. At the same time, the contribution of technological tools for the accurate and real-time assessment of farm animal welfare is also evident. The solutions based on technological tools fit into the precision livestock farming (PLF) concept, which has improved productivity, economic sustainability, and animal welfare in dairy farms. PLF has been adopted recently; nevertheless, the need for technological support on farms is getting more and more attention and has translated into significant scientific contributions in various fields of the dairy industry, but with an emphasis on the health and welfare of the cows. This review aims to present the recent advances of PLF in dairy cow welfare, particularly in the assessment of lameness, mastitis, and body condition, which are among the most relevant animal-based indications for the welfare of cows. Finally, a discussion is presented on the possibility of integrating the information obtained by PLF into a welfare assessment framework.

scholarly journals Costs and Benefits of Improving Farm Animal Welfare

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Jill N. Fernandes ◽  
Paul H. Hemsworth ◽  
Grahame J. Coleman ◽  
Alan J. Tilbrook
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Course Of Action

It costs money to improve the welfare of farm animals. For people with animals under their care, there are many factors to consider regarding changes in practice to improve welfare, and the optimal course of action is not always obvious. Decision support systems for animal welfare, such as economic cost–benefit analyses, are lacking. This review attempts to provide clarity around the costs and benefits of improving farm animal welfare, thereby enabling the people with animals under their care to make informed decisions. Many of the costs are obvious. For example, training of stockpeople, reconfiguration of pens, and administration of pain relief can improve welfare, and all incur costs. Other costs are less obvious. For instance, there may be substantial risks to market protection, consumer acceptance, and social licence to farm associated with not ensuring good animal welfare. The benefits of improving farm animal welfare are also difficult to evaluate from a purely economic perspective. Although it is widely recognised that animals with poor welfare are unlikely to produce at optimal levels, there may be benefits of improving animal welfare that extend beyond production gains. These include benefits to the animal, positive effects on the workforce, competitive advantage for businesses, mitigation of risk, and positive social consequences. We summarise these considerations into a decision tool that can assist people with farm animals under their care, and we highlight the need for further empirical evidence to improve decision-making in animal welfare.

Environmental choices of farm animals

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
C J. Nicol
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Know How ◽  
Single Dimension ◽  
Underlying Basis ◽  
Preference Strength

AbstractTo assess farm animal welfare we need to understand how animals make choices and how these choices relate to preference strength. Studies of environmental choice can be categorized by the method used to investigate them, or by the underlying basis on which the animal is choosing. Choices made between resources that vary along a single dimension should meet certain criteria e.g. those of transitivity. Choices made between resources that vary along more than one dimension may or may not meet these criteria, depending how the animal evaluates each option. Understanding how farm animals choose will allow the results of individual experiments to be applied in a wider context. It is also important to know how preferences are formed during development. Evidence suggests that preferences for nests and pecking substrates in hens may be influenced by prefunctional experience. Experimental data from studies of environmental choice may enable us either to provide important resources in commercial systems, or to provide facilities for animals to continue to make their own decisions.

scholarly journals Reducing the Consumer Attitude–Behaviour Gap in Animal Welfare: The Potential Role of ‘Nudges’

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Vigors
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Consumer Attitude ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare

Citizen concern for the welfare of farm animals is well documented. However, there is a notable gap between people saying they want improved farm animal welfare and how they actually behave as a consumer. This is known as the citizen–consumer attitude–behaviour gap. As improvements in farm animal welfare can be affected by market demand, the choices consumers make become important. This paper introduces the concept of ‘nudging’ and discusses how it could be applied to reduce the attitude–behaviour gap amongst consumers. By designing the choice environment to better reflect the behavioural biases known to impact human decision-making, ‘nudge’ tools function to prompt individuals to make choices that are aligned with their stated intentions. Four ‘nudge’ tools: self-nudges, choice architecture, social norms and pre-commitments are discussed. The behavioural rationales for their use are reviewed and examples of how they might be applied to animal welfare provided. Improved farm animal welfare arguably requires improved pro-welfare consumer behaviour. This paper highlights how this might be encouraged by: self-nudging the salience of an ethical self-image; altering the choice architecture to influence decision-making; articulating social norms to impact behaviour; and using pre-commitment devices to overcome self-control issues.

scholarly journals Is an Animal Welfare Label Enough? Role of Farm Animal Welfare Voluntary Labelling Schemes in the Development of Sustainable Livestock Production

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Justyna Zwolińska ◽  
Sylwia Żakowska-Biemans
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Food Quality ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Health Food ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Labelling Schemes

Intensive livestock production devoid of elementary foundations for the welfare of farm animals is nowadays identified as one of the main factors contributing to the growing environmental and social threats. Public opinion associates the welfare of farm animals with values relating to health, food quality, ethical approach to animals and protection of the environment and climate. Accordingly, the social conceptualization of farm animal welfare plays an important role in guiding EU policy and developing animal welfare law. It also becomes a prerequisite for solving social and environmental problems resulting from intensive animal production. Farm animal welfare is an intangible and credence attribute of food and as such requires a means of informing consumers about it. The most preferred form of communication about the welfare level of farm animals among consumers are farm animal welfare labels. Both consumer preferences and their expectations of how farm animal welfare is communicated are reflected in the development of public and private food labelling systems in the European Union. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to analyse the selected farm animal welfare voluntary labelling schemes in terms of their potential for the development of sustainable animal production in the EU. The result of the study shows the differences and similarities in this respect between public and private systems, in relation to four criteria—values associated by consumers with the welfare of farm animals—health, food quality, ethics and environmental protection. We provide an overview of these systems and their role in increasing farm animal welfare standards. We conclude that it is particularly important to verify if the shift from production-related concern to social and consumer-related concern can constitute a sufficient and effective form for a systemic change transforming current animal production into production based on higher livestock welfare standards.

scholarly journals Farm Animal Welfare and Handling in the Tropics: The Ethiopia Case

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Bimrew Asmare
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ethical Basis

The issue of farm animal welfare has become increasingly of essence in many countries these days. Farm animal welfare concerns are expressed about the conditions in which farm animals are kept and management practices, particularly in systems where animals are kept in confinement for most of their lives, feed methods, health care, and expression of normal behaviors. The use of an ethical basis for animal welfare standards requires some generally accepted principles on how animals should be treated and used by humans. Animals have enormous capacity to feel a huge range of emotions, to learn from their experiences, to adapt to challenges, and to suffer when their needs are either ignored or disrespected. It is now time, in the evolution of the relationship between humans and animals, to move forward with this knowledge and take real action to improve the lives of farm animals. The use of behavioral principles should improve efficiency of livestock handling and reduce stress on animals. Changing public opinion about the importance of good animal welfare and applying legislative actions will be important in animal production systems especially in developing countries where the poor animal welfare is immense and production management is below substandards.

scholarly journals The legislative, ethical, and conceptual importance of replicability in farm animal welfare science.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nawroth ◽  
Lorenz Gygax
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Ethical Aspect ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Industrial Setting ◽  
Animal Welfare Science ◽  
Conceptual Problems ◽  
Animal Welfare Legislation

Abstract This article discusses the points of consideration in animal behaviour and applied ethology studies in farm animals, including animal welfare legislation and its potential economic consequences on animal keepers (such as farmers), the ethical aspect of using animals for experimentation that are routinely kept in millions in an industrial setting and the conceptual problems and benefits when testing animals at different facilities (e.g. farms).

scholarly journals Index selection of Kazakh karakul sur-type sheep with platinum shades

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (01) ◽  
pp. 6492-2021
Author(s):  
MUKHIT DYUSEGALIYE ◽  
UTENBERGEN BISENOV ◽  
AYMAN NURGALIYEVA ◽  
ELMIRA ADIETOVA
Keyword(s):  
Index Selection ◽  
Stabilizing Selection ◽  
Sheep Flock ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Eastern State ◽  
Line Breeding ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Fur Color ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
Selection Of

Aim of the study: Karakul sheep farming is one of the effective subsectors of animal breeding in the southwestern region of Kazakhstan. Sheep coloring is a result of genetic factors. Breeding can provide farmers with offspring of the desired color through the selection of parental couples. Materials: This research introduces an index method for breeding sur-type sheep with the proportion of underfur fibers under 25%. Such a proportion of underfur fibers provides a 15.25% deeper color within the breed at the 25.3% higher chance of getting platinum shades. Methods: Platinum coloring in sheep makes them less piebald. The inheritance index is quite stable and is within 55.66-65.66%. In the breeding flock, the initial proportion of sur-type lambs which could be used in coat making (elite class) was up to 8.72%. The analysis of platinum color heritability by Kazakh sur-type karakul sheep shows that this color is inherited as a dominant one in the line breeding. The share of sur-type sheep with platinum shades was between 85.85% and 87.27%. Results: The difference in the inherited trait between the groups of sheep selected according to the proportion of underfur fibers was insignificant, 0.99-1.42% (P > 0.05). The stabilizing selection introduced into the theory of line breeding of Kazakh sur-type sheep allowed optimizing the variability of selected features to the level of desired parameters. The authors have proposed the index selection method for sur-type sheep breeding that can be applied to improve the Atyrau sheep flock, to increase their genetic potential, and to apply various line breeding levels to accelerate the breeding process. Conclusions: The originally designed method for improving breeding indexes will be useful when setting optimal breeding goals (fur color and quality) and assessing genetic parameters of a certain sheep flock. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee attached to the Far Eastern State Agrarian University (Protocol No. 5 of 25 May 2010).

Farm Animal Welfare and Children

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelly Lakestani ◽  
Virginio Aguirre ◽  
Agustin Orihuela
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Before And After

Children are future consumers; they will impact future animal welfare standards. This pilot study evaluated a nonhuman animal welfare education program, building a farm animal attitude questionnaire for 8- to 10-year-old children. The educational material focused on the behaviors and needs of cows, chickens, and pigs. Knowledge acquisition and attitude change were measured before and after the intervention for children in the intervention group and at a 2-week interval for children in the control group. Reliability of the attitude scale was measured by correlating the answers from the control group at two different time points. Eleven items were significantly correlated at the time points, indicating that those questions were reliably testing children’s views on these items. The educational intervention was successful in increasing children’s knowledge of farm animals and resulted in some changes in attitudes. The type of favorite animal reported shifted to more farm animals after the intervention.

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