Farm animal welfare: the five freedoms and the free market

This review addresses the scientific, ethical and economic factors that impact on the welfare of farm animals. Respect for animals within the food chain is considered within the context of an ethical matrix that affords respect according to the principles of wellbeing, autonomy and justice to consumers, farm animals, farmers and the living environment. The welfare of a farm animal depends on its ability to sustain fitness and avoid suffering. The responsibility of the farmer is to make provision for good welfare through good husbandry; he cannot ensure good welfare. Improvements to farm animal welfare can only come about within the context of the forces that drive the free market. In essence, consumers need to afford a greater extrinsic value to farm animals. The costs to farmers of legislation to impose higher animal welfare standards are substantial but the cost to consumers can be very small. The responsibility is therefore on the consumer to convert an expressed desire for higher welfare standards into an effective demand. A promising route to encourage and fulfil this demand is through welfare-based quality assurance schemes with quality control ensured by independent audit. At present, audit protocols are based largely on identification of the elements of good husbandry. Ultimately we need a further independent audit to ensure that the outcome of these perceived elements of good husbandry is, in fact, good animal welfare.     

The complex relationship between welfare and reproduction in cattle

Using reproduction parameters as indicators for cattle welfare has limitations and, at best, these parameters should only be viewed as indirect indicators of welfare. On a farm level, measures such as fertility rates emphasize biological performance of the herd but fail to consider the welfare of individual animals. Even on an individual level, the relationship between reproductive effectiveness and animal welfare is complex. Good reproductive performance does not automatically signify good welfare, as domestication and targeted breeding programmes have led to prioritization of high productive and reproductive performance in most modern farm animal species. In this review, we synthesize literature regarding cattle husbandry, reproduction, welfare and their multidimensional relationships. We argue that practices such as artificial insemination or the use of sexed semen may provide potential welfare advantages as these practices reduce the risk of disease transmission and injury or enable selection of specific beneficial traits. Furthermore, they may offer a solution to current practices jeopardizing welfare, such as the management of surplus bull calves in the dairy industry. Conversely, the animals’ ability to perform natural behaviours such as oestrous expression, an aspect arguably contributing to welfare, is often limited on commercial farms; this limitation is particularly evident in housing systems such as tie stalls where movement is restricted. Moreover, common management practices such as oestrus manipulation may lead to negative attitudes in citizens who often regard naturalness as important element of animal welfare.     

Small animal husbandry: what should be taught?

As far as the small animals are concerned, animal husbandry refers to animal welfare and management. There are five main areas of undergraduate instruction in this subject--normal animal behaviour, nutritional requirements, restraint, housing and management in disease. University education, vacational studies and personal experience all provide important sources of knowledge. Most university instruction in small animal welfare and management is provided in the clinical courses where extensive care material can be utilised in practical teaching. Integration of the animal husbandry and clinical courses is to be encouraged.     

Aspects of animal welfare in livestock production

The modern consumer is increasingly concerned about the welfare of farm animals which are kept in intensive systems on specialised farms where the health and well-being is almost completely dependent on the will, ability and care of the farmer. Further demands related to animal production are consumer health (quality and safety of food products), the protection of the environment and cheap food. The currently used husbandry systems are man made and emphasise automation which requires permanent critical observation of the welfare of the animals. Ethological indicators are equally important as health and performance to evaluate keeping systems. Future animal farming will be influenced by new technologies such as electronic animal identification and milking robots, and more important by biotechnology and genome analysis. Veterinary surgeons and farmers have to co-operate on the basis of scientifically sound animal welfare schemes which help to protect our farm animals in modern and intensive livestock production systems.     

Ethical stockmanship

The objective of this review is to consider the ethics of stockmanship, particularly from the perspective of the nature and extent of the duties of stockpeople to their farm animals. It will consider what science tells us about the impact of stockmanship on the animal, particularly the welfare of the farm animal. The effects of human-animal interactions on the stockperson will also be considered, since these interactions affect the work performance and job satisfaction of the stockperson and thus indirectly affect animal welfare. Animal ethics is broader than animal welfare and includes economic as well as philosophical, social, cultural and religious aspects. This paper is predicated on the view that farm animals can suffer, and that animal suffering is a key consideration in our moral obligations to animals. Housing and husbandry practices affect farm animal welfare and thus farmers and stockpeople have a responsibility to provide, at minimum, community-acceptable animal housing and husbandry standards for their animals. The farmer's or stockperson's attitudes and behaviour can directly affect the animal's welfare and thus they also have a responsibility to provide specific standards of stockmanship for these animals. However, research suggests that the behaviour of some stockpeople is not as correct as it might be. Such situations exemplify the inevitably unequal human - domestic animal relationship, and this inequality should be considered in analysing the boundary between right and wrong behaviour of humans. Thus ethical discussion, using science and other considerations and involving stockpeople, livestock industries, government and the general public, should be used to establish and assure acceptable stockperson competencies across the livestock industries. Training programs targeting the key attitudes and behaviour of stockpeople presently offer the livestock industries good opportunities to improve human-animal interactions.     

Cognitive enrichment in zoo and farm animals--implications for animal behaviour and welfare

Animals in the wild are facing a wide variety of challenges and ever-changing environmental stimuli. For successful coping, animals use both innate behavioural programs and their cognitive skills. In contrast, zoo- and farm animals have to cope with restricted husbandry conditions, which offer only few opportunities to adequately satisfy their various needs. Consequences could be sensory and cognitive underchallenge that can cause boredom and frustration as well as behavioural disturbances. Initially intended for improvement of management and husbandry, different forms of operant behavioural training have been applied firstly in zoo- and later also in farm animals. It has been suggested that successful coping with appropriate cognitive challenges is a source of positive emotions and may lead to improved welfare. Under the term cognitive enrichment, new approaches have been developed to integrate cognitive challenges into the housing of zoo- and farm animals. The present article reviews actual research in the field. Previous results indicate that, beyond improvement of management and handling routines, such approaches can positively affect animal behaviour and welfare. The combination of explorative and appetitive behaviour with successful learning improves environmental predictability and controllability for the animals, activates reward-related brain systems and can directly affect emotional processes of appraisal. For practical implementation in farm animal husbandry, it sounds promising to link individual access to e.g. automated feeders or milking systems with previously conditioned stimuli and/or discriminatory learning tasks. First experimental approaches in pigs, dwarf goats and cattle are available and will be discussed in the present article.     

Requirements for the welfare of baboons and pigs used in animal-to-animal xenotransplantation experiments

Objective   Review the welfare requirements of pigs and baboons used for xenotransplantation in research laboratories. Because of the requirements to maintain optimum health status, these animals are often kept in barren enclosures with little or no enrichment. They may also be exposed to procedures causing stress and discomfort. Although animal-to-human xenotransplantation is, at the present time, not approved in Australia, research is currently being performed to develop laboratory procedures, using the pig-to-baboon model.
Results and conclusion   We make recommendations for the husbandry of baboons and pigs used for xenotransplantation, to increase their welfare and minimise stress during experimental procedures, while attempting to preserve the health status required. It is proposed that novel standards should be devised and implemented for baboons, whereas existing pig welfare appraisal schemes could, with minor changes, be suitable for assessing the welfare of pigs used for xenotransplantation.     

Animal welfare aspects of raising South American camelids

The number of South American Camelids (SAC) increased over the last years in Germany. Therefore it is important to develop guidelines regarding aspects of animal welfare. Recommendations for husbandry and feeding are given. In principal it is possible to keep llamas and alpacas under middle European conditions with respect to animal welfare. However problems do sometimes occur because of a lack of knowledge of breeders about the basic requirements of the animals. In contrast to other species it is much more difficult to get scientific based informations and to guarantee veterinarian service. Therefore more care have to be taken in the education of breeders and veterinarians.     

Animal welfare requirements for the raising and breeding of pheasants

The different husbandry systems for raising pheasants are introduced and discussed. In particular, size and shaping of aviaries are described. Some remarks are made on the critical points, e.g. individual space, stocking density, planting of aviaries, and feeding of animals. Special emphasis is put on the problem of feather picking, which may lead to a struggle for existence of the owner. Existing methods for prevention of feather picking are introduced and assessed. Finally, an assessment with respect to animal welfare is made, revealing that, in general, raising of pheasants is not in conflict with animal welfare regulations. Nevertheless, in some aspects improvements are recommended, and some of the husbandry systems and manipulations can not be tolerated from the animal welfare point of view. Further research is needed to ensure a species specific raising of pheasants on a scientific base.     

Farm animal welfare research in interaction with society

Over the last 30 years concern about farm animal welfare has increased and has become a public issue in the Netherlands. Public discussion has stimulated research in this field, financed by both government and industry. Dutch society in general and consumers of animal products in particular, want to see high standards of welfare for production animals. Good animal welfare has gradually gained more impact in the total quality concept of the product. This will encourage scientists to continue to analyse the welfare status of animals and to come up with innovative solutions for the remaining problems. At ID-Lelystad much effort is put into farm animal welfare research. This research includes for example, the development of behavioural tests for quantifying and interpreting fear in cattle, investigations into the effects of dietary iron supply and a lack of roughage on behaviour, immunology, stress physiology, and pathology in veal calves, studies of the ontogeny of tail biting in finishing pigs and feather pecking in laying hens as well as evaluation of the welfare effects of automatic milking in dairy cows. The results of these projects contribute to concrete improvements in animal husbandry and expertise and support policy making and legislation. The animal industry as well as retailers should aim at the further implementation of this knowledge and to specify welfare standards to guarantee consumer acceptance of animal production.     

Effects of confinement and research needs to underpin welfare standards

Although there is no agreement on how to measure animal welfare, how to interpret some of the observed changes in behavior and physiology, and how much confinement of animals is acceptable, this has not stopped animal welfare standards from being set in the form of either voluntary or mandatory recommendations. Notwithstanding that there are gaps in knowledge about a number of farming practices, there is some emphasis by scientists, industry, politicians, and some animal welfare groups for any changes to welfare-related recommendations to be based on scientific evidence. This article discusses the related issues of confinement and its effects on farm animals, research gaps in the field of animal welfare, the development of welfare standards, and whether such standards should be underpinned by science. For some issues there is a general consensus, for example, that animals feel pain and have emotions and that animals' appearance and behavior are used by good farmers to recognize both the ‘normality’ and deviations from normal of their animals. However, these variables are difficult to measure or define. Nevertheless, if issues are considered important to animals' welfare, should difficulty of measurement or definition be a barrier to the creation of legislated standards? Thus, options for legislated standards include either comprehensive standards, some of which may be difficult to measure, similar to current legislation on cruelty to animals, or only a limited number of standards with targets that can be measured, some of which may have less relevance to welfare outcomes.     

The importance of applied ethology for the execution of animal welfare legislation]

Applied ethology in general and farm animal ethology in particular have a great importance in connection with animal welfare regulations on a national and international level. They have through the legislation on animal welfare brought about important repercussions on housing of farm animals, wild animals and experimental animals in Switzerland. The animal welfare legislation has been a considerable boost to scientific research. The application of ethological knowledge in the legislation and in practice has indeed also its limits. The importance of applied ethology for animal welfare and for animal husbandry will still increase in future.     

On-farm welfare assessment of dairy goat farms using animal-based indicators: the example of 30 commercial farms in Portugal

Welfare assessment can play multiple roles in the path to welfare improvement. In the dairy goat area, identification of the main welfare problems across countries and different production systems is needed. By the application of a prototype welfare assessment protocol, based on animal-based indicators, we aimed to provide an insight into the main welfare problems affecting intensively kept dairy goats in Portugal. Thirty farms, organised in three size categories, were assessed. The main areas of concern were claw overgrowth, queuing at feeding and hindquarter dirtiness, with larger farms heading higher concerns. Additionally, this paper aimed to investigate indicators’ consistency over time. Ten of the 30 farms were revisited four months later, during which no major husbandry changes were made. Our results showed an overall consistency. This study can help define intervention thresholds or minimum legal levels for each indicator, by determining their overall prevalence.     

肉鸡福利评价指标研究进展

随着高密度、集约化畜牧业的发展,动物福利问题不容乐观,严重制约了我国畜牧业的发展。这种以牺牲动物福利为代价的生产,对家禽的生长造成了不良的生理和心理反应,导致呼吸道疾病、腹水症等的爆发,降低了生产性能、经济效益和产品质量。近年来,各国对动物福利问题日益重视。本文通过总结和分析肉鸡福利评价的指标,旨在为我国家禽福利评价体系的建立提供理论依据,提高肉鸡养殖福利水平,推动畜牧业的健康发展。     

Inspection of laboratory animal breeding and husbandry/experiments on animals, examples

In Berlin, the authorization and inspection of experiments on animals and of facilities for laboratory animal breeding and husbandry are carried out by the same authority. According to Section 16 (1) sentence one no. 3 Tierschutzgesetz (German animal protection act), there are presently 1200 procedures registered and 68 facilities approved to breed and keep vertebrates for experiments (according to Section 11 (1) sentence one no. 1 Tierschutzgesetz). In 2006, the use of 300,903 vertebrates was reported. There are 38 animal welfare officers in the twenty major scientific facilities who are in charge of in-house supervision. The authority visits the facilities where experiments take place at regular intervals to observe and supervise their operations. On request, the facilities must send the records from the experiments to the authority for examination (according to Section 9 a Tierschutzgesetz). With the annual laboratory animal report, the authority can verify the number of authorised laboratory animals. By checking the scientific publications the authority can compare them with the authorised animal experiments. Facilities for laboratory animal breeding and husbandry are continuously supervised. Offences against the animal protection act are prosecuted. When there are deficiencies in animal welfare, the authority sets a deadline to correct the defects. If the deficiency still exists after the expiry of the term, the authority imposes a penalty payment or initiates legal proceedings. The important role of the animal welfare officers (Section 8 a Tierschutzgesetz) is apparent. The majority of supervisions show that there are deficiencies. This indicates that more emphasis must be put on prevention. The facilities must provide better support and resources for the animal welfare officers. Furthermore, the scientists must be more receptive to the animal welfare officers in their role as advisers. Continuous and adequate training is imperative to the goal of maintaining sufficient in-house supervision and to keep the animals from suffering. If in-house supervision works well, the State's role in regulating animal experiments can be reduced.     

肉牛运输应激危害及动物福利化预防措施

肉牛的运输福利是关乎内蒙古地区畜牧业发展的重要因素之一,作为畜牧业大省,内蒙古地区每年都进行大量的调运肉牛操作,不规范的运输会引起动物发生应激反应,进而使肉品质的下降。因此在实际生产中应注重运输环节的动物福利问题。文章通过总结实践和经验,分析了内蒙古地区肉牛运输中存在的问题及其危害,并提出了运输过程中的福利化预防措施,以其为改善肉牛运输福利提供参考。     

Protection of farmed camels (Camelus Dromedarius): Welfare problems and legislative perspective

In the last years animal welfare has assumed an increasing interest in our society, influencing legislation to enact many provisions aimed at the protection of animals. Along with increased consumer awareness of the need to maintain ethically acceptable conditions of raised animals, scientists too have begun to investigate the conditions of animal welfare, the tools for its evaluation and for its improvement. Although there are many advances in knowledge, much remains to be investigated concerning many species considered "minor", that is, camels and dromedaries. Dromedaries, recently, have attracted the interest of some breeders following the results of studies concerning the nutritional and therapeutic properties of their products ‐ milk in particular ‐ that make them ideal for some particular categories of consumers, such as diabetics, obesity sufferers, lactose‐intolerant subjects, menopausal women and so on. Considering their use in dairy husbandry, dromedaries are reared under intensive and/or semi‐intensive systems with the resulting emergence of specific needs, which should be fulfilled in order to have appropriate welfare. This paper's purpose is to give practical elements in order to find out dromedary welfare standards, promoting a comprehensive set of regulations on welfare, care and protection of this animal.     

Space,time, and unassuming animals

Animals need sufficient space to ensure physical health and to permit the performance of important behaviors. The effects of spatial restriction will increase with duration of confinement. In addition, diurnal rhythms are relevant. Animals may often require only sufficient space to rest comfortably but, at certain periods, additional space will be required for the performance of comfort, foraging, social or exploratory behavior. The spatial needs of unassuming animals such as chickens and rodents have been assessed using many approaches. First, animals can be housed at relevant allowances and a broad range of measures of health, behavior, physiological status and immune function taken to assess overall welfare. Second, the behavior of animals can be observed after spatial restriction is removed. A significant rebound in behavior performance would indicate that this behavior was being prevented by confinement. Third, the strength of animals' choices for additional space can be examined. Evidence from all three approaches showed that the extreme spatial confinement experienced by laying hens in conventional battery cages resulted in poor welfare, helping to secure a phase-out of conventional cages in Europe by 2012. It has been more difficult to establish optimum space allowances for species kept under less extreme restriction, such as laboratory mice and rats. No consistent effects on welfare were found when inbred and outbred mice were housed at 60, 100 or 167 cm²/mouse. In contrast, sleep disruption was increased when young rats housed were housed at higher stocking densities. Finally, assessment of optimum spatial allowance (stocking density) for animals housed in large groups, is complicated by complex interactions between enclosure size and group number.     

农场动物福利的评估

畜牧业中的动物福利问题越来越为人们所关注,评估动物福利是提高畜禽福利的基础。行为是评价动物福利最容易理解和最通常使用的指标,特别是异常行为的出现。应激相关生理表征也说明动物处于不适环境。但福利评估是一个复杂而棘手的问题,其他很多指标也可用于福利评估,特别是情感状态。论文较为全面地介绍了动物福利常用的评估指标和新的评估手段。