Animal category: Cattle

Master's report on the attitudes and interests of abattoirs and the main stakeholders in the Swedish livestock industry regarding the establishment of or increase in the use of on-farm slaughtering and emergency on-farm slaughtering.

Scientific review of the physical and psychological stressors involved in road transport for cattle of all ages, and the consequences of transport-related stress on animal welfare, health and performance.

Answer to a question on whether the European Commission is ready to ban slaughter without stunning and extend this ban to imported meat from animals slaughtered in third countries.

Answer to a question on whether it makes sense to distinguish between animals for slaughter and animals not intended for slaughter when transporting animals.

Scientific article seeking the views of veterinarians and zootechnicians on concerns over the welfare of cattle expressed by members of the public and on how public opinion should be taken into account when developing ways to improve welfare. Those interviewed consider the general public to lack knowledge of livestock farming and believe that its members need to be educated in order to gain a better understanding of the issues. They could contribute to improving welfare by paying higher prices for animal products.

Scientific article presenting an algorithm designed to assess the welfare of dairy cows based on sensor data (accelerometer and/or lactometer) and farm records. It concludes that the algorithm alone cannot not provide a sufficiently sensitive and specific assessment of cow welfare, but that there is merit in combining it with farm-based welfare measurement visits.

Scientific article on the detection and quantification of the responses of farm animals to changes in their environment as a means to classify them individually according to their level of resilience. To this purpose, the authors analyze the use of different modeling approaches to data generation from high-throughput recordings.

CGAAER report on the conditions required to reconcile the positions of the French public and livestock farming. The CGAAER considers that the controversy surrounding livestock farming can only be resolved after a discussion between all stakeholders to develop shared objectives for future livestock farming. This will call for a multidisciplinary scientific committee to clarify the terms of the debate, and a dialogue between the different sectors to develop common messages.

Scientific paper on improvements to the welfare quality calculations for the "Absence of prolonged thirst" and "Absence of disease" criteria in the Welfare Quality assessment protocol for dairy cows, bringing the  results are more into line with the input data and better reflecting expert opinion.