Animal category: Cattle

Final report of an audit of France from 25 January 2021 to 5 February 2021 in order to evaluate controls of animal welfare at slaughter and during related operations

DG SANTE

Published in 2021

DG SANTE audit report carried out in France in early 2021, revealing that the effectiveness of official controls in French abattoirs has been significantly improved, as the result of the strengthening of operators' self-monitoring and inspectors' training in particular, but identifying 3 previous recommendations not yet taken into account, and adding two new ones.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords:Consciousness, Carcass quality, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Stress

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The use of animal-based measures at slaughter for assessing the welfare of calves on farm: EFSA's AHAW Network exercise - 2021

EFSA

Published in 2021

Report on the Animal Health and Welfare Network meeting which produced a list of the animal-based measures used in abattoirs that are most relevant for the on-farm monitoring of the welfare of calves.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Carcass quality, Welfare indicators

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Intelligent Perception-Based Cattle Lameness Detection and Behaviour Recognition: A Review

Yongliang Qiao, He Kong, Cameron Clark, Sabrina Lomax, Daobilige Su, Stuart Eiffert, Salah Sukkarieh

Published in 2021

Scientific review summarising and analysing the main uses of smart sensors, big data and deep learning for  the behavioural recognition and health monitoring of farm animals, with a focus on bovine lameness.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Precision farming, Welfare indicators

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

Sarah J. J. Adcock

Published in 2021

A scientific review of the long-term phenotypic consequences of painful neonatal procedures in rodents, whose response to pain, fear and anxiety stimuli is initially reduced and then becomes exacerbated with age. These procedures result in cognitive, social and reproductive deficits, which can be transmitted to offspring. The implications for the long-term welfare of farm animals following early painful procedures are discussed.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Cattle, Rodents

Keywords:Pain, Memory, Fear, Human-animal relationships, Stress

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From human-animal relation practice research to the development of the livestock farmer's activity: an ergonomics-applied ethology interaction

J. Beaujouan, D. Cromer, X. Boivin

Published in 2021

Scientific review on the benefits of combining ergonomics with applied ethology to study the links between animal welfare and the welfare of the livestock farmer. It proposes a new way of looking at the human-animal relationship in animal husbandry taking core concepts from both disciplines.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords: Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system

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Data-Based Variables Used as Indicators of Dairy Cow Welfare at Farm Level: A Review

Barbara Lutz, Sibylle Zwygart, Christina Rufener, Joan-Bryce Burla, Beat Thomann, Dimitri Stucki

Published in 2021

A scientific review of the use of data-based variables to detect animal welfare violations on farms, highlighting the fact that some of these variables are related to animal-based welfare measures. It recommends that the variables should be harmonised in light of the data they use, and that preference should be given to those that reflect the multidimensional nature of animal welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Precision farming, Welfare indicators, Livestock farming system

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L’agriculture bio garantit-elle un meilleur « bien-être » des animaux d’élevage ?

Eugénie Duval, Benjamin Lecorps

Published in 2021

Article demonstrating that the French organic label guarantees higher animal welfare standards than conventional farming, providing access to outdoors, banning cage rearing and tethered systems, allowing only exceptional authorisation of non-medical surgical interventions, and requiring more frequent checks and compulsory stunning before slaughter. However, the legislation on transport and slaughter is still inadequate, even in the case of organic farming.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords: Housing, Living environment, Mutilation, Livestock farming system, Transport,Societal issues

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Animal welfare: a shift from live to meat-and-carcass transport

Gediminas Vilkas

Published in 2021

Press release presenting the results of the European Parliament's Committee of Inquiry into the protection of animals during transport. The committee recognised that EU rules on the protection of animals during transport are not always respected and that the welfare needs of animals during transport are not always met. It recommends limiting and better monitoring the export of live animals, developing meat-and-carcass transport and banning the transport of very young animals.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords:Societal issues, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Transport

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Genome editing and farmed animals

Pete Mills

Published in 2021

Report describing genome editing techniques, and critically analysing their potential use for livestock. It makes recommendations, in particular the need for a full scientific review of the literature before changing the UK regulations in this area and for a dialogue between scientists and the public on these issues.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Societal issues, Resilience, Robustness, Livestock farming system

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