Animal category: Pigs

European Parliament: Written answer to question E-000214/23: Animal welfare controls at EU exit points

Question: Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA). Answer: Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

Published in 2023

Answer to a question concerning the fact that the Greek border of Kakavia continues to be used as an exit point for live animals from the European Union (EU) even though it is not recognized as such, and asking whether any sanctions have been taken by the EU against Greece.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

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

Keywords: Societal issues, Transport

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Review: The challenge to integrate Animal Welfare indicators into the Life Cycle Assessment

L. Lanzoni, L. Whatford, A. Atzori, M. Chincarini, M. Giammarco, I. Fusaro, G. Vignola

Published in 2023

Scientific literature review of publications that consider the impact of livestock systems on both the environment and animal welfare. It shows that environmental impact assessment using life cycle assessment (LCA) has a much more consistent, standardized and thorough methodology than animal welfare assessments. It concludes that research is needed to integrate animal welfare assessment into LCA.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords:Environment, Welfare indicators, Modelling, One Welfare

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Review: Connecting circularity to animal welfare calls for a 'novel' conceptual framework based on integrity

M.B.M. Bracke, I.J.M. Boumans, H.J. Nijland, E.A.M. Bokkers

Published in 2023

Scientific review proposing a new conceptual framework it calls the circular welfare economy (CWE), intended to facilitate the transition to sustainable agriculture. The CWE applies the notion of circularity to welfare, defined as the quality of life as it is perceived by the individual animal itself. It also considers human integrity, defined as openness and honesty, to be a prerequisite for sustainability.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Environment, One Welfare, Human-animal relationships,Societal issues

Effects of improved early-life conditions on health, welfare, and performance of pigs raised on a conventional farm

S. Gavaud, K. Haurogné, A. Buchet, I. Garcia Vinado, M. Allard, A. Lehébel, M. Leblanc-Maridor, J.M. Bach, C. Belloc, B. Lieubeau, J. Hervé

Published in 2023

Scientific paper to examine the effects of the complete elimination of painful procedures and of reducing weaning stressors in the living conditions of piglets on a commercial farm. This form of management resulted in improved innate immunity at weaning, fewer and less severe body lesions but more tail lesions than in the control pigs.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords:Aggression, Aggressiveness, Castration, Mutilation, Weaning, Socialization, Sterilization, Stress

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The grim reality of industrial animal farming

Eurogroup for Animals

Published in 2023

Report summarizing the main welfare problems faced by broilers, fish, pigs, dairy cows and rabbits in intensive farming and the main shortcomings of current European legislation in this respect.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Sheep, Fish, Pigs, Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Pain, Societal issues, Mutilation, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Livestock farming system

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Development of a data-driven method for assessing health and welfare in the most common livestock species in Switzerland: The Smart Animal Health project

Beat Thomann, Hanno Würbel, Tahibault Kuntzer, Christina Umstätter, Beat Wechsler, Mireille Meylan, Gertraud Schüpbach-Regula

Published in 2023

Article describing how a method was developed to assess health and welfare on individual Swiss livestock farms using information from agricultural databases and supervised machine learning. This method made it possible to score the animal health and welfar management performance of farms in a way comparable to on-farm assessment by trained staff.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

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

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Advancing the quantitative characterization of farm animal welfare

Harriet Bartlett, Andrew Balmford, Mark A. Holmes, James L. N. Wood

Published in 2023

Paper developing welfare indicators for use in life cycle assessment (LCA) and different ways of aggregating them, then testing them on British pig farms. It shows that farms in the same LCA class have the same types of quality labels, and that the details of the way in which LCA welfare measures are established have little impact on the classification of farms based on their welfare levels.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Environment, Welfare indicators, Living environment

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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/372 of 17 February 2023 laying down rules on the recording, storing and sharing of written records of official controls performed on livestock vessels, on contingency plans for livestock vessels in the event of emergencies, on the approval of livestock vessels and on minimum requirements applicable to exit points (Text with EEA relevance)

EU Commission

Published in 2023

Implementing regulation laying down the necessary necessary for carrying out inspections on vessels carrying livestock. It creates a Europe-wide electronic database so that all data required for inspections is centralised.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Equines, Sheep, Pigs

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

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Dietary fiber and its role in performance, welfare, and health of pigs

: Ł. Grześkowiak , E.-M. Saliu , B. Martínez-Vallespín , J. R. Aschenbach , G. A. Brockmann, M. Fulde , S. Hartmann , B. Kuhla , R. Lucius , C. C. Metges , H. J. Rothkötter , W. Vahjen , A. G. Wessels, J. Zentek

Published in 2023

Scientific review on the use of dietary fiber for sows, piglets and fattening pigs, and its positive aspect on health and welfare if ration concentrations are respected and if their fermentability is taken into account. Little is known about their effects on intestinal function and gut microbiota.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment

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Final report of an audit of Spain carried out from 22 March to 26 July 2022 in order to evaluate animal welfare controls during transport by livestock vessel to non-EU countries

EU Commission

Published in 2023

DG SANTE audit report concluding that Spain has significantly improved its system of official controls since the previous Commission audit. However, veterinary inspectors do not always have sufficient knowledge or support to carry out controls properly and ports do not have facilities to allow animals to wait in good conditions if they are delayed.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Equines, Sheep, Pigs

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

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