Animal category: Pigs

European Parliament: Written answer to Question E-000940/23: Compliance with Directive 2008/120/EC on the welfare of pigs

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

Published in 2023

Answer to a question concerning the date of publication of the assessment of Member States' national action plans for the prevention of routine tail docking in pigs, the decisions taken by the European Commission to ensure compliance with the regulatory ban on tail docking in this species, and the measures envisaged in the event of breaches of the regulations.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Pain, Societal issues, Mutilation

Go to document

Revue Innovation Agronomiques - volume 87 - Bien-être Animal 

Luc Mounier, Philippe Prévost, Alain Boissy, Agathe Gignoux, Yannick Ramonet, Mathilde Stomp, Christelle Demont, Isabelle Veissier, Mickaël Benoît, Rabah Bellahsene, Séverine Fontaine, Patrice Charron, Elsa Delanoue, Aude-Solveig Epstein, Christèle Couzy, Xavier Boivin, Romain Piovan, Clémence Bitu, Morgane Leroux, Justine Robin, Christine Roguet

Published in 2023

Publication of the papers given at the Agronomic Innovation Forum "Bien-être animal : faire se rencontrer attentes sociétales et professionnelles" (encounter between societal and professional expectations) held on May 5, 2022 at the VetAgro Sup veterinary campus in Lyon.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Societal issues, One WelfareWelfare indicators, Human-animal relationships, Stress

Go to document

Transportof Live Animals in the EU: challenges and opportunities 

European Court of Auditors

Published in 2023

Review of current animal transport practices in the European Union and possible actions to improve the account taken of the welfare of transported animals.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Societal issues, Human-animal relationships, Stress, Transport

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document

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

Go to document