Published in 2013
Highly detailed guide to all euthanisation methods for all species (domestic carnivores, livestock and laboratory animals)
Document Types: Technical work
Keywords: Consciousness, Pain, Experimentation
Published in 2016
Description of the different methods of slaughter with recommendations concerning animal welfare
Document Types: Technical work
Keywords: Consciousness, Pain, Experimentation
Published in 2004
Animal welfare is today an unavoidable part of the political, economic and social landscape of animal production, found in regulations, technical standards, ethical requirements, economic injunctions, etc. This book, through the selection of over a hundred separately authored texts accompanied by commentaries, provides the necessary tools to understand and analyse the origins of the issue of animal welfare, the stakes involved, and possible ways to solve the problems raised. The originality of this book lies in the fact that it selects a group of authors with contrasting opinions, but also in the fact that it draws on a wide range of disciplines: zootechnics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, ethology, history, economics, etc. Organised in four parts, it deals with the history of animal husbandry, sets out the scientific issues relating to welfare and the question of working animals, examines the living conditions of working animals and, last, considers the question of sustainable animal husbandry.
Document Types: Scientific work
Animal categories: Monogastrics, Ruminants
Keywords: Societal issues, Livestock farming system
Published in 2015
Whether it is a question of their status or their welfare, animals find themselves firmly at the centre of major contemporary debates. In this book, the authors address the ethics of human/animal relations in animal husbandry, discussing livestock animals within their economic context of production.
Document Types: Scientific work
Keywords: Biodiversity, Wildlife population dynamics, Societal issues, Experimentation, Livestock farming system
Published in 2016
This e-learning module providing a concise summary of the scientific evidence that underpins EU legislation on pig enrichment and harvesting has been produced in seven languages, with the aim of improving consistency in professional judgements regarding legal compliance on farms. The mark profiles indicated that the roles of the participants had an impact on their scores but that the training led to overall improvement in: (i) their ability to identify enrichments which, due to their type or use by pigs, may be insufficient to ensure compliance; (ii) their knowledge of risk factors for tail biting; and (iii) their recognition of when tail docking occurs.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories: Porcines
Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Mutilation
Published in 2019
Lameness in dairy cows is a worldwide problem, usually a consequence of hoof diseases. Hoof problems have a negative impact on animal health and welfare as well as the economy of the farm. Prevention and early diagnosis of lameness should prevent the development of the disease and consequent high costs of animal treatment. In this review, the most common causes of both infectious and noninfectious lesions are described. Susceptibility to lesions is primarily influenced by the quality of the horn. The quality of the horn is influenced by internal and external conditions such as hygiene, nutrition, hormonal changes during calving and lactation, the animal's age or genetic predisposition. The next part of this review summarizes the basic principles and possibilities of using infrared thermography in the early detection of lameness in dairy cows.
Document Types: Scientific review
Animal categories: Bovines
Keywords:Livestock buildings, Pain, Environment, Living environment, Stress
Published in 2015
This Opinion focuses on the value of manipulable materials, whose presence offers an effective means of enriching the living environment of pigs reared on slatted floors. They encourage the expression of investigative and manipulating behaviours but also, depending on the nature of the added materials, of maternal and foraging behaviours. They preclude behavioural frustration and induce positive emotions that can reduce deviant behaviours such as cannibalism and stereotyping and can limit negative emotions. Used properly, manipulable materials can have a positive impact on animal welfare. However, this impact is variable and can be negative, depending on the physical characteristics and distribution patterns of the manipulable materials. The impact is also negative when the manipulable materials introduce health risks. Before any routine use, the effect of the materials on welfare should be tested on the animal. In light of the prevalence of slatted floors on French livestock farms, it is desirable to make best use of such materials in ways that are worth developing further, under conditions that are adapted to the animal's welfare. Work on manipulable materials has been carried out very widely and has made it possible to identify the intrinsic qualities that retain the animals' interest and encourage investigation and manipulation. However, further work is still needed on animals' motives in using manipulable materials, on the latters' effectiveness, on methods of introduction and presentation, on an economic evaluation of their distribution, on the development of new materials, on the health risks associated with their characteristics, on their effects on brain function, on the acceptability of their use by breeders and on the contribution of their use to the public's perception of livestock farming.
Document Types: Opinions
Animal categories: Porcines
Keywords : Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Housing, Living environment, Stress
Published in 2015
The European AWIN project has developed welfare assessment protocols that provide a range of reliable, feasible and practical animal-based indicators for evaluating animal welfare to promote the improvement of animal production systems across Europe. The protocols have been developed for species kept under very different husbandry systems, ranging from highly intensive to pasture-based systems, and that involve different production parameters, from intensive dairy production to extensive meat or draught animal production.
This welfare assessment protocol is intended for horses over 5 years of age.
Document Types: Good practice guide
Animal categories: Equines
Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Livestock buildings, Pain, Enrichment, Environment, Welfare indicators, Housing, Restraint equipment, Living environment, Modelling, Mutilation, Fear, Human-animal relationships, Stress
Published in 2009
Welfare Quality® combines analysis of consumer perceptions and attitudes with current knowledge from animal welfare science. This has led to the identification of 12 criteria that must be properly taken into account by evaluation systems. To address these issues, it has been decided to focus on those indicators classified as animal-based, which address aspects of the immediate welfare status of animals, such as their behaviour, fear, health or physical condition. These animal-based measures include the effects of variations in farm system management (role of the farmer) as well as particular system-animal interactions. It is however clear that resource-based and management-based measures can also contribute to a welfare assessment if they are closely correlated with animal-based measures. In addition, resource- and management-based measures can be used to identify animal welfare risks and to identify the causes of poor welfare so that improvement strategies can be implemented.
This protocol describes the procedures and requirements for the assessment of the welfare of cattle and is limited to the main categories of production animals, i.e. feeder cattle, dairy cows and veal calves. The document first outlines the on-farm collection of measurement data on feeder cattle, followed by the procedures for calculating scores. The next section describes the collection of data at the abattoir to assess the welfare of feeder cattle at the time of slaughter. Next, the procedure for on-farm collection of measurement data on dairy cows and the calculation of scores for overall farm welfare assessment is described, followed by the protocols for on-farm collection of the same data from calves, along with a description of data collection protocols for measurements taken at the abattoir but relevant to farm welfare. These last two sections complement each other and are used together to calculate on-farm welfare scores for veal calves.
Document Types: Good practice guide
Animal categories: Bovines, Ruminants
Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Livestock buildings, Pain, Enrichment, Environment, Welfare indicators, Housing, Restraint equipment, Living environment, Modelling, Mutilation, Fear, Human-animal relationships, Stress
Published in 2015
The European AWIN project has developed welfare assessment protocols that provide a range of reliable, feasible and practical animal-based indicators for the evaluation of animal welfare in order to promote the improvement of animal production systems across Europe. The protocols have been developed for species with very different husbandry systems, ranging from highly intensive to pasture-based systems, and involving different production parameters, from intensive dairy production to extensive meat or draught animal production.
This particular welfare assessment protocol is intended for adult female sheep (over one year of age), kept for milk and/or meat and has been tested for this specification. The protocol has not been tested for ewes kept primarily for wool production, or for dual-purpose meat and wool production, but it is expected that the protocol may also be applicable for such cases. The protocol applies and has been tested on adult ewes kept indoors and outdoors. Since the indicators are based on sheep biology, many of the indicators may also be relevant to adult male sheep, but the protocol has not yet been tested for use in male animals.
Document Types: Good practice guide
Animal categories: Ovines
Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Livestock buildings, Pain, Enrichment, Environment, Welfare indicators, Housing, Restraint equipment, Living environment, Modelling, Mutilation, Fear, Human-animal relationships, Stress
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