Keyword :  Farming system

What Are the Positives? Exploring Positive Welfare Indicators in a Qualitative Interview Study with Livestock Farmers

Vigors B, Lawrence A

Published in 2019

Positive animal welfare is a relatively new concept that promotes the welfare benefits of providing animals with greater opportunities for positive experiences, as well as minimizing negative experiences. However, little is known about farmers' attitudes or  knowledge regarding positive animal welfare. This is a major obstacle to the promotion of positive welfare indicators on farms, where their use may depend on their acceptance by farmers. In response, this study uses qualitative interviews to explore farmers' positive attitudes towards welfare. A fair number of elements that correspond to positive welfare indicators in the literature are encountered in farmers' positive discussions of welfare. These include animal autonomy, play, positive effects, positive Human-animal relationships, social interactions and appropriate genetic selection.

Document Types: Scientific review

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships, Housing, Stress, Breeding and rearing systems, Welfare indicators

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Effects of environmental complexity on welfare indicators of fast-growing broiler chickens

Tahamtani FM, Pedersen IJ, Riber AB

Published in 2019

The study aims to investigate the effects of different types of environmental complexity on leg health and welfare indicators for fast-growing chickens housed in accordance with mainstream European legislation.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords: Pain, Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Stress, Breeding and rearing systems

The IDF Guide to Good Animal Welfare in Dairy Production 2.0

FIL/IDF : L. Mirabito, J J Jago, N. Harding with contributions from O Osteras, W Skippon, H. Dormon

Published in 2019

The updated IDF Guide on Animal Welfare aims to promote the worldwide implementation of good animal welfare practices in dairy production and refers to key standards (OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code and ISO Technical Specification 34700: 2016). It provides recommendations on skills, the feeding and watering of animals, their physical environment, production practices and health management. To assess levels of animal welfare in dairy production systems, examples of outcome measurement criteria are provided.

Document Types: Guides to Good Practice

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Livestock buildings, Pain, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Lactation, Housing, Human-animal relationships, Breeding and rearing systems

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Bien être animal dans les systèmes de production de bovins laitiers

OIE

Published in 2021

OIE standards are internationally recognised as the only science-based standards on the subject to have been adopted by the World Assembly of Delegates. They are regularly updated in line with the evolution of scientific knowledge and are gradually being fleshed out to cover different aspects of welfare. Consultation with Member States as well as with experts and relevant international governmental and non-governmental organisations is guaranteed throughout the drafting process to ensure their relevance in light of the latest scientific knowledge. Each year, the OIE World Assembly of Delegates adopts new or revised draft standards. Standards dealing with animal welfare are not recognised in the WTO SPS Agreement, unlike those dealing with animal health and veterinary public health. This standard addresses the welfare of dairy cattle in commercial production systems.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Breeding and rearing systems

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Bien-être animal et travail en élevage

Porcher J.

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, Breeding and rearing systems

Le bien-être animal : de la science au droit

Hild S., Schweitzer L.

Published in 2018

Researchers, experts and members of the European Commission and the French Ministry of Agriculture provide an array of answers to key questions: what scientific definition should be given to animal welfare? On what criteria should it be assessed? What national or international rights do respondents take into account? Which animals are involved? What are the obstacles to ensuring the welfare of animals? The answers provided here will strengthen the next steps towards new regulatory provisions.

Document Types: Scientific work

Animal categories: Monogastrics, Ruminants

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Societal issues, Human-animal relationships, Breeding and rearing systems

Ethique des relations homme/animal – Pour une juste mesure

Denis B.

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, Breeding and rearing systems

Bien-être animal : contexte, définition, évaluation

Mormède P., Boisseau-Sowinski L., Chiron J., Diederich C., Eddison J., Guichet J.L., Le Neindre P., Meunier-Salaün M.C.

Published in 2018

This concept note puts the issue of welfare back into its context, proposes a definition that takes account of the latest knowledge on the sensitivity and consciousness of animals, and considers their practical incorporation into animal husbandry. The importance of the welfare of animals dependent on humans (farm animals, pets, zoo animals, circus animals, laboratory animals, etc) has gradually asserted itself over the last 50 years, particularly in the context of animal production, and is at the heart of concerns over the future of animal husbandry. The concept of animal welfare is placed in its philosophical, societal and legal contexts, all of which influence the ways it is taken account of and the meanings assigned to it. Particular attention has been paid to the scientific foundations for the concept of welfare, based on the psychological characteristics of animals as sentient and conscious beings. ... Protocols for assessing animal welfare must therefore combine the analysis of behaviour and the physiological and health status of the animal with data on the environment.

Document Types: Scientific review

Keywords: Societal issues, Breeding and rearing systems

Social acceptability of farmed animals in France: inventory and analysis of the main controversies based on the views of different stakeholders

Delanoue E., Roguet C.

Published in 2015

In a context where livestock farming and its practices are frequently called into question, an analysis of the points of disagreement in different sectors (pigs, poultry, cattle, sheep and goats) was carried out within the framework of the Elevages Demain Scientific Interest Group (GIS). A literature review was conducted to understand the basis for social concerns about livestock farming and assess their robustness. At the same time, some thirty interviews were conducted with various stakeholders involved in the debates - professionals in the sector, employees of voluntary associations, journalists and distributors - in order to identify and describe the main areas of contention over livestock farming in France. The work highlights strongly-held and long-standing concerns on the part of the public with regard to livestock farming, which cannot be dismissed as the consequences of 'fads'. 

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Societal issues, Environment, Breeding and rearing systems

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Éthologie Appliquée : Comportements Animaux et Humains, Questions de Société.

Laure Kaiser, Frédéric Marion-Poll, Jean-Michel Faure, Pierre Le Neindre, Alain Boissy, Frédéric Lévy, Raymond Nowak, Xavier Boivin Bertrand Dumont, Pierre Joly, Frédéric Tardy, M. Bilbaut, J.J. Boisard, Hubert Montagner, Catherine Belzung, Claire Detrain, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, Raphaël Larrère, Florence Burgat, Sonia Desmoulin, Pierre Le Neindre, Isabelle Veissier, Alain Boissy, Claude Baudoin, D. Benhaïm, C. Koch-Schott, S. Esquieu-Panis, Jean-Louis Millot, David Benhaim, Claudine Koch-Schott

Published in 2009

While there is growing recognition of applied ethology in France, offering real career opportunities for young graduates, much can still be gained by setting out its different aspects for a broader public. Such is the aim of this book, which describes in as much variety as possible the fields associated with this approach to animal behaviours, focusing on practical measures without neglecting the basic principles that underlie them. With the ongoing devopment of new disciplines and technologies (robotics, virtual reality, etc.), the ethological approach has been able to draw on substantial achievements in the integrative biology sector to innovate and meet societal expectations.
This book is the result of a collective enterprisem with various contributions from recognised scientists and professional ethologists who have been chosen for the complementarity of their skills in the discipline. The contributions are grouped to represent the main fields of activity where ethology is applied:  1) agronomy and animal husbandry, 2) protection of wild flora and fauna, 3) human health and industry, 4) ethical and legal issues related to animal husbandry and experimentation and, finally, 5) human behaviour. Given the diversity of these fields of application, the contribution of each author has been vital and we thank them for their commitment and efficiency. We would also like to thank the members of the French Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour, particularly its then President, for having believed in this work from the outset, for having supported its production and for having placed their trust in us despite a much longer development period than was initially envisaged. Last, we are grateful to Quae publications for having allowed us to turn this project into a reality.

Document Types: Scientific work

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment,  Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Learning, Training, Wildlife population dynamics, Experimentation, Welfare indicators, Modelling, Cognitive processes, Stress, Breeding and rearing systems

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