Keywords: Welfare indicators

Challenges In Understanding Farmed Insect Welfare

Meghan Barrett, Bob Fischer

Published in 2023

Challenges identified in this article include the rapid growth of the insect farming industry and associated innovations, the use of welfare tools originally developed for vertebrates, variations between populations and individuals, welfare needs during insect development, and animal welfare trade-offs in the decision to use insect as opposed to fish proteins.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords: Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships

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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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Welfare issues in broiler chickens: overview

Brian Tainika, Ahmet Şekeroğlu, Ahmet Akyo, Zacharia Waithaka Ng'ang'a

Published in 2023

Publication reviewing the main factors contributing to poor welfare in broiler chickens, their sources, how to mitigate them, and farm management methods that can promote welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Housing, Living environment, Fear, Stress, Livestock farming system, Welfare indicators

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Obtaining an animal welfare status in Norwegian dairy herds-A mountain to climb

Conor Barry, Kristian Ellingsen-Dalskau, Randi Therese Garmo, Stine Grønmo Kischel, Christoph Winckler, Camilla Kielland

Published in 2023

Scientific paper to determine the animal welfare status in Norwegian free-stall dairy herds as assessed using the Welfare Quality® assessment protocol. It shows that in most herds, animals have a positive relationship with humans but have difficulty lying down and a high prevalence of integumentary lesions.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Housing, Human-animal relationships, Welfare indicators

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Welfare of laying hens on farm

Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin-Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gortázar Schmidt, Mette S Herskin, Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca, Virginie Michel, Barbara Padalino, Paolo Pasquali, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Stahl and Antonio Velarde

Published in 2023

EFSA opinion identifying the most important factors impacting on the welfare of laying hens: bone lesions, group stress, inability to avoid unwanted sexual behavior, inability to engage in comfort behavior, inability to engage in exploratory or foraging behavior, isolation stress, predation stress, resting problems, movement restriction, skin disorders, soft tissue lesions and integument lesions. It proposes animal-based measures to assess them, and sets out the risks related to different farming systems. Measures to prevent risks and mitigate welfare consequences are proposed. Recommendations are made to address specific welfare issues for laying hens.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Enrichment, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Human-animal relationships, Mutilation, Stress, Livestock farming system, Societal issues, Pain

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Welfare of broilers on farm

Søren Saxmose Nielsen, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Elisabetta Canali, Julian Ashley Drewe, Bruno Garin-Bastuji, Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas, Christian Gortázar Schmidt, Mette S Herskin, Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca, Virginie Michel, Barbara Padalino, Paolo Pasquali, Helen Clare Roberts, Hans Spoolder, Karl Stahl and Antonio Velarde

Published in 2023

EFSA opinion that identifies 19 major welfare consequences for broilers, animal-based measures to assess them, risks related to different farming systems and animal-based measures to assess them. Measures to prevent risks and mitigate welfare consequences are proposed. Recommendations are made to address specific welfare issues for broilers. Indicators for monitoring the welfare of broilers at slaughter are proposed.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Enrichment, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Housing, Living environment, Human-animal relationships, Mutilation, Stress, Livestock farming system, Societal issues, Pain

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Final report - EFTA Surveillance Authority's audit to Norway from 31 October 2022 to 9 November 2022 on protection of laying hens and chickens kept for meat production

EU Commission

Published in 2023

Audit report from EFTA concluding that the  EEA legislation has been correctly transposed and implemented in Norway. Nevertheless, the recommendations made in previous audits have not been satisfactorily addressed. Official veterinarians do not receive sufficient training with the result that non-compliance is not properly detected.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Poultry

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Housing, Livestock farming system, Societal issues, Welfare indicators

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Visites sanitaires obligatoires dans la filière porcine : lancement de la campagne 2023-2024

French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty

Published in 2023

Technical Instruction giving details on the implementation  of the 2023-24 on-farm visit programme for pig welfare.  The visits are intended to check that farmers are familiar with the relevant regulations, to give them advice tailored to their farms, to make them aware of the risks involved in tail docking and to remind them of the regulations concerning tail docking, on-farm welfare advisors and the cessation of castration of piglets without anaesthetic.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords: Working animals, Animal mediation, Enrichment, Risk management, Mutilation, Human-animal relationships, Pain,, Stress, Welfare indicators

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Welfare considerations for farming black soldier flies, Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae): a model for the insects as food and feed industry

M. Barrett, S.Y. Chia , B. Fischer, J.K. Tomberlin

Published in 2023

Scientific review of factors that may influence the welfare of black soldier flies in commercial farming. It identifies the major issues and the farming conditions that cause them, suggesting areas for research to improve our understanding of the welfare of black soldier flies and, more generally, of farmed insects.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords: Livestock farming system, Stress,Welfare indicators

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Looking beyond the Shoal: Fish Welfare as an Individual Attribute

Lauri Torgerson-White, Walter Sánchez-Suárez

Published in 2022

Scientific review on the current status of welfare assessment methods in aquaculture, comparing them with those for terrestrial animals, and offering recommendations for future research that would allow account to be taken of fish welfare at the level of the individual.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Fish

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Welfare indicators, Livestock farming system

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