Subject: Emotion

High-Fibre feeding in gestation

Meunier-Salaün M.C., Bolhuis J.

Published in 2015

Pregnant sows are generally fed in low quantities, a fact that may lead to poor satiety and may not fully satisfy their drive to express their foraging and feeding behaviours. Accordingly, feed restriction may lead to the frequent occurrence of oral activities other than feeding, including stereotypies, restlessness and aggressive behaviour in group-housed sows, which are interpreted as indicators of persistent drives and frustration associated with feeding. The inclusion of fibre in the diet reduces the latter's energy density and therefore allows meals to be larger without increasing the energy provided. In addition, dietary fibre influences the mechanisms that improve satiety and satiety at the sensory, post-digestive and post-absorption levels. This chapter examines the impact of dietary fibre on the behaviour and well-being of pregnant sows and describes its potential consequences for performance. The level of response to dietary fibre is, however, variable and depends on the characteristics of the fibre diet (inclusion rate, source of fibre, physicochemical properties), housing and feeding conditions and the characteristics of the sows, including parity, and is greater in young sows. Dietary fibre provided during gestation generally results in increased feed consumption by sows during lactation, probably due to its effects on the size and capacity of the gastrointestinal tract. Studies on the effects of fibre on reproductive performance are rare and show variable results, which could be partly attributable to an over- or underestimation of the diet's energy content during pregnancy. In conclusion, dietary fibre generally has a beneficial effect on the behaviour and welfare of pregnant sows on a restricted diet. The impact of high-fibre diets during pregnancy on reproductive performance over several successive cycles in group-housed sows merits further investigation.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords: Enrichment, Cognitive processes, Stress

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Régulation des émotions chez l’animal d’élevage : focus sur les acteurs neurobiologiques

Menant O., Destrez A., Deiss V., Boissy A., Delagrange P., Calendreau L., Chaillou E.

Published in 2016

The issue of the emotions of farm animals is part of a wider drive to improve farming conditions by taking animal welfare into account. The genesis of emotions derives from the cognitive capacity of individuals to perceive, evaluate and react to their environment. …. The parts of the brain involved in the neural network for emotions are linked to the perception and processing of information from the environment, and/or in the expression of emotional responses. ... . In light of this, it is now necessary to study the effects of early experiences on the development of the neural network for emotions and to better understand the role of cognitive evaluation in the genesis of emotions.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Anxiety, Consciousness, Brain integration, Metacognition, Neurogenesis, Stress

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Bien-Etre animal

INRA

Published in 2007

Special issue on Animal Welfare, containing 14 original articles on aims, methodology and purpose, ethical foundations, variants for different species, how it is perceived by the animal industries.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Living environment,Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships, Stress

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Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for cattle

Christoph Winckler, Bo Algers, Kees van Reenen, Hélène Leruste, Isabelle Veissier, Linda Keeling, Andy Butterworth, Gwen van Overbeke, Vere Bedaux

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

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AWIN Welfare assessment protocol for sheep

Cathy Dwyer, Roberto Ruiz, Ina Beltran de Heredia

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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AWIN Welfare assessment protocol for goats

Monica Battini, Silvana Mattielo, George Stiwell, Ana Viera

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 in order 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 dairy goats kept in intensive or semi-intensive production systems. Many of the indicators developed here are applicable to other categories of goats (non-producing goats, kids...), but have not been validated for these categories.

Document Types: Good practice guide

Animal categories: Caprines

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

The AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses

Emanuela Dalla Costa, Michela Minero

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

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Emotional regulation in livestock: focus on neurobiological actors

Menant O., Destrez A., Deiss V., Boissy A., Delagrange P., Calandreau L., Chaillou E.

Published in 2016

In order to achieve the objective evaluation of emotions in farm animals, the Agri-Bien-Être Animal network (an interdisciplinary group created by INRA in 1998, www6.inra.fr/agri_bien_etre_animal) has proposed experimental strategies based on cognitive evaluation theory in human psychology (Boissy et al 2007, Box 1). According to this conceptual framework, emotions are generated by the cognitive evaluation of a situation confronting the animal. Although the characterisation of these situations is complex (Forkman et al 2007), it is suggested that the animal would evaluate them using basic criteria for relevance (suddenness, novelty, etc) and involvement (predictability, etc), the degree to which they correspond to  expectations, and according to its own adaptive capacities (controllability of the situation). At the end of this evaluation phase, the emotion felt by the animal is translated into emotional expression. It is the latter that can be assessed by the objective measurement of behavioural and physiological emotional responses (Box 2). By applying this conceptual framework to research in the neurobiology of emotions, the representation of the neural circuit of emotions can be built around those structures involved in the perception of the environment, information processing and the expression of emotional responses (Figure 1). From an experimental point of view, this theoretical framework requires the characterisation and standardisation of situations likely to serve as a trigger and the characterisation of the emotional responses expressed by individual animals in relation to the neurobiological actors studied.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Anxiety, Experimentation, Brain integration, Memory, Neurogenesis, Fear, Stress

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Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare

Boissy A., Manteuffel G., Jensen M.B., Moe R.O., Spruijt B., Keeling L., Winckler C., Forkman B., Dimitrov I., Langbein J., Bakken M., Veissier I., Aubert A.

Published in 2007

It is now widely accepted that social welfare is not simply the absence of negative experiences, but rather the presence of positive experiences such as enjoyment. However, scientific research on positive emotions has long been neglected. This paper addresses two main issues: first, it reviews the current state of scientific knowledge supporting the existence of positive emotional states in animals and, second, it suggests possible applications of this knowledge to improve quality of life under animal management conditions. In the first part of the paper, we review recent advances in psychology and neuroscience to provide pragmatic frames based on cognitive processes (such as positive anticipation, contrast and controllability) for use in further investigation of positive emotions in animals. Next, the neurobiological basis of positive emotions is brought to animal welfarer in the identification behavioural and physiological expressions of positive experiences in animals. The monitoring of the autonomic nervous system (via the heart rate and its variability) and the immune system could provide appropriate tools to better assess emotional states in animals, supplementing classic adrenal cortical measurements. In the second part of the paper, useful strategies to enhance positive experiences (such as physical, social and cognitive enrichment or putative genetic selection) are described. The paper then turns to practical applications to assess and promote positive emotions that can help improve an animal's quality of life. Play, affiliation behaviours and certain vocalisations would appear to be the most promising indicators to evaluate positive experiences in laboratory animals and in farm animals kept under commercial production conditions.

Document Types: Scientific review

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Learning, training, Pain, Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Brain integration, Fear, Cognitive processes, Stress

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A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses

Forkman B., Boissy A., Meunier-Salaün M-C., Canali E., Jones R.B.

Published in 2007

Fear is probably the most-studied emotion in pets. In this overview, we attempt to establish the levels of repeatability and validity for fear tests carried out on cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, poultry and horses. We focus our review on the three most common types of fear tests: the arena test (open field), the novel object test and the stress test. For some tests, e.g. tonic immobility in poultry, there is a good body of literature on the factors affecting test results, test validity and age dependency. However, there are relatively few such well-defined and validated tests, and the element that is particularly lacking for most tests is information on robustness, i.e. what aspects can be modified without affecting the validity of the tests. The relative lack of standardised tests is an obstacle to the development of applied ethology as a science.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Experimentation, Welfare indicators, Memory, Fear, Cognitive processes, Stress, Vocalisation

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