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Voluntary Animal Welfare Assessment of Mass-Produced Farm Animal Housing Equipment Using a Standardised Procedure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

U Knierim ,
D Hesse ,
E von Borell ,
H-J Herrmann ,
C Müller ,
H-W Rauch ,
N Sachser  and
F Zerbe
U Knierim*
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Institute of Animal Hygiene, Welfare and Behaviour of Farm Animals, School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Buenteweg 17p, D-30559 Hannover, Germany
D Hesse
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Competence Centre for Animal Housing and Engineering, Uelzen, Germany
E von Borell
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
H-J Herrmann
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (DLG), Groß-Umstadt, Germany
C Müller
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Trenthorst 15, 23847 Westerau, Germany
H-W Rauch
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Institute for Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry Celle, Federal Agricultural Research Center (FAL), Germany
N Sachser
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Germany
F Zerbe
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG) Institute for Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry Celle, Federal Agricultural Research Center (FAL), Germany
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: Ute.Knierim@tiho-hannover.de
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Abstract

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Assessment of mass-produced animal-housing equipment can serve as a basis for improving animal welfare. A number of European countries have adopted various legal approaches to such assessment. In Germany, welfare assessment of housing equipment is voluntary, but minimum standards can be set by regulation for the assessment procedure and for the qualifications of the persons involved. From a scientific perspective, the time and resource constraints pose some problems, particularly as they apply to a voluntary procedure. For reasons of practicability, certain compromises will be required. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that each assessment procedure is based upon scientific principles and considers animal welfare aspects to a sufficient extent. A proposal for the minimum standards of an assessment procedure has been elaborated by the Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG), a shortened version of which is presented here. The animal welfare impact of such a regulated but voluntary procedure will be less than that of an obligatory assessment; however, the relatively flexible approach may still significantly contribute to the improvement of welfare aspects of livestock housing.

Keywords

animal welfareanimal welfare assessmentcattlehorsespigspoultry
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 75 - 84
Copyright
© 2003 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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