In response to an increased public awareness regarding how livestock are reared, animal welfare scientists have attempted to develop new methods of welfare assessment at the farm level. Furthermore, in recent years they have increasingly moved away from the conventional approach of evaluating the provision of resources necessary to ensure good welfare, and have instead focused on the use of animal-based measures of welfare. In contrast, it is believed that farmers use mostly resource-based and management-based measures (eg the provision of food, water and housing) when assessing the welfare of their animals. They also seem to be driven more by economic and financial concerns than by the welfare of the animals per se, when it comes to the provision of animal welfare. Different approaches to the definition and assessment of farm animal welfare were explored in work carried out at Newcastle University as part of the Welfare Quality® project by both social and welfare scientists. Social scientists explored farmers’ perceptions and understanding of animal welfare, whilst welfare scientists developed animal-based measures of welfare for use in a prototype on-farm welfare monitoring system. Based on two separate surveys, this paper focuses on UK farmers’ perception and understanding of animal welfare and their criteria of assessment in contrast with those employed by welfare scientists, using a specific case study of pigs. Results show that, despite scientists being unaware of the findings from the farmer survey, they produced a set of measures to assess welfare which were very similar to those used by farmers. However, ‘instinctive’ terms used by farmers to describe (positive or negative) animal behaviour did not bear any relation to more objective welfare measures. Compared with conventional monitoring systems which focus more on the provision of resources to promote good welfare than on the animal itself, the prototype monitoring system may be more acceptable to farmers given that it uses similar animal-based measures to assess welfare to those they use themselves, and furthermore, the focus is on the animal.

This paper describes an approach to assessing the overall welfare of cows on dairy farms. Veterinary and behaviour experts were shown results for ten selected welfare parameters for 25 pairs of dairy farms paired for farm assurance status but with similar geographical location and husbandry system. From this information alone they were asked to state which farms had better welfare. Overall, there were no significant differences between the conclusions of veterinary and behaviour experts. There was a significant relationship between the proportion of experts rating a farm as poorer and the measured difference in the number of cows with lameness or rising restrictions between the paired farms. There were no significant relationships between the expert decisions and differences in milk yield, flight distance, swollen hocks, mastitis incidence, dystocia level, conception rates, prevalence of thin cows and proportion of cows with dirty udders. Clearly, experts rate lameness and discomfort as highly important indices of poor welfare in dairy cows.

Small mammals are routinely live-trapped and subsequently handled for a range of ecological and behavioural studies. Despite the techniques commonly employed being potentially stressful for the individual animals involved, it has hitherto been difficult to quantify the physiological impact. Here, we report on the first instance of using the Leukocyte Coping Capacity technique (LCC) in bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) to investigate the physiological impact of routine trapping and handling techniques. Twenty microlitres of blood were obtained from 40 animals, of which 25 were handled following standard protocols and 15 were not. We found that even a short period of acute stress is sufficient to trigger an immune response which was measurable using the LCC technique. These results further validate the use of the LCC technique for measuring the physiological impact of standard trapping and handling treatments on wild mammals.

Farm animal welfare is a societal concern, and the need exists for scientific protocols to assess welfare. This paper describes the development of a protocol to assess the welfare of sheep (Ovis aries) and its application in 36 farms in Norway. There were two parts to the protocol; the animal- and resource-based measurements obtained during farm visits, and the analysis of production data. Data collection took place during visits to 36 farms in the lambing season (April-May) in 2007 (n = 11) and 2008 (n = 25). A fear test was conducted, and ewes were scored on a scale from 0 to 3. Forty-one percent of the ewes tested had a fear score of 3, indicating the lowest level of fear. Mean (± SD) fear score across farms were 1.9 (± 0.5). Higher fearfulness was found to be associated with lower ewe body condition scores (BCS). Mean (± SD) BCS across farms was 2.6 (± 0.6). A relatively large proportion of the ewes had a BCS of 2 (41%), which may be associated with an increased risk of nutritional stress, disease and low productivity. Eight farms had more than 5% (range 5.4-24.4%) of lamb carcases categorised in the lowest conformation class, which may be an indication of a welfare problem. This study is the first step in the development and validation of a welfare assessment protocol for sheep, and further research is needed to assess the overall reliability of the protocol.

New livestock housing systems designed to improve animal welfare will only see large-scale commercial adoption if they improve profitability, or are at least cost neutral to the farm business. Economic evaluation of new system developments is therefore essential to determine their effect on cost of production and hence the extent of any market premium necessary to stimulate adoption. This paper describes such an evaluation in relation to high welfare farrowing systems for sows where any potential system needs to reconcile the behavioural needs of the sow with piglet survivability, acceptable capital and running costs, farm practicality and ease of management. In the Defra-sponsored PigSAFE project, a new farrowing system has been developed which comprises a loose, straw-bedded pen with embedded design features which promote piglet survival. Data on this and four other farrowing systems (new systems: 360° Farrower and a Danish pen; existing systems: crate and outdoor paddock) were used to populate a model of production cost taking account of both capital and running costs (feed, labour, bedding etc). Assuming equitable pig performance across all indoor farrowing systems, the model estimated a higher production cost for non-crate systems by 1.6, 1.7 and 3.5%, respectively, for 360° Farrower, Danish and PigSAFE systems on a per-sow basis. The outdoor production system had the lowest production cost. An online survey of pig producers confirmed that, whilst some producers would consider installing a non-crate system, the majority of producers remain cautious about considering alternatives to the farrowing crate. If pig performance in alternative indoor systems could be improved from the crate baseline (eg through reduced piglet mortality, improved weaning weight or sow re-breeding), then the differential cost of production could be reduced. Indeed, with further innovation by pig producers, management of alternative farrowing systems may evolve to a point where there can be improvements in both welfare and pig production. However, larger data sets of alternative systems on commercial farms will be needed to explore fully the welfare/production interface before such a relationship can be confirmed for those pig producers who will be replacing their units in the next ten years.

Tail-biting in pigs (Sus scrofa) reduces welfare and production. Tail-docking reduces (but does not eliminate) tail-biting damage. The reason tail-docking reduces tail damage is unknown. It may reduce pigs’ attraction to tails (H1), or increase tails’ sensitivity to investigation (H2). To investigate these hypotheses, behavioural differences between 472 individually marked grower pigs with intact tails (nine groups of 25-34 pigs) or docked tails (nine groups of 22-24 pigs) were observed from 5-8 weeks of age on a commercial farm in Denmark. Pens had part-slatted floors, dry feeding and two handfuls of straw per day, and enrichment objects were provided. Behavioural sampling recorded actor and recipient for tail-directed (tail interest, tail in mouth, tail reaction) and investigatory behaviours (belly-nosing, ear-chewing, interaction with enrichment). Scan sampling recorded pig posture/activity and tail posture. Intact-tail pigs performed more overall investigatory behaviours but tail type did not affect the amount of tail-directed behaviours. Larger pigs performed more investigatory and tail-directed behaviours than smaller pigs and females performed slightly more tail investigation. Tail-directed behaviours were not consistent over time at the individual or group level. However, ear-chewing was consistent at the group level. One group with intact tails was affected by a tail-biting outbreak in the final week of the study (evidenced by tail-damage scores) and showed an increase over time in tail posture (tail down) and tail-directed behaviour but not activity. Overall, there were few behavioural differences between docked and undocked pigs: no evidence of reduced tail investigation (H1) or an increased reaction to tail investigation (H2) in docked pigs, and yet docked pigs had less tail damage. We propose that docking might be effective because longer tails are more easily damaged as pigs are able to bite them with their cheek teeth.

In recent years, consumer demand studies have been used to objectively quantify the value that captive animals place on environmental resources. Considerable progress has been made in the development of effective methodologies to assess what resources are valued under controlled experimental conditions, but few of the findings from these studies have been implemented in commercial husbandry systems. A major obstacle has been the need to maintain internal validity in experimental studies at the possible expense of external validity. Experimental subjects may be poor representatives of commercially kept animals, especially where there is no replication of the animal's experience of commercial physical and social environments. This paper will discuss means of increasing the external validity of consumer demand studies. Firstly, experimental animals should be of representative genotypes, reared under commercial conditions and housed in test apparatus with free access to all of the resources that are normally available under commercial husbandry conditions. As well as providing a long-term closed economy, this allows manipulation of potentially important environmental factors such as prior experience. Secondly, naturalistic tasks should, where possible, be used in preference to abstract operant tasks since they appear to be easier to train animals to associate with rewarding resources, therefore many individuals can be investigated efficiently. Furthermore, naturalistic tasks appear to be less prone to operant bias than artificial tasks and can provide robust measures of value in terms of the maximum price paid for access to resources. Finally, for group-housed species, social costs such as enduring higher stocking densities and/or competition for resources may be an effective means of investigating cost-benefit trade-offs under commercial conditions. For example, if animals work to evenly distribute themselves over available space, this social spacing priority can be used to investigate whether they will endure higher stocking densities in order to exploit particular resources.

Enhancing the complexity of the environments of captive animals is often referred to as environmental enrichment, and aims to have positive effects on the animals’ well-being. Such enrichments may have consequences both for so-called ‘normal’ behaviour and for the pathophysiology of the animals in question. The effects of a lack of environmental complexity, including social isolation, on home cage behaviour and on pathophysiology in rats is considered in this review. Several preference tests on rats — choice tests and operant tests — indicate a preference for bedding, nesting material and social contact. Contradictory research results concerning the need for gnawing objects per se are more difficult to interpret, and it is argued that excessive gnawing may be indicative of primary frustration and hence reduced welfare. One disadvantage of providing environmental enrichment to laboratory animals is a possible increase in subject variability, resulting in the need to use a greater number of test animals. However, this increased variability seems to be inconsistent and is not very well documented. It is argued that in cases where the behavioural benefits of environmental enrichment justify the use of more animals, better welfare should be more highly valued than a reduction in the number of animals used.

Fast-growing broiler chickens use pen-space heterogeneously and have low activity levels, related in part to leg problems. The aim of this study was to test the effects of the addition of string and sand trays to rearing pens on the use of space, levels of activity and leg problems. Broiler chickens were reared in 12 pens (40 birds per pen). Drinkers and feeders only were present in the six control pens (C group), whereas the six other pens were enriched (E group) with two sand trays and string. Behaviour was recorded by scan and focal sampling on days 2-3, 13-14, 23-24 and 34-35. Bodyweight, the occurrence of tarsal deformities and the composition of tibiotarsi were measured on day 37. Chickens from the E group spent more time and stood more often in the area enriched with sand than did the g group birds. ghickens in the E group foraged in the sand throughout the rearing period, and their foraging activities were greater than those of the C group birds. They had little interest in the strings. Locomotor activity during standing bouts was enhanced in the E group on days 2-3 only. Bodyweight at day 37, the occurrence of tarsal deformities and the composition of tibiotarsi were not significantly different between groups. These results indicate that sand could attract chickens into areas that are usually rarely used, which may reduce problems resulting from their heterogeneous distribution. However, the results also indicate the difficulty of stimulating locomotion.

The influence of an environmental enrichment feeding device (puzzle feeder), on activity and behaviour patterns of captive orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees was studied at London Zoo. General activity levels and behaviours directed towards the feeder increased for all species when the feeder was filled with food Chimpanzees used the feeder significantly more (18% of observation periods) than either gorillas (10%) or orang-utans (9.4%). There was considerable individual variation of puzzle use by individuals within each group and time of day also affected use. In some instances abnormal behaviours were reduced. These results are discussed in relation to the management of captive great apes and it is suggested that the use of puzzle feeders can improve the welfare of these animals.

Chronic pain and distress are universally accepted conditions that may adversely affect an animal's quality of life (QOL) and lead to the humane euthanasia of an animal. At most research institutions and zoological parks in the USA, a veterinarian, who has physically examined the animal and reviewed the clinical records, ultimately decides when an animal has reached a humane endpoint. To aid in the difficult process of interpreting pain and distress, we have developed specific behavioural guidelines, in addition to standard clinical information, to help define unique characteristics and traits of primates to assess and promote discussion of an individual primate's QOL, and thereby, to assist in the decision-making process regarding euthanasia. These guidelines advocate the creation of a QOL team when the animal is diagnosed with a life-threatening or debilitating chronic condition, or at the time the animal is entered into a terminal study. The team compiles a list of characteristics unique to that individual animal by utilising a questionnaire and a behavioural ethogram. This list enables the team to quantitatively assess any deviations from the established normal behavioural repertoire of that individual. Concurrently, the QOL team determines the number of behavioural deviations that are needed to trigger an immediate discussion of the necessity for humane euthanasia of the animal. The team remains intact once created, and revisits the animal's condition as frequently as deemed necessary. This process improves animal welfare by continuing the quest to optimally define QOL for captive primates, and potentially for all captive animals.

Developmental instability, of which fluctuating asymmetry is the most commonly used and recommended measure, has recently been claimed to be an objective, integrated and retrospective indicator of animal welfare. The theoretical and empirical grounds for these claims are reviewed. In theory, carefully selected composite indices of fluctuating asymmetry are valid indicators of animal welfare in the sense that they reflect the ability of the developmental processes of an animal, with a given genetic constitution, to cope with environmental stressors. Relevant scientific experiments are scant and are mainly restricted to poultry, but they are on the increase and they largely support the application of developmental instability for assessing animal welfare. A scheme for monitoring farm animal welfare based purely on measures of developmental instability would have important advantages, but cannot be recommended yet. It cannot be ruled out that certain factors are clearly relevant to the welfare status of an animal but do not notably/proportionally affect its morphogenesis. Moreover, such a monitoring scheme would not be appropriate for applications with an emphasis on problem analysis/management.

There is continuing debate about the space needs and requirements of broiler chickens, The aims of this study were to measure the amount of floor area a six-week-old broiler occupies for different behaviours and to use the obtained results in two models to estimate the number of birds that can be kept per m2 in large flocks simulating different levels of behavioural synchronisation. Photographs were taken of overhead projections of broilers (2.468 kg on average) kept in floor pens of 1 m2 with either eight (low density) or 16 birds (high density) per pen. Individual body space was measured from these photographs for seven behaviours. Posture and density affected body space of the behaviours idle, drinking, and ground pecking. The first model, computing space needed per bird performing a behaviour in relation to flock size, showed that 15.3-15.7 birds m−2 (37.8-38.7 kg m−2) can be housed maximally, based on low density measurements and 18.5-19.4 birds m−2 (45.7-47.9 kg m−2) based on high density measurements. The second model, computing stocking density based on synchronisation of behaviour and body space, showed that 13.7-15.9 birds m−2 (33.8-39.2 kg m−2) can be housed maximally based on low density measurements and 15.4-18.6 birds m−2 (38.0-45.9 kg m−2) based on high density measurements. Results based on high density measurements implied that birds are compressed. Given the restrictions of a limited number of behaviours and no inclusion of movement and social interactions in the models of this study, stocking density in large flocks should not exceed 16 birds m−2 (39.4 kg) because that would lead to compression of birds which will suppress opportunities for behavioural expression and therefore impair welfare.

EU-Directive 1999/74/EC stipulates that furnished cages and non-cage systems for laying hens should be provided with perches. This Directive allows for a wide variety in perch design features possibly affecting perch use and hen health. Perch material and shape mainly affect slipperiness and grip quality and, in this regard, plastic, metal and circular perches are inferior. The incidence of bumble-foot and keel bone deformities can be influenced by perch shape. Perch shapes which reduce localised pressure on the foot pad and the keel-bone are recommended. Several aspects of the arrangement of the perches in the cage or non-cage system are also important. A consistent preference for high perches is seen, provided there is a minimal distance of 19–24 cm between perch and roof. Accessibility of high perches should be ensured, for example by incorporating lower level perches from which hens can reach the higher levels. Such multi-height perch designs also allow behavioural differentiation according to perch height (with most passive behaviour on the higher perches). In non-cage systems, good accessibility can be achieved by minimising the angles between perches at different heights to smaller than 45° and by limiting the distance between horizontal perches to 1 m. The legislated minimum perch length provided per hen (15 cm) adequately allows for synchronised roosting behaviour on straight perches. However, in crosswise perch designs, hens require more perch length per hen as the area close to the cross cannot be used optimally.

In Australia, several macropod species are subjected to commercial harvesting, recreational hunting and population management, using both lethal and non-lethal measures. Some techniques for killing macropods can cause prolonged and/or severe suffering, and of particular concern is the welfare of remaining pouch young or young-at-foot, when females with dependent young are killed. Non-lethal methods are more widely supported by the general public and include reproductive control and relocation. These methods, however, also have significant associated welfare challenges. This review outlines the welfare concerns for each current method, and concludes that an accurate head-shot by an experienced shooter is least likely to inflict suffering. However, this assumes best practice shooting, which may not be representative of field conditions. Furthermore, many aspects of macropod control and killing still require significant research. These include, but are not limited to: accurate statistics for pouch young and young-at-foot mortality and morbidity in Australian states; data on field-based compliance with National Codes of Practice; safe and remote administration of reproductive control measures; and the impact of using dogs and trapping in wallaby destruction and hunting.

Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is a major welfare problem in short-nosed breeds, such as the French Bulldog and Pug. In addition to respiratory difficulties, exercise intolerance and impaired recovery are major signs of BOAS. To select healthier breeding animals, exercise tolerance tests, such as the 1,000-m walk test, are already used in several countries for brachycephalic dogs, although evidence supporting their use is still scarce. The aims of this study were to assess the daily welfare of young, breeding-age French Bulldogs (n = 44) and Pugs (n = 51) using an owner questionnaire, and to evaluate 6-min walk test (6MWT) and 1,000-m walk test usability for differentiation between non-or mildly BOAS-affected dogs and more severely affected dogs. Only four out of 95 French Bulldog and Pug owners reported that the BOAS signs limited the daily activities of their dogs. However, according to the physical, examination-based veterinary BOAS grading, 31/95 of the dogs had moderate to severe BOAS signs. In both breeds, the more severely affected dogs performed both exercise tests more poorly than those with no or mild BOAS signs. The longer exercise, namely the 1,000-m test, seemed slightly better able at differentiating between affected dogs and less affected ones. The results of this study further support the use of exercise tests as an important part of the breeding selection in French Bulldogs and Pugs. By influencing the breed standards set by Kennel Clubs and by using breeding selection tools, the harmful impacts of brachycephaly can be diminished.

Introduction

The first experiments in genetic engineering took place in the late sixties and early seventies, but animal transgenics (the insertion of DNA into the genome of an animal) really came of age with the production of mice whose genetic sequences contained a gene for human growth hormone (Palmiter et al 1982). Since then there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of research into genetic modification, using various techniques. This has been largely driven by the potential medical and financial benefits of being able to modify animal and plant genomes (Carver et al 1993; Smith 1994; Stewart et al 1993).

Legal protection of the welfare of prenatal animals has not previously been addressed as a discrete subject within the academic literature on animal welfare, ethics and law. This paper aims to rectify this by reviewing the protections (or absence of protections) provided for fetuses by existing legislation in various jurisdictions, and considering the extent to which legal protection of animal fetuses can be justified on animal welfare grounds. Questions related to the need to protect the welfare of neurologically immature postnatal animals are also considered. We argue that there are reasons to protect animal fetuses, both in order to protect fetuses themselves against possible suffering, and in order to protect the animals which fetuses will become against negative welfare impacts that originate prenatally. We review the science on whether fetuses can suffer, and argue that extant regulations do not fully reflect current scientific understanding. Following the precautionary principle, we further argue that regulators should consider the possibility that fetuses and neurologically immature postnatal animals may suffer due to sub-cortically based ‘raw basic affects’ (ie relatively undifferentiated experiences of discomfort suggested to be generated by neural processing at levels below the cerebral cortex). Furthermore, we show that there are reasons for affording fetuses protection in order to safeguard the long-term welfare of future animals. However, it may be possible to provide such protection via rules or laws relating to the use of certain techniques and the management of pregnant animals, rather than via direct legal protection of fetuses themselves. In order to provide such protection effectively we need to know more about the relationship between maternal nutrition, stress, exercise, management and fetal health, and about the impact of the timing of a fetal insult on long-term postnatal welfare.

As part of a larger on-farm dairy cow welfare and behaviour project, data were collected from 22 commercial dairy farms over two winters (2000-2001 and 2001-2002). A further winter of farm sampling will complete the project (2002-2003), with five types of housing and production systems being assessed: high-, medium- and low-milk-production herds with cubicle housing, high-production herds with zero grazing and cubicle housing, and medium-production herds with straw courts. All cows in one early or mid-lactation group from each farm were observed. For the current analysis, locomotion, cleanliness and body condition were scored for the group, and an audit of building quality was carried out. Analysis of the available data shows that some aspects of building design affect the welfare of dairy cows. A positive correlation was found between mean body condition score of the cows and mean locomotion score (P = 0.047). Body condition score correlated negatively with the number of cows in the group (P = 0.049). Negative correlations were found between locomotion score and the ratio of cubicles to cows (P = 0.033) and between the size of cubicles and leg cleanliness (P = 0.012). Trends were also seen in the relationships between farm type and locomotion score (P = 0.048), production level and locomotion score (P = 0.074) and cow cleanliness and cubicle size (P = 0.061). These results indicate that the quality of the housing and the management system can affect cow welfare. These measures may be useful to include in on-farm welfare assessment schemes.