Animal welfare: concepts and measurement2

Broom, Donald M.

doi:10.2527/1991.69104167x

Cited by 769 publications

(509 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In this sense, welfare is a characteristic of the animal, not something that is given to it (Broom, 1991). If one were to compare the dairy industry to an open physical system, there are only a few major inputs (elements provided by the farmer to the dairy cows): housing, feeding (including watering) and human handling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

Popescu

Borda

Diugan

et al. 2014

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the housing systems (loose vs tiestall) on the welfare of dairy cows and to test the hypothesis that dairy cows in loose housing systems have a better welfare quality than those kept in tie-stalls. Sixty commercial dairy farms (30 with loose and 30 with tie-stall housing system) were selected for evaluation, using mainly animal-based measures, as the applied Welfare Quality ® protocol allows it. A total number of 2624 milking cows were assessed in the winter period. There were significant differences between the two housing systems for the majority of the parameters within the four welfare principles. Significant differences were also found in terms of the mean scores of the welfare criteria and principles, with the majority pointing out the loose system as better. Based on the scores of the four principles, most of the farms with loose housing were classified as enhanced, while the majority of the tie-stall farms were acceptable. The results show that the welfare quality of dairy cows is greatly influenced by the housing system, and that the loose system is more advantageous when it comes to the feeding, housing and behaviour of the dairy cow.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

Popescu

Borda

Diugan

et al. 2014

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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“…Para evaluar el bienestar animal existen métodos directos y métodos indirectos (Broom 1991); los primeros evalúan variables conductuales y fisiológicas de los animales así como la condición física de éstos, mientras que los indicadores indirectos evalúan el ambiente o infraestructura en que se encuentran los animales, así como el manejo que reciben por parte de las personas en los lugares de producción, comercialización (ferias), transporte y plantas de sacrificio.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Indicadores de bienestar animal para detectar problemas en el cajón de insensibilización de bovinos

2012

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SUMMARYThe aim of this study was to identify animal welfare problems during the stunning process in a beef slaughtering plant. Animal welfare indicators such as behaviour and handling by the personnel, were evaluated on 1,025 cattle (cows, heifers and steers) during five days of commercial slaughter; cattle were stunned with a non-penetrating captive bolt pistol. A descriptive analysis was used to show the frequencies of the indicators and a Chi-square test to determine the association between some of them. The most frequent behaviours in cattle were struggling (38.3%), vocalization (17.2%) and falling (9.5%). The guillotine door hit 75.1% of cattle on entering the stunning box. On 49.2% of cattle an electric prod was used. Prodding was significantly associated with vocalization (P < 0.001), falling (P = 0.02) and escape attempts (P < 0.001). Most cattle were effectively restrained at the first attempt (92.3%); however in 6.1% of the cases the effective restraint was incorrect, which was significantly associated with vocalization (P < 0.001) and falling (P = 0.01). These results, together with the fact that in only 86.7% of cattle loss of posture was attained after the first shot indicate that there are animal welfare problems during stunning at this plant. It is concluded that some changes in the structure of the stunning box, as well as training of personnel and closer supervision of the process could help in solving the problems found.Palabras clave: proceso de insensibilización, manejo, comportamiento bovino.

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“…Although the duration of lying bouts was not assessed, in the present study, all pigs, regardless of their genotype, spent more than one half of their diurnal time resting apparently undisturbed and this fact can be regarded as an indicator of a proper level of animal welfare. Accordingly, the behaviours that are indicative of poor welfare such as stereotypies (bar biting) and aggressions (Broom, 1991) were observed at a very low extent in both groups. It should be noted that, all over the experimental period, pigs have not been subjected to any form of mixing between unfamiliar animals, thus reducing competitive behaviours and subsequent possible injuries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

A study on some welfare-related parameters of hDAF transgenic pigs when compared with their conventional close relatives

Martelli

Sardi

Stancampiano

et al. 2014

Animal

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Pigs are increasingly used in medical research as transgenic laboratory animals; however, little knowledge is presently available concerning their welfare assessment. The aim of the present study was to investigate some welfare-related parameters of transgenic pigs intended for xenotrasplantation (human decay-accelerating factor (hDAF)) when compared with their conventional (i.e. not transgenic) close relatives (full sibs and half sibs). A total of 14 Large White female transgenic pigs and 10 female non-transgenic (conventional) pigs from four litters were used. All pigs were from the same conventional boar, donor of the semen treated for sperm-mediated gene transfer. During the experiment, BW ranged from 50 to about 80 kg and pigs were weighed at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Animals were subjected to a set of behavioural tests: a human approach test (HAT), a novel object test (NOT) and an open-door test (ODT). Food preferences were tested through the offer of different foods (banana, apple, carrot, cracker and lemon). During a 4-day period, pigs were diurnally videotaped to study the prevalence of the different behaviours and social interactions (aggressive and non-aggressive interactions). At the end of the trial, cortisol level had been assessed on bristles. No significant differences ( P > 0.05) were observed between hDAF transgenic and conventional pigs with respect to growth traits, reactivity towards unexpected situations (HAT, NOT, ODT), food preferences, main behavioural traits, social interactions and hair cortisol.

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Animal welfare: concepts and measurement2

Cited by 769 publications

References 18 publications

The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

Indicadores de bienestar animal para detectar problemas en el cajón de insensibilización de bovinos

A study on some welfare-related parameters of hDAF transgenic pigs when compared with their conventional close relatives

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