Farm animal welfare research in interaction with society

Abstract

SUMMARYOver the last 30 years concern about farm animal welfare has increased and has become a public issue in the Netherlands. Public discussion has stimulated research in this field, financed by both government and industry. Dutch society in general and consumers of animal products in particular, want to see high standards of welfare for production animals. Good animal welfare has gradually gained more impact in the total quality concept of the product. This will encourage scientists to continue to analyse the welfare status of animals and to come up with innovative solutions for the remaining problems. At ID-Lelystad much effort is put into farm animal welfare research. This research includes for example, the development of behavioural tests for quantifying and interpreting fear in cattle, investigations into the effects of dietary iron supply and a lack of roughage on behaviour, immunology, stress physiology, and pathology in veal calves, studies of the ontogeny of tail biting in finishing pigs and feather pecking in laying hens as well as evaluation of the welfare effects of automatic milking in dairy cows. The results of these projects contribute to concrete improvements in animal husbandry and expertise and support policy making and legislation. The animal industry as well as retailers should aim at the further implementation of this knowledge and to specify welfare standards to guarantee consumer acceptance of animal production.

Role of loose feathers on the development of feather pecking in laying hens

“…It is considered as one of the most widespread and serious problems of today's poultry production when hens are kept under commercial conditions (Savory, 1995;Blokhuis et al, 2000). It reduces welfare in the recipient birds, because it has been suggested that having feathers pulled out is perceived as painful (Gentle and Hunter, 1990) and can lead to cannibalism (Allen and Perry, 1975).…”

Bem-estar na produção de frango de corte em diferentes sistemas de criação

“…O sistema de criação semi-intensivo é considerado como uma alternativa que permite livre acesso das aves às áreas de pastejo, resultando em diferenças particulares na expressão de seus comportamentos naturais, bem-estar e na qualidade do produto final (BLOKHUIS et al, 2000). O estudo do comportamento assume papel importante dentro da produção animal, uma vez que, para racionalizar os métodos de criação, têm-se desenvolvido técnicas de manejo, alimentação e instalações que interferem no comportamento animal (TAKAHASHI et al, 2006;PEREIRA et al, 2006;ALVES et al, 2007;TUYTTENS et al, 2008).…”

The effects of access to pasture on growth performance, behavioural patterns, some blood parameters and carcass yield of a slow-growing broiler genotype

“…Considering all of these factors, the alternative systems have a critical role for increasing the welfare status and decreasing stress conditions compared to conventional systems (Blokhuis et al 2000). An opportunity access to pasture gives broilers the ability for walking and using their muscles (Remignon & Culioli 1995), so that quality and flavour of meat improve (Wang et al 2009;Chen et al 2013).…”