The behaviour of maintenance and the intensive husbandry of cattle, sheep and pigs

Fraser, A.F.

doi:10.1016/0167-8809(83)90002-6

Cited by 35 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Bracke et al, 2002a and2002b), the Animal Needs Index (e.g. Bartussek, 1999) or Fraser's Behavioural Deprivation Index (Fraser, 1983). The method used in the current study assigns many of its points to identifiable attributes of the farrowing and lactation systems described, similar to the Animal Needs Index or Tiergerechtheitsindex (Bartussek, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs

Baxter

Lawrence

Edwards

2012

Animal

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There is growing societal pressure, expressed through government legislation and consumers' purchasing choices, to abolish livestock systems considered detrimental to farm animal welfare. Such systems include farrowing crates, which are behaviourally and physically restrictive for sows. Therefore, identifying less restrictive farrowing systems for commercial implementation has become an important focus of pig research. Despite numerous attempts to develop indoor alternatives to crates, there is as yet no universal acceptance of such systems at the commercial level. The primary concern is piglet survival, because often favourable figures are reported at the experimental level, but not replicated in commercial evaluation. Alternative farrowing systems should equal or surpass survival levels in conventional systems and perform consistently across a range of farm circumstances for widespread commercial implementation. In addition, it is important that alternatives consider ease of management, operator safety and economic sustainability. Utilising a large database of literature, 12 existing alternative indoor systems were identified and compared against each other, conventional crates and outdoor systems. An assessment of how well alternative systems satisfy the design criteria for meeting animals' biological needs was carried out by developing a welfare design index (WDI). The physical and financial performance of these systems was also evaluated and summarised. The derived WDI yielded values of 0.95 for conventional crates, with higher scores for commercial outdoor systems of 1.10 and indoor group farrowing or multi-suckling systems (e.g. Thorstensson 5 2.20). However, the high total piglet mortality (23.7% 6 s.e. 2.26) in indoor group systems compared with conventional crates (18.3% 6 s.e. 0.63) and outdoor systems (17.0% 6 s.e. 2.05), together with the added capital cost (92% more than conventional crates, 249% more than commercial outdoor huts), mainly as a result of extra building space provided per animal, question their feasibility to deliver from an economic perspective. Designed pen systems offered the best compromise, scoring 1.64 from the WDI, with a total piglet mortality of 16.6% (6s.e. 0.88) and capital costs and labour input more comparable to farrowing crates (17.5% more than crates). The critical review of different systems was hampered by the lack of comprehensive data and detailed system descriptions. When attempting to assess welfare and economic attributes of systems, there are certain caveats that require discussion, in particular weighting of the contribution of different design attributes to pig welfare, the relative importance of the sow and her piglets and the many potential confounding factors that arise. Also, when judging any system, it must be emphasised that the maternal characteristics of sows and the quality of stockpersonship will be integral to its success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs

Baxter

Lawrence

Edwards

2012

Animal

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“…(2002a) compared the results of four different models for dry sows: TGI 35L and TGI 200 (Sundrum et al. 1994), Fraser's Behavioural Deprivation Index (Fraser 1983) and Bracke's own SOWEL‐system (Bracke et al. 2002a,b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal welfare assessment systems Only a few on-farm pig welfare assessment systems are described in literature. Bracke et al (2002a) compared the results of four different models for dry sows: TGI 35L and TGI 200 (Sundrum et al 1994), Fraser's Behavioural Deprivation Index (Fraser 1983) and Bracke's own SOWEL-system (Bracke et al 2002a,b). The models largely agreed as to which of a set of given systems were the best and the worst in terms of welfare.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare Index and Reproductive Performance in the Sow

Munsterhjelm

Valros

Heinonen

et al. 2006

Reprod Domestic Animals

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To study the relationship between on-farm welfare and reproductive performance in the sow, the TGI 35L Animal Needs Index was modified for use in Finnish pig production. The modified index had a maximal total score of 100. It was comprised of six categories: 'locomotion' (maximal score 21 for dry sows and 11 for lactating sows), 'social interaction' (12/8), 'floor quality' (16/9), 'stable climate' (16/21), 'feeding' (16/23) and 'health and stockmanship' (19/29). Index scorings were performed separately in farrowing, breeding and gestation units on 28 representative Finnish sow farms. One-year production parameters were collected. Multiple linear regression was used for statistical analysis. Total ANI-points varied between 36.5-68.0 for lactating and 39.5-86.0 for dry sows. Litter size increased with increasing scores for 'feeding' in the dry sow unit. Controlling for breed, high scores for 'health and stockmanship' and 'floor quality' shortened the reproductive cycle, probably because of good leg health. The number of weaned piglets per sow per year (PSY) increased with increasing scores for dry sow 'health and stockmanship', 'floor quality' and an interaction of 'feeding' in the farrowing and mating units. PSY increased with decreasing scores for farrowing pen 'climate'. High-quality floors and stockmanship appear to correlate positively with reproductive performance in the sow. Effects of a welfare-promoting feeding strategy on reproduction are contradictory.

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“…It has been argued that the husbandry methods used in intensive livestock production have resulted in the deprivation of some naturally occurring behaviours (Fraser, 1983). Producers have a strong interest in maintaining the welfare of their livestock from both economic and ethical perspectives.…”

Section: Introduction: Livestock Behaviour and Vision Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the goal of the behaviour is not, or cannot, be achieved the animal may change its behaviour or physiological response (Busse et al, 2015). There is potential for welfare problems to arise when there are inadequate environmental enrichments to support the behavioural needs of livestock.It has been argued that the husbandry methods used in intensive livestock production have resulted in the deprivation of some naturally occurring behaviours (Fraser, 1983). Producers have a strong interest in maintaining the welfare of their livestock from both economic and ethical perspectives.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A brief review of the application of machine vision in livestock behaviour analysis

Tscharke

Banhazi²

2016

JAI

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It is desirable to increase the frequency between livestock welfare assessments to enhance problem identification and consumer confidence in livestock welfare management. However, animal welfare is difficult to monitor in practice, due to the inefficiencies involved in manually documenting and determining, animal behaviour, social interaction and health condition of large numbers of animals. Furthermore, the effectiveness of a welfare assessment relies on the intuition of the observer which may vary considerably between assessors. Hence, this review investigates the application of machine vision systems to recognise and monitor the behaviour of animals in a quantitative manner. Behaviour-recognition concepts, techniques, and current behaviour monitoring systems are reviewed. Findings indicate that further research is required to develop systems that can monitor the behaviour and welfare of animals' more efficiently and effectively in commercially realistic environments. Introduction: Livestock Behaviour and Vision SystemsMeasuring and assessing the behaviour of livestock is important as it can be used to indicate their welfare status (Dutta et al., 2015;Porto et al., 2014). Behaviour is formed from an animal's continuous interaction with its environment (Figure 1). Animal behaviour is a response to an internal stimuli (physiological) such as hunger or an external stimuli such as climate. If the goal of the behaviour is not, or cannot, be achieved the animal may change its behaviour or physiological response (Busse et al., 2015). There is potential for welfare problems to arise when there are inadequate environmental enrichments to support the behavioural needs of livestock.It has been argued that the husbandry methods used in intensive livestock production have resulted in the deprivation of some naturally occurring behaviours (Fraser, 1983). Producers have a strong interest in maintaining the welfare of their livestock from both economic and ethical perspectives. As often proactive welfare management has a positive effect on a farm's production efficiency and the quality and marketability of the end product (Kashiha et al., 2013).The observation processes currently used to measure livestock behaviour are subjective, as farm workers perform the welfare assessment. The worker's involvement in these tasks are necessary and therefore increase the demand on the labour and costs associated with monitoring animal behaviour. These factors have potential to influence the level of attention each animal receives (Oczak et al., 2013;Pereira et al., 2013). Thus, behavioural measurements are open for interpretation and have potential to be overlooked.Given the problems mentioned above, this review investigates the application of machine vision systems to recognise and monitor the behaviour of animals in a quantitative manner. Specifically in this article, behaviour-recognition concepts, techniques, and current behaviour monitoring systems are reviewed. Applying machine vision systems to the behaviour recognition taskTo over...

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The behaviour of maintenance and the intensive husbandry of cattle, sheep and pigs

Cited by 35 publications

References 9 publications

Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs

Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs

Welfare Index and Reproductive Performance in the Sow

A brief review of the application of machine vision in livestock behaviour analysis

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