1. Animal Welfare Are animals AWARE? Do they KNOW they are suffering?
Do they UNDERSTAND another animals’ suffering?
Do they REMEMBER?
Does the future MEAN anything to them?
Can they PLAN future events?
Do they MODIFY their behaviour according to another's’ behaviour?

2. What is animal welfare?
The welfare of an individual is it’s state in regard to its attempts to cope with it’s environment.
This state includes how much it is having to do to cope, the extent to which it is succeeding or failing to cope, and its associated feelings.
Donald Broom

3. Mind, body & nature

4. Animal Welfare
Affective states: Pain due to dehorning and tail-docking
Natural behavior: Rearing systems for calves
Health: Injuries associated with housing systems

5. FIVE freedoms Freedom from: Thirst, hunger, & malnutrition
by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour;
2) Discomfort
- by providing an appropriate environment
including shelter and a comfortable resting
area;
3) Pain, injury and disease
- by prevention or rapid diagnosis and
treatment;
4) Express natural behaviours
- by providing sufficient space, proper facilities
and company of the animals’ own kind;
5) Fear & distress
- by ensuring conditions and treatment to
avoid mental suffering.

6. How animal welfare problems have risen
Greater efficiency in terms of capital invested
Feed Conversion Efficiency
Stocking density
Growth Rate through genetic selection
Reproductive performance
Increased public outcry
Recurrence of diseases outbreak
Bad Publicity – Harm, Slaughter, Confinement of Animals
Absence of Knowledge about modern animal production practices

7. Consequences Expansion in farm size
Overstocking in livestock buildings
Respiratory Disease
Excessive Dust
High Level of Ammonia
Genetic Selection for growth rate
Confined Systems
Inappropriate use of bulls from breeds of large mature size

8. Environmental Effects
Lack of Control: Absence of Specific Input.
Certain stimuli are of great importance to the
survival of animals, so they may be sought
very actively and their absence may result in
poor welfare, as evidenced by various abnor-
malities of physiology and behavior.
EXAMPLE
The set of stimuli associated with the mother’s teats in young mammals. Early weaning of calves and pigs results in vigorous teat-seeking behavior and in problems, both for the teat seeker and for other individuals whose navel, penis, scrotum, ears, and so on, are sucked

9. Behavioural Effects Frustration.
When animals know how to control their interactions with their environment but are prevented from carrying out the action, the resulting frustration causes various abnormalities of physiology and behavior that are indicators of poor welfare.
About 24hours before farrowing, a sow in a natural environment will seek out a suitable nest site, excavate a nesting hollow, collect nesting materials from the surrounding environment, carry them to a chosen nest site, deposit them, and build a nest
Some frustration occurs in many group feeding situations in which access is available to some of the individuals but more timid subordinates would like to feed but cannot.
There is also an element of frustration in many farm housing situations where space

10. Behavioural Effects Pain Fear injury due to badly designed housing
and equipment;
surgical interventions
such as castration and tail-docking
metabolic pathologies which are often associated with fast growth.
Fear
Fear responses are either a preparation for danger or are a response to detectable danger.
Fear during handling, transport, preslaughter procedures, or operations on farms or in laboratories may be associated with freezing behavior, tonic immobility, escape attempts, aggression, adrenal cortex activity, heart-rate elevation, and effects on meat quality

11. Key Animal Welfare Problems in Farm Animals
Insufficient space
Barren environments/boredom
Lack of social contact/play/exercise
Frustration of key behaviours
Dust bathing, nest building, hewing, rooting
Overstimulation
mixing unfamilair animals, noise
Inhumane methods
e.g., force feeding, plucking live ducks
Transport
Stress, injury
Handling
Brutal rough
Slaughter
Shackling, Holding

12. Key Animal Welfare Problems in Farm Animals Genetic Antagonisms
Leg Disorders, lameness and conformation and growth rate in poultry
Stress induced deaths and muscularity in particular breeds of pig
Dystocia, conformation and body size in particular cattle breeds

13. Close confined systems
Farrowing crates
Gestating Stalls
Dry sow stalls
Battery Hen cages
Veal calf crates
Rabbit Cages

14. Husbandry Practices Tail docking Castration Ear Notching Beak trimming
Dehorning
Teeth Clipping
Disbudding

15. Concern for Animal Welfare
Respect for animals and and sense of fair play
Poor Welfare can lead to poor product quality
Risk of loss of market shares for products which acquire a poor welfare image
Animals economic value and its welfare

16. MEASURES OF WElFARE Biological Fitness Measures of Body Damage
Disease Level
Behavioural Changes
Reduced life expectancy
Responsiveness
Stereotypies
Preference Tests

17. Various indicators are used to assess animal welfare.
Physical health (mortality, morbidity, injuries) is a prerequisite.
Production traits can be used as indicators of welfare, but they are generally not very sensitive.
Physiological indicators are derived from stress physiology and their use is, up to now, mostly restricted for assessing acute stress.
Behavioural indicators of welfare are often very pertinent criteria.

18. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Removal of calf at early age:
Distress - can’t perform maternal behaviour
Better to separate quickly rather than >24hrs
Research suggests less abnormal behaviour if separate at 24hrs cf. 96 hrs
Rearing calves
Veal crates banned in several countries

19. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Selected for high milk yield (>10x natural)
Large udder - lameness & mastitis
Disease, discomfort, pain, injury
Metabolic disorders
“Run a marathon a day”
Life expectancy ¼ of natural lifespan

20. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Twice-daily contact with herdsman
Research into human/cow interactions
Use Y maze to test preferences
Prefer ‘calm/no voice’ to ‘shouting’
Can discriminate between people, using multiple cues (height, face)
Can associate people/places with aversive events – better to do these away from the home stall

21. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Removal of calf at early age:
Distress - can’t perform maternal behaviour
Better to separate quickly rather than >24hrs
Research suggests less abnormal behaviour if separate at 24hrs cf. 96 hrs
Rearing calves
Veal crates banned in several countries

22. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Selected for high milk yield (>10x natural)
Large udder - lameness & mastitis
Disease, discomfort, pain, injury
Metabolic disorders
“Run a marathon a day”
Life expectancy ¼ of natural lifespan

23. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Twice-daily contact with herdsman
Research into human/cow interactions
Use Y maze to test preferences
Prefer ‘calm/no voice’ to ‘shouting’
Can discriminate between people, using multiple cues (height, face)
Can associate people/places with aversive events – better to do these away from the home stall

24. Welfare issues: Dairy cows
Zero-grazing, silage, concentrate feeds
No hunger, but adequate nutrition?
Spend less time foraging indoors
Research suggests that spend rest of time idling/lying down
i.e. less of a problem cf. pigs

26. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity
‘Natural’ welfare (point A):
Animal-centred.
Presumably what the animal itself would choose.
Animal free to act as its natural instincts dictate — feeding
pattern, social grouping, mating behaviour, rearing
young, establishing and maintaining territory, aggression
and imposing social dominance, and the like.
Clearly inconsistent with domestication and commercial
production.

27. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity
‘Maximal’ welfare (point B):
Animal-centred.
The best conditions attainable are offered within the (unnatural) environment of domestication.
Apart from some restrictions on natural behaviour, the best possible food, shelter, space, physical comfort,
health, safety, social interaction, etc. are provided.
Farm animals are treated as well as we would treat our children.
Not a realistic benchmark for economic livestock production.

28. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity
‘Welfare breakdown (point C)
The animals’ production is extended to the extreme of its biological capability.
Pushing the animals beyond this point would cause catastrophic breakdowns in health and productivity.
This leads ultimately to collapse of the livestock production system.

29. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity

30. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity

31. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity

32. Conflicts and choices between animal welfare and productivity

33. Example Reducing pain from dehorning • distress due to restraint
– sedative (e.g. xylazine)
• immediate pain
– nerve block (e.g. lidocaine)
• longer term pain
– NSAID (e.g. ketoprofen)
• other techniques?
–e.g. caustic paste

34. Minimising Pain Done by the best method Correct equipment is used
Done at the right time
Done to the right class of animal
Correct follow up
Properly trained personnel

35. Alleviation of Fear
increased positive contact with humans, particularly when the animals are young and most sensitive to handling effects;
knowledge of the human behaviours or postures that can frighten or startle animals;
improved facilities designed to reduce the amount of rough handling;
avoidance of aversive handling techniques,like using electric prods;
Improving the design of handling facilties

36. Animal Welfare
Concerns about animal welfare include health, natural living and affective states like pain
– Housing and rearing practices for dairy cattle need to reflect these concerns
– The most workable options will improve conditions for the animals and the producer --
good science will help provide these win-win options

37. Benefits of Animal Welfare Standards
Better health, survival and productivity when animals are given adequate space, shelter, and access to food and water,
Better Product quality
Reduced stress if animals are handled in a way that avoids causing fear, with positive effects on growth and ease of handling, and
Less harmful behaviour such as aggression when the environment and diet meet the animals’needs.

38. Good vs Bad Welfare Good Welfare Poor Welfare
Variety of normal behaviours shown
Strongly preferred behaviours expressed
Physiological/behavioural indicators of pleasure
Poor Welfare
Life expectancy, ability to grow 
Body damage
Disease
Immunosuppression
Physiological/ Behavioural attempts to cope
Behaviour pathology
Self narcotization
Behavioural aversion, suppression of normal behaviour
Prevention of normal physiological processes, anatomical and/or cognitive development