Farm animal welfare: the future.

2020 ◽  
pp. 173-190
Author(s):  
Alistair Stott ◽  
Bouda Vosough Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
The Future ◽  
Animal Welfare Science

Abstract Science can help us understand what animals want and economics can provide the understanding of human motivation needed to deliver such wants. In our view, what needs further development in future is for economics and information/communication science and technology to channel awareness into appropriate action. This chapter elaborates on this idea by providing some illustrative examples. Focusing on animal health and welfare, it argues that there is much scope for improvement in profit and welfare on commercial farms simply by adopting the best disease management approach available. We also emphasize the importance of systems modelling and operations research (OR) in the future to ensure that animal welfare taps into the growing opportunities that developments in these methods are likely to bring. The chapter also argues that OR can provide a bridge between animal welfare science, economics and business to deliver improvements in animal welfare through food markets. The importance of big data and precision livestock farming in livestock production/reproduction, animal health and welfare, and the environmental impact of livestock production are also discussed. New genetic approaches to optimize livestock resilience and efficiency are highlighted. We argue that tackling difficult problems, such as sustainability (that encompasses animal welfare alongside environment and climate change), efficiency and resilience in farm animal production systems, is and will remain a vital focus of research in the agri-food sector. Research methods and governance still need to change to properly reflect this. It is envisaged that animal welfare will be affected by these developments and should, wherever appropriate, be explicitly considered.

scholarly journals Farm animal welfare concept: From beginnings to integration in modern production systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dusica Ostojic-Andric ◽  
Slavca Hristov ◽  
Radica Djedovic ◽  
Vlada Pantelic ◽  
Dragan Niksic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Welfare Indicators ◽  
Concise Review ◽  
Animal Welfare Science ◽  
Agriculture And Food ◽  
Over Time

The farm animal welfare science has undergone a thorny path of development, often disputed because of its lack of measurability and the purpose of existence. At the very beginning, primarily based on moral and ethical attitudes, over time it pointed to the importance of meeting the needs of animals and the consequences of their neglect and exhaustion in the conditions of intensive livestock production. An important segment of its development was the definition and development of methodologies for the assessment of welfare indicators, which made it measurable and accepted as a scientific discipline with the knowledge applicable and useful in modern production systems. This paper is a concise review of the evolution of the animal welfare science, but also an indication of its future in the context of the development of "symbiotic" connections with the concepts of sustainable agriculture and food safety as integral parts of the modern ecological movement arose from a unified concern for the welfare of people and animals, a care for planetary welfare in general.

Public perceptions of undercover investigations in livestock farming: An end that justifies the means?

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
M Schulze ◽  
A Risius ◽  
A Spiller
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
The Media ◽  
Age Range

Secretly taken photographs of livestock production systems, representing animal welfare violations, regularly appear in the media and initiate discussions as to the legitimacy of overriding legal regulations in order to document animal welfare standards. This paper focuses on the public perspective and compares different forms of undercover investigation, weighing animal welfare against the invasion of farmers' privacy. For this purpose, an exploratory online survey was conducted in Germany (n = 292). Participants were carefully selected to ensure that age range, education level and sex reflected the distribution of the society as a whole. In a split-sample survey, each participant was confronted with three scenarios. The scenarios were mapped using pictures showing various levels of farm conditions combined with small information segments describing the invasion of farmers' privacy. Participants evaluated the scenarios for their perceived legitimacy and whether entering the premises should be punished. All forms of undercover investigation were perceived as legitimate by most respondents. Perceived legitimacy was considerably higher when obvious animal abuse was uncovered. Apart from where damage to property was involved, which was mostly considered as unacceptable, harsher punishment for animal welfare organisations generally obtained little social approval. The public's increasing awareness of farm animal welfare overruled social norms regarding farmers' privacy, and thereby demonstrated the importance of animal welfare in society. Approval of undercover investigations indicated that changes in housing and handling conditions as well as improvement in control mechanisms are necessary to increase animal welfare and thus public acceptance of livestock production.

scholarly journals Farmers’ Preferences Regarding the Design of Animal Welfare Programs: Insights from a Choice-Based Conjoint Study in Germany

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 704
Author(s):  
Iris Schröter ◽  
Marcus Mergenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Commitment Period ◽  
Decisive Importance ◽  
Compensation Level

As more animal welfare is required in livestock farming, several approaches have been developed to improve the well-being of farmed animals on a voluntary basis. Since farmers’ acceptance is important for the success of these approaches, their preferences should be considered when developing farm animal welfare programs. We used choice based conjoint analysis to investigate the preferences of 242 German livestock farmers (147 cattle farmers; 95 pig farmers) regarding the design of farm animal welfare programs. The conditional logit regression models show that the measures serving as basis for remuneration and the compensation level were of decisive importance for the farmers’ choices. The most preferred measure for assessing animal welfare, and thus as the basis for remuneration, was animal health. As expected, a higher compensation level led to greater acceptance of an animal welfare approach. The commitment period was only of subordinate importance with the longer commitment period being preferred. Our study outlines aspects of farm animal welfare programs that might encourage farmers to participate in these programs. Future programs could consider our findings by emphasising health parameters and by creating planning security through longer commitment periods and sufficiently high compensations for farmers’ efforts to improve animal welfare.

Invited review: Importance of animal health and welfare for the stability of the three pillars of sustainability of livestock systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-214
Author(s):  
P. Chemineau
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Livestock Systems

The future livestock systems at the world level will have to produce more in the perspective of the population increase in the next 30 years, whereas reducing their environmental footprint and addressing societal concerns. In that perspective, we may wonder if animal health and animal welfare, which are two essential components of production systems, may play an important role in the stability of the three pillars of sustainability of the livestock systems. We already know that objectives driven by economy, environment and society may modify animal welfare and animal health, but is the reverse true? The answer is yes and in 11 cases out of 12 of the matrix health-welfare×3 pillars of sustainability×positive or negative change, we have many examples indicating that animal health and animal welfare are able to modify, positively or negatively, the three pillars of sustainability. Moreover, we also have good examples of strong interactions between health and welfare. These elements play in favour of an holistic approach at the farm level and of a multicriterial definition of what could be the sustainable systems of animal production in the future which will respect animal welfare and maintain a good animal health.

scholarly journals Livestock production: recent trends, future prospects

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1554) ◽  
pp. 2853-2867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip K. Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Future Production ◽  
The Future ◽  
Livestock Products

The livestock sector globally is highly dynamic. In developing countries, it is evolving in response to rapidly increasing demand for livestock products. In developed countries, demand for livestock products is stagnating, while many production systems are increasing their efficiency and environmental sustainability. Historical changes in the demand for livestock products have been largely driven by human population growth, income growth and urbanization and the production response in different livestock systems has been associated with science and technology as well as increases in animal numbers. In the future, production will increasingly be affected by competition for natural resources, particularly land and water, competition between food and feed and by the need to operate in a carbon-constrained economy. Developments in breeding, nutrition and animal health will continue to contribute to increasing potential production and further efficiency and genetic gains. Livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by carbon constraints and environmental and animal welfare legislation. Demand for livestock products in the future could be heavily moderated by socio-economic factors such as human health concerns and changing socio-cultural values. There is considerable uncertainty as to how these factors will play out in different regions of the world in the coming decades.

scholarly journals Organic Livestock Production: A Bibliometric Review

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 618
Author(s):  
Carmen L. Manuelian ◽  
Mauro Penasa ◽  
Luciana da Costa ◽  
Sara Burbi ◽  
Federico Righi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Annual Growth Rate ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Bibliometric Review ◽  
Main Production ◽  
Organic Livestock Production

Due to the increasing interest in organic farming, an overview of this research area is provided through a bibliometric analysis conducted between April and May 2019. A total of 320 documents were published up until 2018 on organic livestock farming, with an annual growth rate of 9.33% and a clear increase since 2005; 268 documents have been published in 111 journals. Germany is the country with the largest number of published papers (56 documents). Authors’ top keywords (excluding keywords used for running the search) included: animal welfare (29 times), animal health (22 times), cattle (15 times), grazing (10 times), and sheep (10 times). This could indicate that more research has been done on cattle because of the importance of this species in Germany. Moreover, the prevalence of the terms ‘animal welfare’ and ‘animal health’ may indicate that the research on organic livestock production has been focused on these two areas. The bibliometric analysis indicates that: (i) countries focused the organic livestock production research on their main production, and (ii) more research in species other than cattle and sheep is needed.

scholarly journals Is an Animal Welfare Label Enough? Role of Farm Animal Welfare Voluntary Labelling Schemes in the Development of Sustainable Livestock Production

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Justyna Zwolińska ◽  
Sylwia Żakowska-Biemans
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Food Quality ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Health Food ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Labelling Schemes

Intensive livestock production devoid of elementary foundations for the welfare of farm animals is nowadays identified as one of the main factors contributing to the growing environmental and social threats. Public opinion associates the welfare of farm animals with values relating to health, food quality, ethical approach to animals and protection of the environment and climate. Accordingly, the social conceptualization of farm animal welfare plays an important role in guiding EU policy and developing animal welfare law. It also becomes a prerequisite for solving social and environmental problems resulting from intensive animal production. Farm animal welfare is an intangible and credence attribute of food and as such requires a means of informing consumers about it. The most preferred form of communication about the welfare level of farm animals among consumers are farm animal welfare labels. Both consumer preferences and their expectations of how farm animal welfare is communicated are reflected in the development of public and private food labelling systems in the European Union. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to analyse the selected farm animal welfare voluntary labelling schemes in terms of their potential for the development of sustainable animal production in the EU. The result of the study shows the differences and similarities in this respect between public and private systems, in relation to four criteria—values associated by consumers with the welfare of farm animals—health, food quality, ethics and environmental protection. We provide an overview of these systems and their role in increasing farm animal welfare standards. We conclude that it is particularly important to verify if the shift from production-related concern to social and consumer-related concern can constitute a sufficient and effective form for a systemic change transforming current animal production into production based on higher livestock welfare standards.

scholarly journals Farm Animal Welfare and Handling in the Tropics: The Ethiopia Case

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Bimrew Asmare
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ethical Basis

The issue of farm animal welfare has become increasingly of essence in many countries these days. Farm animal welfare concerns are expressed about the conditions in which farm animals are kept and management practices, particularly in systems where animals are kept in confinement for most of their lives, feed methods, health care, and expression of normal behaviors. The use of an ethical basis for animal welfare standards requires some generally accepted principles on how animals should be treated and used by humans. Animals have enormous capacity to feel a huge range of emotions, to learn from their experiences, to adapt to challenges, and to suffer when their needs are either ignored or disrespected. It is now time, in the evolution of the relationship between humans and animals, to move forward with this knowledge and take real action to improve the lives of farm animals. The use of behavioral principles should improve efficiency of livestock handling and reduce stress on animals. Changing public opinion about the importance of good animal welfare and applying legislative actions will be important in animal production systems especially in developing countries where the poor animal welfare is immense and production management is below substandards.

scholarly journals Livestock production systems in the marginal upland and lowland areas of Inopacan Leyte, Eastern Visayas, Philippines

2014 ◽  
pp. 199-219
Author(s):  
Warren Come ◽  
Philippine Dianne Zamora
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Plant Residues ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Vegetation Diversity ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Agricultural Income

The study was conducted to obtain a baseline data of different livestock production systems, vegetation survey and animal environment interactions in the marginal upland in Eastern Visayas. A total of 280 farmer respondents were interviewed using an interview questionnaire. Vegetation species were gathered and validated with its genus and species group. Animal environment interactions particularly with chicken were also assessed. Results showed that chickens were the dominant species present in the study sites compared to other species. But in terms of total livestock units (TLU), buffaloes have higher TLU compared to other species of animals. Farmer’s income is mostly from the agricultural income with less than 20% of agricultural income was obtained from livestock farming. Livestock only serves as buffer income incase crops will fail. Different husbandry systems are used by the farmers such as free range system for chicken, ducks and turkeys while pigs are raised in confinement or caged system. Ruminant productions are raised in a tethering system of production. Natural breeding practice is still practiced by farmers and traditional animal health practices are still evident in this marginal upland. Ruminants graze in different vegetation diversity in grasslands and under the coconut trees. Likewise, plant residues of banana, coconut and root crops are also used as feed resources of farmer respondents. Grass and herb species that are palatable to the animals are diverse also especially in grassland areas. Availability of feed resources in the area plays a crucial role also on how animals interact with the environment and may affect also with their feeding behavior when there are changes in the climatic conditions. Preliminary result of the study on animal environment interaction shows that chickens tend to change their feeding itineraries due to availability of feed resources, environmental temperature and rainfall.

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