Farm Animals Are Long Away from Natural Behavior: Open Questions and Operative Consequences on Animal Welfare

The concept of welfare applied to farm animals has undergone a remarkable evolution. The growing awareness of citizens pushes farmers to guarantee the highest possible level of welfare to their animals. New perspectives could be opened for animal welfare reasoning around the concept of domestic, especially farm, animals as partial human artifacts. Therefore, it is important to understand how much a particular behavior of a farm animal is far from the natural one of its ancestors. This paper is a contribution to better understand the role of genetics of the farm animals on their behavior. This means that the naïve approach to animal welfare regarding returning animals to their natural state should be challenged and that welfare assessment should be considered.

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Costs and Benefits of Improving Farm Animal Welfare

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11020104 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 104

Author(s):

Jill N. Fernandes ◽

Paul H. Hemsworth ◽

Grahame J. Coleman ◽

Alan J. Tilbrook

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Cost Benefit ◽

Economic Cost ◽

Social Consequences ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Costs And Benefits ◽

Farm Animal Welfare ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Course Of Action

It costs money to improve the welfare of farm animals. For people with animals under their care, there are many factors to consider regarding changes in practice to improve welfare, and the optimal course of action is not always obvious. Decision support systems for animal welfare, such as economic cost–benefit analyses, are lacking. This review attempts to provide clarity around the costs and benefits of improving farm animal welfare, thereby enabling the people with animals under their care to make informed decisions. Many of the costs are obvious. For example, training of stockpeople, reconfiguration of pens, and administration of pain relief can improve welfare, and all incur costs. Other costs are less obvious. For instance, there may be substantial risks to market protection, consumer acceptance, and social licence to farm associated with not ensuring good animal welfare. The benefits of improving farm animal welfare are also difficult to evaluate from a purely economic perspective. Although it is widely recognised that animals with poor welfare are unlikely to produce at optimal levels, there may be benefits of improving animal welfare that extend beyond production gains. These include benefits to the animal, positive effects on the workforce, competitive advantage for businesses, mitigation of risk, and positive social consequences. We summarise these considerations into a decision tool that can assist people with farm animals under their care, and we highlight the need for further empirical evidence to improve decision-making in animal welfare.

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Environmental choices of farm animals

BSAP Occasional Publication ◽

10.1017/s0263967x00043354 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 35-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

C J. Nicol

Keyword(s):

Experimental Data ◽

Animal Welfare ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animals ◽

One Dimension ◽

Farm Animal Welfare ◽

Know How ◽

Single Dimension ◽

Underlying Basis ◽

Preference Strength

AbstractTo assess farm animal welfare we need to understand how animals make choices and how these choices relate to preference strength. Studies of environmental choice can be categorized by the method used to investigate them, or by the underlying basis on which the animal is choosing. Choices made between resources that vary along a single dimension should meet certain criteria e.g. those of transitivity. Choices made between resources that vary along more than one dimension may or may not meet these criteria, depending how the animal evaluates each option. Understanding how farm animals choose will allow the results of individual experiments to be applied in a wider context. It is also important to know how preferences are formed during development. Evidence suggests that preferences for nests and pecking substrates in hens may be influenced by prefunctional experience. Experimental data from studies of environmental choice may enable us either to provide important resources in commercial systems, or to provide facilities for animals to continue to make their own decisions.

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Reducing the Consumer Attitude–Behaviour Gap in Animal Welfare: The Potential Role of ‘Nudges’

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani8120232 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 232 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Belinda Vigors

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Norms ◽

Animal Welfare ◽

Self Control ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Consumer Attitude ◽

Choice Architecture ◽

Market Demand ◽

Farm Animal Welfare

Citizen concern for the welfare of farm animals is well documented. However, there is a notable gap between people saying they want improved farm animal welfare and how they actually behave as a consumer. This is known as the citizen–consumer attitude–behaviour gap. As improvements in farm animal welfare can be affected by market demand, the choices consumers make become important. This paper introduces the concept of ‘nudging’ and discusses how it could be applied to reduce the attitude–behaviour gap amongst consumers. By designing the choice environment to better reflect the behavioural biases known to impact human decision-making, ‘nudge’ tools function to prompt individuals to make choices that are aligned with their stated intentions. Four ‘nudge’ tools: self-nudges, choice architecture, social norms and pre-commitments are discussed. The behavioural rationales for their use are reviewed and examples of how they might be applied to animal welfare provided. Improved farm animal welfare arguably requires improved pro-welfare consumer behaviour. This paper highlights how this might be encouraged by: self-nudging the salience of an ethical self-image; altering the choice architecture to influence decision-making; articulating social norms to impact behaviour; and using pre-commitment devices to overcome self-control issues.

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

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/ieca2020-08831 ◽

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.

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

Advances in Agriculture ◽

10.1155/2014/428129 ◽

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.

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The legislative, ethical, and conceptual importance of replicability in farm animal welfare science.

10.31220/osf.io/ahspd ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Nawroth ◽

Lorenz Gygax

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Economic Consequences ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Ethical Aspect ◽

Farm Animal Welfare ◽

Industrial Setting ◽

Animal Welfare Science ◽

Conceptual Problems ◽

Animal Welfare Legislation

Abstract This article discusses the points of consideration in animal behaviour and applied ethology studies in farm animals, including animal welfare legislation and its potential economic consequences on animal keepers (such as farmers), the ethical aspect of using animals for experimentation that are routinely kept in millions in an industrial setting and the conceptual problems and benefits when testing animals at different facilities (e.g. farms).

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The use of environmental enrichment on farms benefits animal welfare and productivity

Livestock ◽

10.12968/live.2019.24.4.183 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 183-188

Author(s):

Sarah L Bolt ◽

Adam J George

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Animal Health ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Animal Behaviour ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Production Animals ◽

On Farm ◽

Housing Facilities

Environmental enrichment is a key aspect of animal welfare and productivity. Enrichment for livestock can be cost effective and used successfully on farm. The benefits generally outweigh any costs of providing enrichment and it should be taken into account when providing housing facilities for farm animals. It also reduces abnormal behaviours commonly seen in production animals, thus decreasing issues associated with poor animal health. The aim of this review is to summarise information and research that highlights the importance of understanding farm animal behaviour and indicates how enrichment will benefit the welfare and productivity of livestock.

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