Effects of management practices on the welfare of dairy donkeys and risk factors associated with signs of hoof neglect

Abstract

This Research Paper aimed to investigate donkey welfare in dairy husbandry systems and to identify the potential factors affecting it at animal level. In 2015, twelve dairy donkey farms (19–170 donkeys per farm, mean = 55 ± 48), distributed throughout Italy, were visited. On each farm, the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) welfare assessment protocol for donkeys was used by two trained assessors to evaluate the welfare of animals for a total of 257 donkeys assessed. The protocol includes animal-based indicators that were entered in a digitalised system. Prevalence of different scores at individual, farm and category level were calculated. Farmers were asked to fill out a questionnaire including information regarding the management of donkeys and their final destination. Answers to the questionnaire were then considered as effects in the risk factor analysis whereas the scores of the animal-based indicators were considered as response variables. Most of the donkeys (80·2%) enjoyed a good nutritional status (BCS = 3). 18·7% of donkeys showed signs of hoof neglect such as overgrowth and/or incorrect trimming (Min = 0% Max = 54·5%). Belonging to a given farm or production group influenced many of the welfare indicators. The absence of pasture affected the likelihood of having skin lesions, alopecia, low BCS scores and a less positive emotional state. Lack of routine veterinary visits (P< 0·001) and having neglected hooves (P< 0·001) affected the likelihood of being thin (BCS < 3). Belonging to specific production groups, lack of access to pasture and showing an avoidance reaction to an approaching human (AD) resulted in risk factors associated with a higher prevalence of signs of hoof neglect. Our results support the idea that lack of knowledge of proper donkey care among owners was behind many welfare issues found.

A Survey of Smallholder Farms Regarding Demographics, Health Care, and Management Factors of Donkeys in Northeastern China

“…Donkeys are almost four times more likely to have sole abnormalities than are horses or mules (42). Lameness was reported in 3.4% of the donkeys during this study, which was significantly lower than the 27.2% prevalence of lame donkeys at The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK (50), 18.7% of the dairy donkeys' hoofs neglect in Italy (51), and 100% of the lame working draft donkeys in Pakistan (52). The prevalence of hoof disease in this study could be underestimated, owing to the donkey owners' lack of knowledge concerning the diagnosis of hoof disease.…”

Equid Assessment, Research and Scoping (EARS): The Development and Implementation of a New Equid Welfare Assessment and Monitoring Tool

“…In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the welfare of farmed animals; however, this has primarily focused on a few key species and overlooks other commercially important species such as sheep, goats, turkeys and donkeys. This was one of the main drivers for the European Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project which resulted in the development of a specific welfare assessment protocol for farmed donkeys (60), which has been used to assess the welfare of donkeys in a variety of settings including rescue centres, dairy farms and therapy centres [49][50][51][52].…”

The Potential for New Donkey Farming Systems to Supply the Growing Demand for Hides

“…Nevertheless, compared to Animals 2020, 10, 718 4 of 22 horses and other domesticated animals, knowledge about the reproductive physiology of donkeys and donkey breeding management is still very limited [34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. In addition, intensive donkey farming is a relatively recent development, mainly for the production of donkey dairy products in Europe and for donkey hides but also meat and dairy in China [23,34,[41][42][43][44][45]. To date, intensive donkey farming is still under-researched and knowledge on donkey farming systems is very limited.…”

“…On the donkey dairy farms studied by Dai at al. [41], the oldest animal was 29 years. We simulate the model with donkeys entering the breeding herd at 24, 30 and 36 months.…”