On-farm Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of dairy goats in different housing conditions

Abstract

This study reports the results of the first investigation on the use of Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) in dairy goats, using a fixed-list of descriptors specifically developed for this species. It aimed to verify whether QBA can be reliably used by observers with different backgrounds to differentiate between the emotional states of goats kept under different environmental conditions. Two trained observers simultaneously assessed 16 dairy goat farms (8 "Housed" (H) farms, where animals were observed in free stall pens, and 8 "Pasture" (P) farms, where animals were observed in open ranges), using a list of 16 QBA descriptors that were based on literature studies and discussed within a focus group of goat experts. One H farm was removed from analysis due to procedural error. The QBA scores were analysed together using Principal Component Analysis (PCA, correlation matrix, no rotation). Observer agreement for farm scores on PCA Components (PCs) and on separate QBA terms was investigated using Pearson and Spearman correlations respectively. The effects of housing system and observer on PC scores were analysed using analysis of variance (treatments = observer, housing system, and their interaction; block = farm). PCA identified three main components explaining 60.87% of the total variation between goat farms: PC1 (29.

Using qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) to explore the emotional state of horses and its association with human-animal relationship

“…The good inter-observer reliability in assessing single horses using QBA, both on overall PC scores 265 and single descriptors, suggest that the training of assessors described here and grounded on previous 266 experiences with other animal species (Grosso et al, 2016;Minero et al, 2016) …”

Improvement of rearing goats in Bali Province, Indonesia

“…This result was supported by Grosso et al (2016) who reported that maintaining hygienic housing systems improved the efficiency of goat production. Furthermore, goat production improvements can be achieved by adopting elevated housing systems for better internal parasite control (Haenlein & Abdellatif 2004).…”

“…A low parasite burden was due to the management of their housing systems (Haenlein & Abdellatif 2004;Grosso et al 2016) and the timing and height of cutting herbaceous forages (Jones 1993) individual animals thus this resulted in economic gains for smallholder goat farmers in an organic environment (Gunia et al 2013;Pathak et al 2017). …”

Development of a fixed list of descriptors for the qualitative behavioural assessment of shelter dogs

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“…Other studies have reported variation in ‘scoring styles’ between observers (e.g. [43]), creating observer effects on mean animal scores on some PCs.…”