Positive Welfare Indicators in Dairy Animals

Papageorgiou, Maria; Simitzis, Panagiotis

doi:10.3390/dairy3040056

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 159 publications

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“…Our results include both PW indicators that have been proposed for other species and indicators relating to poultry-specific behaviors. Exploration, foraging/feeding, comfort, play, behavioral synchronization, anticipation, QBA, vocalizations and cognitive bias have also been proposed for the domestic pig [125] and dairy ruminants [123,124,164]. Dustbathing, preening, nesting and perching have been studied specifically for poultry, and so has swimming for waterfowl.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploratory behavior is considered one of the best candidates as a positive welfare indicator in various animals [28,33,34], including livestock species like dairy animals [123,124] and the domestic pig [125]. It is a strongly motivated natural behavior of most livestock species, including poultry, and is correlated to feeding behavior [34].…”

Section: Exploration and Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Positive Welfare Indicators and Their Association with Sustainable Management Systems in Poultry

et al. 2023

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Animal welfare is a key and distinct component of sustainable agriculture and food security. People, both as citizens and consumers, have become more concerned about the husbandry of livestock species. Positive welfare goes a step further than the common welfare approach, supporting that a good life for animals is not only the alleviation of negative aspects, but also the promotion of positive affectivities. So, a sustainable management system for any livestock species should promote positive aspects in the lives of animals. Poultry is one of the species whose welfare is most impaired, and numerous concerns are raised by society. For all the above, we reviewed the positive welfare indicators that have been studied in livestock poultry and that can be used to promote positive effects and assess welfare for the most common species, i.e., broilers, laying hens, turkeys, ducks, geese, quails and ostriches. We analyzed the results categorized by species, discussed the connection of the indicators with sustainable management, and made proposals for future studies. Exploration and dustbathing have been extensively studied and seem most promising, especially in broilers and laying hens, followed by nesting and perching, and swimming for waterfowl. Qualitative behavioral assessment (QBA) is already applied in protocols for broilers and laying hens, but the results are not as promising due to the homogeneity of the flock and the difficulty in observations. Play has been studied mostly in broilers but is a behavior difficult to recognize and needs further understanding. The results are limited for all species, except broilers and laying hens.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Exploration and Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Welfare Indicators and Their Association with Sustainable Management Systems in Poultry

et al. 2023

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“…In contrast, queuing (regarded as a negative stimulus in non-enriched cows) resulted in ears pointing forward and upright, the neck below the horizontal plane, and the tail hanging without movement. The literature suggests that ears backwards or maintained horizontal and backwards (hanging ear posture), together with tail wagging, and a head above the horizontal plane, are indicative of a relaxed or excited state that can be enhanced by brush grooming [28][29][30].…”

Section: Mechanical Brushesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile, Auditory, and Visual Stimulation as Sensory Enrichment for Dairy Cattle

Mota-Rojas,

Whittaker,

Domínguez-Oliva

et al. 2024

Animals

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Several types of enrichment can be used to improve animal welfare. This review summarizes the literature on the use of mechanical brushes, tactile udder stimulation, music, and visual stimuli as enrichment methods for dairy cows. Mechanical brushes and tactile stimulation of the udder have been shown to have a positive effect on milk yield and overall behavioral repertoire, enhancing natural behavior. Classical music reduces stress levels and has similarly been associated with increased milk yield. A slow or moderate tempo (70 to 100 bpm) at frequencies below 70 dB is recommended to have this positive effect. Evidence on the impacts of other types of enrichment, such as visual stimulation through mirrors, pictures, and color lights, or the use of olfactory stimuli, is equivocal and requires further study.

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“…We carried out behavioural observations and faecal sampling every study day from early morning to early afternoon ( ~8AM-1PM, 5 hours per day) over 6 days per week. We assessed the effects of the enrichment combining the observation of sexual behaviours and behavioural indicators of welfare (e.g., explorative olfactory behaviours, a liative behaviours, aggressive, and abnormal behaviours) [40][41][42] and faecal endocrinology (e.g., faecal cortisol levels in both males and females and testosterone levels in males).…”

Section: Study Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using scent to enhance captive welfare and breeding in a zoo-housed endangered lemur species.

Fontani,

Glendewar,

Callagan

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The Alaotran gentle lemur is one of the most endangered primates in the world and shows a low success rate in captive breeding programmes. We tested a novel scent enrichment, made up of a synthesized mixture potentially conveying information about female fertility, on four unsuccessful breeding pairs (n = 8) hosted at Jersey, Birmingham, London (UK) and Mulhouse (France) zoos. We evaluated the effects of the scent enrichment combining behavioural observations (n = 515 hours) with faecal endocrinology (cortisol and testosterone measurements) (n = 180 samples). We did not find any significant change in affiliative behaviours, while aggressive and abnormal behaviours were rarely observed. However, we found a significant increase of both male and female olfactory behaviours during the enrichment condition, with females performing these behaviours significantly less than males. We also found that sexual behaviours significantly increased over the enrichment period. Conversely, we did not find any significant change related to enrichment in cortisol and testosterone levels. Our findings show little effectiveness by our scent enrichment, which is likely due to shortfalls with regards to fertile odour sampling. However, our results also highlight that biologically relevant odour signals may trigger natural species-specific behaviours, with potential implications for management and conservation breeding of zoo-based endangered species.

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Positive Welfare Indicators in Dairy Animals

Cited by 9 publications

References 159 publications

Positive Welfare Indicators and Their Association with Sustainable Management Systems in Poultry

Positive Welfare Indicators and Their Association with Sustainable Management Systems in Poultry

Tactile, Auditory, and Visual Stimulation as Sensory Enrichment for Dairy Cattle

Using scent to enhance captive welfare and breeding in a zoo-housed endangered lemur species.

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