Sheep Farmers’ Perception of Welfare and Pain Associated with Routine Husbandry Practices in Chile

Larrondo, Cristian; Bustamante, Hedie; Gallo, Carmen

doi:10.3390/ani8120225

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(76 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A high number of ewes (85.7%) had tails docked too short, indicating that farmers tail docking behaviour present an important risk to welfare. These results are in agreement with an interview study from South America [35] that reported that most farmers in Chile (55.9%) docked lambs’ tails shorter than recommended. Tail docking is an important management practice used to reduce the risk of flystrike.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Evaluating the welfare of extensively managed sheep

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to identify the main on-farm welfare issues likely to be encountered in extensive sheep farming systems. Thirty-two commercial sheep farms in Victoria, Australia were involved in this study. Of the 32 farms involved, 30 were visited twice (at mid-pregnancy and weaning), and 2 farms only once (both at weaning). In total, 62 visits were conducted and 6,200 ewes (aged 2–5 years) were examined using six animal-based indicators: body condition score (BCS), fleece condition, skin lesions, tail length, dag score and lameness. In addition, the number of ewes that needed further care (such as sick or injured sheep) was recorded and reported to the farmers. Generalised linear mixed models were conducted to investigate associations between welfare outcomes and visit, ewe breed and location, with all three, and their interactions, as fixed factors. In all instances, farm was set as a random factor to account for specific variation between farms. Overall, the welfare of the ewe flocks, based on the six indicators measured, was considered good. A total of 86.9% of the ewes were in adequate BCS (2.5–3.5), 91% had good fleece condition, 69.2% had no skin lesions, 97.1% had low dag scores, and overall lameness was 4.7%. An important and prevalent risk to welfare identified across farms was short tail length; with 85.7% of ewes having tails docked shorter than the third palpable joint. While the welfare of the flock was good, ewes in need of further care were identified at all farms. There were 185 (3.0%) cases needing further care, and the extent of welfare compromise of these animals was considered significant. Main reasons for further care were moderate/severe lameness or foot-related issues, BCS ≤ 2 and active dermatophilosis or broken wool. To our knowledge, this study constitutes the largest assessment of ewes conducted in Australia, and the findings provide valuable insight into the main welfare issues likely to be encountered in extensive sheep farming enterprises. Future studies should develop practical technologies that can assist in the detection of the welfare issues identified in this study. In addition, the thresholds identified here could be used for future comparison and sheep welfare benchmarking programs to assess farm performance and measure continuous improvements.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Evaluating the welfare of extensively managed sheep

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our results may be in line with those for sheep by Häger et al [27], who reported an accuracy rate of 68.2%, and a false-positive rate of 22.7% (more common than false-negatives, 9.1%). These similar results may base on the suggestions by Larrondo et al [28], who reported an increased difficulty in pain recognition in lambs which indeed conditions the use of analgesics. A slightly higher accuracy of 73.3% was reported for a Horse Grimace Scale, which may reflect a relative higher ease to identify signs [10], which has traditionally been supported by the literature [2].…”

Section: Overall and Specific Body Language Sensitivity Specificity supporting

confidence: 87%

Development of a Donkey Grimace Scale to Recognize Pain in Donkeys (Equus asinus) Post Castration

Orth

González

Pastrana

et al. 2020

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objectives of this study were to establish a donkey ethogram, followed by a donkey grimace scale to be applied to donkeys pre- and post-castration and to test if there was a notable difference in scores based on observer knowledge, gender, and experience, which could reveal possible discomfort/pain. Nine healthy male adult donkeys were surgically castrated. Fifty-four photos were selected from frontal, lateral, and body views taken pre- and post-castration. Observers ranging from minimal to extensive knowledge and levels of experience based on education and hours/month spent with donkeys scored six photos/donkey on a scale of 0–2 (0 = not present, 1 = moderately present, 2 = obviously present). Scores were based on body language and facial parameters: Ears down, ears back, eye white showing, glazed look, orbital tightening, eyes round shape, nostril tension, eyes narrow shape, muzzle tension, and abnormal stance and overall perception of the animal being in pain. Level of experience and knowledge, as well as gender significantly (p < 0.001), affected observers’ ability to accurately score images. The study suggests that the most significant indicators of pain in donkeys are overall appearance and abnormal body stance provided their sensitivity, specificity and accuracy values of 63.18%, 62.07%, and 62.60%, respectively.

show abstract

“…In consequence, people’s ability to recognize animal pain plays a key role in the assessment and subsequent decision taking for its alleviation in animals [92]. Research about human perception of animal pain and attitudes towards pain in non-human animals has been extensively addressed in populations of veterinarians, veterinary students [29,81,82,106,107,108,109,110], farm animal owners and stockpeople [28,111,112,113,114]. However, to date, there is still a lack of research addressing the association between human perception of animal pain and the welfare state of animals.…”

Section: Factors Implicated In Human-animal Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Should Human-Animal Interactions Be Included in Research of Working Equids’ Welfare?

Luna

Tadich

2019

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The livelihood of working horses’ owners and their families is intimately linked to the welfare of their equids. A proper understanding of human-animal interactions, as well as the main factors that modulate them, is essential for establishing strategies oriented to improve the welfare of animals and their caretakers. To date, there is still a paucity of research dedicated to the identification and assessment of the human psychological attributes that affect the owner–equine interaction, and how these could affect the welfare of working equids. However, some studies have shown that empathy, attitudes towards animals, human perception of animal pain and the owner´s locus of control are some of the psychological attributes that participate in human-equine interactions and that these can result in poor welfare of working equids. A better understanding of the relationship between human attributes and equids’ welfare can provide an opportunity to improve the quality of interactions between owners and their working equids and thus improve their welfare. This review aims to explain why the inclusion of human psychological attributes that modulate the human-animal interactions can benefit welfare research in working equids. The role that empathy, perception of animal pain and locus of control play in the promotion of good welfare in working equids is emphasized.

show abstract

Sheep Farmers’ Perception of Welfare and Pain Associated with Routine Husbandry Practices in Chile

Cited by 22 publications

References 37 publications

Evaluating the welfare of extensively managed sheep

Evaluating the welfare of extensively managed sheep

Development of a Donkey Grimace Scale to Recognize Pain in Donkeys (Equus asinus) Post Castration

Why Should Human-Animal Interactions Be Included in Research of Working Equids’ Welfare?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About