The importance of measurement to improve the welfare of livestock, poultry, and fish.

Abstract

It is essential to measure serious animal welfare problems such as lameness or poor handling practices continuously. When numerical scoring is used, managers can determine if conditions are improving or becoming worse. Surveys indicate that there are big differences between the very best and worst producers. For example, the best 20% of dairy farms had 0% cows with swollen legs and the worst 20% had 7.4-12.5%. Measurement can help prevent bad practices from becoming routine. Animal handling should be measured continuously to maintain high standards. Training people and simple improvements in equipment can reduce bruises, animals falling during handling, and electric goad usage greatly. Vocalization (moos and bellows) scoring in cattle or squeals in pigs is a useful measure of severe stress during handling and restraint. Improvements in equipment and handling can reduce greatly the percentage of cattle or pigs that vocalize during restraint. The chapter also contains behavioral measures for pain that can be performed easily on the farm. It also discusses the importance of reducing fear stress.

Effects of pretransport handling stress on physiological and behavioral response of ostriches

“…However, after transport, 16 birds had one or more of these problems (Table 7). Other researchers have also reported bruises and injuries in livestock because of handling and transport (Schaefer et al, 1997;Northcutt, 2001;Grandin, 2010a;Warriss, 2010b). Posttransport physical damages in ostriches were more severe (67% of the birds had one or more types of physical damage in our study) than other livestock species [e.g., bruises measured on carcasses of US-fed steers and heifers was 35.2% (Garcia et al, 2008)].…”

“…Because producers do not have the resources and expertise to measure physiological stress responses, validated behavioral indicators are practical for identifying highly stressed birds (Grandin, 2010a).…”

“…Behavioral and physiological stress responses may be intercorrelated or they may give contradictory information (Dantzer and Mormède, 1983;Dawkins, 2003), and examining only physiological responses or only behavioral responses may not provide sufficient information about the welfare of animals. Observed behavioral responses should be validated by measuring physiological responses of animals to confirm that they indicate stress (Grandin, 2010a).…”

A survey of current ostrich handling and transport practices in North America with reference to ostrich welfare and transportation guidelines set up in other countries

“…If researchers could identify the stress behavioral responses of ostriches considering their physiological stress responses (as explained by Grandin, 2010), handlers could use those responses as signs of stress to identify birds which are highly stressed and transport them with additional care. Continuous monitoring of birds' behaviors using infrared cameras could also be beneficial to track the behavioral changes during transport and intervene when necessary.…”

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

“…Animal welfare is a difficult concept to define [6,7], but it can be broadly recognised as an animal's ability to experience complete mental and physical health, and be able to live without suffering in an environment provided or adapted by human beings [8,9]. It is recognised that animal welfare should be a central consideration in the management and use of animals for societal and economic reasons [10] and, consequently, a number of tools to understand and assess animal welfare have been developed [11][12][13].…”