Welfare assessment of poultry on farm

Butterworth, Andrew

doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100915-4.00006-3

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Combining the relevant columns (‘Slatted floor best’ and ‘No significant difference’) in Table 3 yields 58 instances of welfare indicators within studies that suggested no welfare compromises from slatted floors, compared to 29 suggesting welfare would be compromised. However, behaviour was included in only four studies (and none of these fell amongst the studies suggesting slatted floors produced better welfare), despite best practice stipulating that animal behaviour should be a major component of animal welfare assessment [ 44 ]. Additionally, a cage environment—even a modern CC—offers fewer possibilities to improve welfare through environmental enrichment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This suggests animal welfare was not the primary focus of most retrieved studies, in contrast to non-welfare related foci. Similarly, the Welfare Quality Assessment (WQA) protocol was recently described as the most comprehensive scientifically validated means of measuring chicken welfare [ 44 ]. This has been developed in collaboration with multiple stakeholders including farmers, and both animal-based and input measures are incorporated within the WQA [ 53 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ironically, these studies did not claim to use the WQA. Moreover, they are two of only four studies that combined behavioural and physiological methods, which is deemed to provide the most accurate welfare assessment results, due to compensation for the weaknesses of each method of welfare assessment, by the other [ 44 ]. Crucially, none of the studies in Table 2 (supporting the use of slatted floors) combined both behavioural and physiological aspects.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impacts of Colony Cages on the Welfare of Chickens Farmed for Meat

Mace

Knight

2022

Animals

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There is growing interest in keeping meat chickens in modern colony cages (CCs) rather than conventional litter-floor barns. Suggested welfare improvements for chickens in such systems include reduced bodily lesions due to lower contact with flooring contaminated with faeces and urine, due to slatted flooring and automated faeces removal. This systematic review sought to determine the animal welfare impacts of CCs using slatted flooring, in comparison to litter-based non-cage systems. Overall, 23 relevant studies were retrieved. From one perspective, the extant research appeared mixed. Fifteen (65%) of these 23 studies identified some form of welfare concern about slatted floors, and thus CCs. Yet, when considering actual welfare indicators assessed, the tallies generated in favour of each housing system were similar. Crucially however, there were incomplete behavioural welfare measures in 100% of the empirical studies reviewed. Accordingly, significant welfare concerns exist about CCs, centring around behavioural deprivation. Given that over 70 billion chickens are farmed then slaughtered each year globally, widespread implementation of CCs would create a major animal welfare concern. Instead of implementing such CC systems, research and development is recommended into improving welfare outcomes of conventional litter barns using different forms of commercially feasible enrichment. As a minimum, a full behavioural analysis, as detailed in the Welfare Quality Assessment protocols, should form a mandatory part of any future studies aimed at assessing the welfare impacts of housing systems on farmed chickens.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impacts of Colony Cages on the Welfare of Chickens Farmed for Meat

Mace

Knight

2022

Animals

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“…Low performance on any key welfare outcome measure should lead to a refinement of one or more of the inputs into the system (housing, breeding, management practices). A framework combining resource, outcome, and continuous improvement approaches has been suggested as best practice for effectively improving farm animal welfare (Main et al, 2014;Butterworth, 2018).…”

Section: Determinants Of Farming Systems With High Welfare Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to the concept of “welfare potential” of production systems and its practical relevance to welfare labelling

Murphy,

Legrand

2023

Front. Anim. Sci.

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Farm animal welfare is inextricably linked to, and limited by, the welfare potential of the production system. Welfare potential is determined by the method of production, with key housing features and the genetics of the animal being the primary defining factors. Housing systems with close confinement, or using animals selected for productivity to the detriment of welfare, such as fast-growing broilers, cannot deliver good welfare as the causes of poor welfare are an inherent part of the system. Good management, while not a determinant of the welfare potential, is essential for a system to achieve its potential. Viewing systems in terms of their welfare potential reduces the risk of making ongoing incremental changes to systems where welfare can never be high. It sets a framework for evaluating the inputs into a system which are key to ensure an acceptable level of welfare. This approach has practical relevance for certification schemes, as it allows for a tiered (“bad, better, best”) approach to food labelling based on method of production (e.g. intensive indoors, higher welfare indoors, free-range). Paired with robust welfare outcomes assessment and auditing, this can provide clear and simple information on the farming system to the consumers, while ensuring that the system delivers good welfare. There is an urgent need to move away from systems with a low welfare potential, as they can never deliver acceptable levels of welfare, and to support farmers in their transition towards systems with a higher welfare potential.

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“…Environmental factors are also considered a part of poultry welfare in the existing poultry welfare evaluation methods ( Lay et al., 2011 , Shimmura et al., 2011 , Van Horne and Achterbosch, 2008 ). The most commonly used evaluation methods mainly include Welfare Quality ( Butterworth et al., 2009 ) and Assurewel ( Assure Wel, 2019 ) Welfare evaluation model. However, the existing poultry welfare evaluation system only considers part of the environmental indicators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive evaluation method of the poultry house indoor environment based on gray relation analysis and analytic hierarchy process

Wen

Xue

et al. 2022

Poultry Science

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Due to the antagonism and synergy among environmental factors in the poultry house, the influence process becomes extremely complex. As a result, it is difficult to predict and evaluate the degree of such influence accurately. In this paper, we study the poultry house environment factor and its relationship with poultry production performance, using the gray relation analysis ( GRA ) to filtrate the main factors that influence the evaluation of the poultry house environment. Put forward using the gray relation degree ( GRD ) to improve the method for structuring the judgment matrix, and weights are more objective and reasonable. The evaluation index system and evaluation model are constructed through the analytic hierarchy process ( AHP ). It is expected that the comprehensive evaluation of the indoor environment status of the poultry house can guide the optimization of the environmental control in the poultry house and obtain better production indicators of the poultry. In this study, the experimental broiler house was enclosed in autumn. Because of the ventilation system, the indoor environment is still affected by the outdoor environment. The top 3 in the calculation of weights were outdoor environment (0.4315), indoor temperature (0.2384), and indoor air quality (0.1687), which were consistent with experience. From October 24 to 27, the environmental evaluation values of the experimental broiler house were {2.4367, 2.8149, 2.3857, 2.5669}, that is, the evaluation results were {good, good, good, good}; consistent with the expert manual judgment. The correctness and practicability of the proposed method were verified. This paper provides a scientific basis for environmental evaluation and environmental control in the poultry house.

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Welfare assessment of poultry on farm

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

The Impacts of Colony Cages on the Welfare of Chickens Farmed for Meat

The Impacts of Colony Cages on the Welfare of Chickens Farmed for Meat

Introduction to the concept of “welfare potential” of production systems and its practical relevance to welfare labelling

Comprehensive evaluation method of the poultry house indoor environment based on gray relation analysis and analytic hierarchy process

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