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1.
Calf welfare.   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
Many factors contribute to the well-being of calves on the commercial dairy including housing and environment; nutritional and health programs; handling and caretaker interactions; herd dynamics; and the common management practices of transportation, euthanasia, dehorning, and teat removal. Ensuring and assessing the welfare of calves on commercial dairies is a complex challenge, especially because the terminology and factors contributing to assessing animal welfare in agricultural animals, such as dairy calves, has not been clearly defined within the scientific community.  相似文献   

2.
Over the last 30 years concern about farm animal welfare has increased and has become a public issue in the Netherlands. Public discussion has stimulated research in this field, financed by both government and industry. Dutch society in general and consumers of animal products in particular, want to see high standards of welfare for production animals. Good animal welfare has gradually gained more impact in the total quality concept of the product. This will encourage scientists to continue to analyse the welfare status of animals and to come up with innovative solutions for the remaining problems. At ID-Lelystad much effort is put into farm animal welfare research. This research includes for example, the development of behavioural tests for quantifying and interpreting fear in cattle, investigations into the effects of dietary iron supply and a lack of roughage on behaviour, immunology, stress physiology, and pathology in veal calves, studies of the ontogeny of tail biting in finishing pigs and feather pecking in laying hens as well as evaluation of the welfare effects of automatic milking in dairy cows. The results of these projects contribute to concrete improvements in animal husbandry and expertise and support policy making and legislation. The animal industry as well as retailers should aim at the further implementation of this knowledge and to specify welfare standards to guarantee consumer acceptance of animal production.  相似文献   

3.
An overview of the current European legislation concerning animal welfare is given. The legal requirements concern the housing and care of production animals (poultry, calves and swine), the transport of animals and the killing of animals (not only in slaughterhouses, but also in case of contagious animal disease outbreaks). General information concerning the principles and contents of European pieces of legislation as well as detailed information concerning requirements for individual animal species is given. Furthermore, other elements concerning animal welfare such as castration of piglets, ritual slaughter and animals used for experimental purposes are also reviewed. Finally, some recent initiatives in the field of animal welfare are mentioned and useful links are provided for finding the various legislative acts and additional supportive information.  相似文献   

4.
Research on domestic violence has established a substantial association between intimate partner abuse and the abuse of children within the home. It is only recently however, that researchers have demonstrated the correlation between non-accidental injury in animals, and abuse of women by their intimate male partners. A growing body of evidence suggests that animal abuse can be an early indicator for other forms of violent behaviour. This research includes the responses of a sample of 23 women using refuge services in the Republic of Ireland. It investigates the connection between domestic violence and animal abuse, and ascertains if there is sufficient support service for animals and people relevant to domestic abuse. In the survey population, 57% of women reported witnessing one or more forms of abuse, or threats of abuse, of their pets. Five of which were reported to have resulted in the death of the pet. Eighty seven per cent of women felt a facility to accommodate pets would have made their decision to leave the family home easier. Four women disclosed that lack of such a service and concern for the welfare of their companion animals caused them to remain in their abusive relationships for longer than they felt appropriate. Nine families placed pets in the care of family or friends, one woman is unaware of the fate of her pet, while the pets of six families remained with the abusive male after his partner entered a refuge. The majority of women felt unable to talk to anyone about their fears for their pets' welfare. Many felt that there is no service which can provide temporary accommodation for womens' pets while they are in refuge. The results obtained support those found elsewhere in larger studies in the USA and UK, and demonstrate an association of animal abuse in households where there is reported domestic violence.  相似文献   

5.
Consumers, industrial stakeholders, and the legislature demand a stronger focus on animal welfare of all livestock at the farm level by using suitable indicators in self-assessments. In order to deduce farms’ animal welfare status reliably, factors that influence indicators’ results need to be identified. Hence, this study aimed to apply possible animal welfare indicators for unweaned dairy calves on conventional dairy farms with early cow–calf separation and evaluate influencing factors such as age and sex of calves or climatic conditions on the applied indicators’ results. An animal welfare assessment using 7 resource-based and 14 animal-based indicators was conducted at 42 typical Western German dairy farms (844 calves) in 2018 and 2019 by two observers. The effect of influencing factors was calculated by binary and ordinal logistic regressions and expressed as odds ratios. Although every unweaned calf was assessed during the farm visits, most farms had relatively few unweaned calves (average number of calves ± standard deviation = 20.1 ± 6.7 calves), with six farms having not more than 10 calves. The small sample sizes question the usage of those indicators to compare between farms and to set thresholds at the farm level. Only one assessed indicator (cleanliness core body) was not statistically affected by the evaluated influencing factors. Calf age was identified as the most decisive factor, as it affected 16 of 21 evaluated indicators, and calf age distribution on-farm varied greatly. Climatic conditions (ambient temperature and rainfall) influenced resource-based indicators such as access to concentrate and water or the cleanliness of feeding implements and bedding as well as animal-based cleanliness indicators and the occurrence of health-related impairments such as coughing and diarrhea. The authors found differences between calves on farms assessed by the different observers not only in resource-based hygiene indicators but also in animal-based indicators such as hyperthermia or hypothermia, highlighting the need for further evaluation of quality criteria in dairy calf welfare assessments. Nevertheless, animal welfare assessments by farmers themselves could be useful tools to sensitize farmers to animal welfare and thereby improve calves’ welfare.  相似文献   

6.
Much has been learnt during the last 50 years about the causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity and about practical means for minimising them in newborn lambs, kids, bovine calves, deer calves, foals and piglets. The major causes of problems in these newborns are outlined briefly and include hypothermia due to excessive heat loss or to hypoxia-induced, starvation-induced or other forms of inhibited heat production. They also include maternal undernutrition, mismothering, infection and injury. The published literature reveals that the scientific investigations which clarified these causes and led to practical means for minimising the problems, involved iterative successions of self-reinforcing laboratory and field or clinical investigations conducted over many years. These studies focused largely on solutions to the problems, not on the suffering that the newborn might experience, so that an analysis of the associated welfare insults had not apparently been conducted until now. The present assessment focuses on potentially noxious subjective experiences the newborn may have. The account of the causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity outlined early in this review indicates that the key subjective experiences which require analysis in animal welfare terms are breathlessness, hypothermia, hunger, sickness and pain. Reference to documented responses of farm animals and, where appropriate, to human experience, suggests that breathlessness and hypothermia usually represent less severe neonatal welfare insults than do hunger, sickness and pain. Major science-based improvements in the management of pregnancy and birth have markedly reduced the overall amount of welfare compromise experienced by newborn farm animals and further improvements may be expected as knowledge is refined and extended in the future.  相似文献   

7.
Using reproduction parameters as indicators for cattle welfare has limitations and, at best, these parameters should only be viewed as indirect indicators of welfare. On a farm level, measures such as fertility rates emphasize biological performance of the herd but fail to consider the welfare of individual animals. Even on an individual level, the relationship between reproductive effectiveness and animal welfare is complex. Good reproductive performance does not automatically signify good welfare, as domestication and targeted breeding programmes have led to prioritization of high productive and reproductive performance in most modern farm animal species. In this review, we synthesize literature regarding cattle husbandry, reproduction, welfare and their multidimensional relationships. We argue that practices such as artificial insemination or the use of sexed semen may provide potential welfare advantages as these practices reduce the risk of disease transmission and injury or enable selection of specific beneficial traits. Furthermore, they may offer a solution to current practices jeopardizing welfare, such as the management of surplus bull calves in the dairy industry. Conversely, the animals’ ability to perform natural behaviours such as oestrous expression, an aspect arguably contributing to welfare, is often limited on commercial farms; this limitation is particularly evident in housing systems such as tie stalls where movement is restricted. Moreover, common management practices such as oestrus manipulation may lead to negative attitudes in citizens who often regard naturalness as important element of animal welfare.  相似文献   

8.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sustainability and welfare of extensively farmed Podolian cattle. A trained interviewer visited 50 farms and filled in a checklist which included four cards corresponding to the following animal categories: calves, replacements, feeders and adults. The analysis of the farming system showed that animals were able to express their main behavioural patterns. In addition, recorded animal-related variables indicated that Podolian cattle could benefit from high standards of welfare. Sustainability of the Podolian farming system in terms of human edible returns was evaluated for two production systems producing 10-month-old calves (10 month) and 18-month-old young bulls (18 month), respectively. Edible returns for humans were low when all animal intakes were considered for both production systems. However, if returns were computed using not only the amount of food used by the animals but also consumable by humans, yields were much higher for 18-month systems [103% crude protein (CP) and 37.1% gross energy (GE)] and so high that they could not be computed for 10-month systems. These results indicate either a low degree of competition (18-month system) or no competition (10-month system) between humans and Podolian cattle. Perceptions of sustainability and welfare of Podolian cattle may promote a favourable positioning of products in premium-price markets and help preserving this breed and the related traditional farming system.  相似文献   

9.
Farm animal welfare: the five freedoms and the free market   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
This review addresses the scientific, ethical and economic factors that impact on the welfare of farm animals. Respect for animals within the food chain is considered within the context of an ethical matrix that affords respect according to the principles of wellbeing, autonomy and justice to consumers, farm animals, farmers and the living environment. The welfare of a farm animal depends on its ability to sustain fitness and avoid suffering. The responsibility of the farmer is to make provision for good welfare through good husbandry; he cannot ensure good welfare. Improvements to farm animal welfare can only come about within the context of the forces that drive the free market. In essence, consumers need to afford a greater extrinsic value to farm animals. The costs to farmers of legislation to impose higher animal welfare standards are substantial but the cost to consumers can be very small. The responsibility is therefore on the consumer to convert an expressed desire for higher welfare standards into an effective demand. A promising route to encourage and fulfil this demand is through welfare-based quality assurance schemes with quality control ensured by independent audit. At present, audit protocols are based largely on identification of the elements of good husbandry. Ultimately we need a further independent audit to ensure that the outcome of these perceived elements of good husbandry is, in fact, good animal welfare.  相似文献   

10.
Applied ethology in general and farm animal ethology in particular have a great importance in connection with animal welfare regulations on a national and international level. They have through the legislation on animal welfare brought about important repercussions on housing of farm animals, wild animals and experimental animals in Switzerland. The animal welfare legislation has been a considerable boost to scientific research. The application of ethological knowledge in the legislation and in practice has indeed also its limits. The importance of applied ethology for animal welfare and for animal husbandry will still increase in future.  相似文献   

11.
This paper considers (potentially) harmful consequences of transgenesis for farm animal welfare and examines the strategy of studying health and welfare of transgenic farm animals. Evidence is discussed showing that treatments imposed in the context of farm animal transgenesis are by no means biologically neutral and may compromise animal health and welfare. Factors posing a risk for the welfare of transgenic farm animals include integration of a transgene within an endogenous gene with possible loss of host gene function (insertional mutations), inappropriate transgene expression and exposure of the host to biologically active transgene-derived proteins, and in vitro reproductive technologies employed in the process of generating transgenic farm animals that may result in an increased incidence of difficult parturition and fetal and neonatal losses and the development of unusually large or otherwise abnormal offspring (large offspring syndrome). Critical components of a scheme for evaluating welfare of transgenic farm animals are identified, related to specific characteristics of transgenic animals and to factors that may interact with the effects of transgenesis. The feasibility of an evaluation of welfare of transgenic farm animals in practice is addressed against the background of the objectives and conditions of three successive stages in a long-term transgenic program. Concrete steps with regard to breeding and testing of transgenic farm animals are presented, considering three technologies to generate transgenic founders: microinjection, electroporation and nuclear transfer, and gene targeting including gene knockout. The proposed steps allow for unbiased estimations of the essential treatment effects, including hemi- and homozygous transgene effects as well as effects of in vitro reproductive technologies. It is suggested that the implementation of appropriate breeding and testing procedures should be accompanied by the use of a comprehensive welfare protocol, specifying which parameters to monitor, at which stages of the life of a farm animal, and in how many animals. Some prerequisites and ideas for such a protocol are given. It is anticipated that systematic research into the welfare of farm animals involved in transgenesis will facilitate the use of the safest experimental protocols as well as the selection and propagation of the healthiest animals and, thereby, enable technological progress that could be ethically justified.  相似文献   

12.
Sweden has a long history of detailed and progressive legislation related to animal welfare for laboratory, farm and companion animals. Previously, these issues have been the responsibility of the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SBA). As a growing proportion of the public opinion and the political establishment felt that the animal welfare related issues were not given proper attention at the SBA, a political decision was recently made to separate animal housing, management and welfare from the SBA and create an independent Animal Welfare Agency. This Agency was formally launched on January 1st 2004. The government has commissioned the Agency to improve animal welfare by evaluating, enforcing and developing legislation. The agency should consider scientific evidence when writing new legislation. Also, the Agency incorporates an external Animal Welfare Council, which, among other things, discusses ethical aspects in relation to existing or proposed legislature. The new Agency must deal with a diversity of public expectations. Animal rights groups have high expectations regarding new and stricter legislation, for example related to fur animals, while some farmers fear that production aspects may be completely lost in discussions about improving welfare standards for farm animals.  相似文献   

13.
OBJECTIVE: To provide an integrated view of relationships between assessment of animal welfare. societal expectations regarding animal welfare standards, the need for regulation, and two ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare, emphasising farm animals. APPROACH: Ideas in relevant papers and key insights were outlined and illustrated, where appropriate, by New Zealand experience with different facets of the welfare management of farm animals. CONCLUSIONS: An animal's welfare is good when its nutritional, environmental, health, behavioural and mental needs are met. Compromise may occur in one or more of these areas and is assessed by scientifically-informed best judgement using parameters validated by directed research and objective analysis in clinical and practical settings. There is a wide range of perceptions of what constitutes good and bad welfare in society, so that animal welfare standards cannot be left to individual preferences to determine. Rather, the promotion of animal welfare is seen as requiring central regulation, but managed in a way that allows for adjustments based on new scientific knowledge of animals' needs and changing societal perceptions of what is acceptable and unacceptable treatment of animals. Concepts of 'minimal welfare', representing the threshold of cruelty, and 'acceptable welfare', representing higher, more acceptable standards than those that merely avoid cruelty, are outlined. They are relevant to economic analyses, which deal with determinants of animal welfare standards based on financial costs and the desire of the public to feel broadly comfortable about the treatment of the animals that are used to serve their needs. Ethical strategies for promoting animal welfare can be divided broadly into the 'gold standard' approach and the 'incremental improvement' approach. The first defines the ideal that is to be required in a particular situation and will accept nothing less than that ideal, whereas the second aims to improve welfare in a step-wise fashion by setting a series of achievable goals, seeing each small advance as worthwhile progress towards the same ideal. 'Incremental improvement' is preferred. This also has application in veterinary practice where the professional commitment to maintain good welfare standards may at times conflict with financial constraints experienced by clients.  相似文献   

14.
The general concept of animal welfare embraces a continuum between negative/bad welfare and positive/good welfare. Early approaches to defining animal welfare were mainly based on the exclusion of negative states, neglecting the fact that during evolution animals optimised their ability to interact with and adapt to their environment(s). An animal's welfare status might best be represented by the adaptive value of the individual's interaction with a given environmental setting but this dynamic welfare concept has significant implications for practical welfare assessments. Animal welfare issues cannot simply be addressed by means of objective biological measurements of an animal's welfare status under certain circumstances. In practice, interpretation of welfare status and its translation into the active management of perceived welfare issues are both strongly influenced by context and, especially, by cultural and societal values. In assessing whether or not a given welfare status is morally acceptable, animal welfare scientists must be aware that scientifically based, operational definitions of animal welfare will necessarily be influenced strongly by a given society's moral understanding.  相似文献   

15.
Housing systems for captive animals have often been designed on the basis of economic and ergonomic considerations, such as equipment, costs, space, workload, ability to observe the animals and to maintain a certain degree of hygiene, with little or no consideration for animal welfare. Environmental refinement can be defined as any modification in the environment of captive animals that seeks to enhance the physical and psychological well-being of the animals by providing stimuli which meet the animals’ species-specific needs. This article provides an overview of environmental factors that influence the well-being of captive animals with specific reference to the needs of the most common laboratory species.It is important to evaluate environmental refinement in terms of the benefit to the animal, by assessing the use of and preference for certain enrichment, the effect on behaviour, and the performance of species-typical behaviour on physiological parameters. It is also necessary to evaluate the impact of refinement on scientific outcome, including whether and how statistical power is affected. Communication and team work between animal welfare scientists, animal research scientists, institutional animal welfare officers, veterinarians and animal ethics committees, animal facility management and personnel, are essential for success.  相似文献   

16.
A.K. Pascalev   《Livestock Science》2006,103(3):208-220
The paper discusses central moral issues raised by the applications of advanced biotechnology to animal agriculture and introduces the major ethical concepts and principles of animal bioethics. It is argued that biotechnology enables human beings to transform animals according to human needs, which blurs the boundary between humans and non-human animals in moral and biological sense. The more humans change animals, the more responsible humans are for the welfare of the animals and the greater their moral obligations. The paper introduces the main ethical approaches to animal welfare, traces the philosophical roots of animal ethics in the Judeo-Christian tradition and discusses the views of classical and contemporary ethicists such as Kant, Bentham, Mill, Peter Singer and Tom Regan. The paper explores the concept of animal welfare, suffering and rights, and the values behind Animal Liberation. Special attention is given to the animal welfare issues posed by cloning, genetic engineering and patenting of living organism. For each technology, actual or potential risks to animal welfare are identified and their moral implications are outlined. It is noted that the traditional moral principles of animal welfare, animal interests and animal rights are inadequate as means for evaluating the morality of certain advanced technologies because the technologies can change the animals in profound ways that make animal awareness too limited to give rise to claims about welfare, interests or rights. The principle of animal integrity is endorsed as an alternative better suited for evaluating the morality of advanced biotechnology.  相似文献   

17.
A questionnaire was designed to investigate calf health and welfare on dairy farms in the south west of England with regard to the degree of compliance with the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2000. The level of veterinary involvement in calf rearing and management on dairy farms in the south west of England was also assessed. The questionnaire was sent to 32 large animal practices in the catchment area of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency--Langford. Compliance with the regulations was found to be variable. The requirements for the isolation of sick calves, provision of bovine colostrum within six hours of birth, the provision of fresh, clean water and restrictions concerning tethering were not well complied with. However, the requirements for twice-daily feeding and inspection, visual and tactile contact between calves, access to forage and the provision of clean, dry bedding were well complied with. The results also suggested that there was some lack of veterinary input into the health and welfare of calves on dairy farms visited by the practices routinely and non-routinely.  相似文献   

18.
Any outbreak of an Office International des Epizooties List A disease, such as classical swine fever or foot and mouth disease, has severe consequences for animal welfare, livestock production, exports of animals and animal products, and the environment. The public concern with the animal welfare effects of methods of disease eradication that result in the destruction of large numbers of uninfected animals has initiated a reconsideration of disease eradication policy in Europe. In many recent List A disease epizootics, the financial cost of addressing animal welfare concerns in healthy animals has greatly exceeded the cost of stamping out disease in infected herds. In the event of a similar incursion in Canada, the number of animals subject to welfare slaughter will be far greater than the number of infected animals killed. Current national disease eradication plans in Canada do not address the animal welfare component of disease control methods.  相似文献   

19.
Since September 1, 2001, castration of male calves and small ruminants in Switzerland is not allowed without anesthesia. The use of rubber rings for that purpose is forbidden. This change of the legislation has been claimed by the Swiss consumers and is aimed to increase the animal welfare. The current paper provides a review of the different techniques of anesthesia and castration that may be advocated in male ruminants. Sedation with xylazine and injection of lidocaine in the area of the base of the scrotum, followed by closed castration with the Burdizzo represents a safe technique for painfree castration of calves and lambs.  相似文献   

20.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors on first-year veterinary students career choices and attitudes to animal welfare/rights. The study surveyed 329 first-year veterinary students to determine the influence of demographic factors, farm experience, and developmental exposure to different categories of animals on their career preferences and on their attitudes to specific areas of animal welfare and/or rights. A significant male gender bias toward food-animal practice was found, and prior experience with particular types of animals--companion animals, equines, food animals--tended to predict career preferences. Female veterinary students displayed greater concern for possible instances of animal suffering than males, and prior experience with different animals, as well as rural background and farm experience, were also associated with attitude differences. Seventy-two percent of students also reported that their interactions with animals (especially pets) had strongly influenced the development of their values. Animals ranked second in importance after parents in this respect. The present findings illustrate the importance to issues of animal welfare of the cultural context of past experience and influences on attitude development. The results also suggest that previous interactions with animals play a critical role in guiding veterinary students into their chosen career, as well as in helping to determine their specific employment preferences within the veterinary profession. From an animal welfare perspective, the dearth of women choosing careers in food-animal practice is a source of concern.  相似文献   

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