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Summary
Introduction
Animals differ in their experience, temperament
and the way in which their genetic makeup
interacts with their environment. The influence
of management and the stockperson can also
dramatically influence not only productivity
measures, but also the animals experience of a
particular situation. Thus resource-based measures
(RBMs like type of housing, allocation of resources,
stocking density etc) or management-based measures
(like breeding strategies, health plans etc) may be
a poor guarantee of high levels of animal welfare
in a particular situation. Some single Animal Based
Measures (ABMs) have been suggested as being
capable of providing and integrated assessment
of animal welfare including; corticosteroids, acute
phase proteins, and longevity (Hurnik, 1990;
Barnett and Hemsworth, 1990; Geers et al., 2003).
However, none of these single measures can cover
all the dimensions of welfare. It seem probable
that several measures are necessary to obtain a
comprehensive view of any particular animals
welfare (Friend, 1980; Dawkins, 1980; Webster,
1997; Rutter, 1998). Recognising the difficulties of
single measure approaches, grouped measures
have been used to advise farmers (Srensen et al.,
2001), in branded welfare certification schemes
(e.g. Freedom Food Scheme: Main et al., 2001),
and to compare systems to provide information
during the creation of new legislation (Bracke et
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Andrew Butterworth
XXIV
al., 2002) and to check compliance with legislative
requirements (Keeling and Svedberg, 1999).
Practically speaking, it is may be possible to
combine RBMs and ABMs. For example, if poultry
become lame (assessed using an ABM) it may be
possible to predict lameness if the litter condition
is poor (an RBM). However, the philosophy of ABM
based assessment is that, if there is measure from
the animal which fulfils the conditions described
above (practical, valid, repeatable, robust) then this
should be used in preference to the RBM alone
because a given litter condition may be very good
for one animal but very poor for another.
Andrew Butterworth
The
Welfare
Quality
measures for poultry
The questions listed above quite closely resemble
the elements of the five freedoms (Brambell, 1965),
and WelfareQuality (Blokhuis et al., 2003), through
collaboration between 41 institutes across Europe,
built on the these principles to develop on-farm and
slaughter assessment systems to address the key areas
of feeding, housing, health and disease and behaviour.
WelfareQuality
created
grouped
assessment
measures, which address twelve health and welfare
criteria (somewhat like the well known five freedoms),
and tested them on a large number of farms across
Europe. The twelve areas addressed were;
1. Animals should not suffer from prolonged
hunger, i.e. they should have a sufficient
and appropriate diet.
2. Animals should not suffer from prolonged
thirst, i.e. they should have a sufficient and
accessible water supply.
3. Animals should have comfort around
resting.
4. Animals should have thermal comfort, i.e.
they should neither be too hot nor too cold.
5. Animals should have enough space to be
able to move around freely.
6. Animals should be free of physical injuries.
7. Animals should be free of disease, i.e.
Area: Poultry Welfare and Environment August 06
XXIV
Table 1 - An example of a specific individual Welfare Quality measure for poultry pododermatitis.
Title
Scope
Method description
Foot pad dermatitis (or pododermatitis) is a contact dermatitis found on the skin of
the foot, most commonly on the central pad, but sometimes also on the toes. The
skin is turned dark by contact with litter and consequently deep skin lesions can
result. The scoring scale allows an assessment of the severity of these lesions.
During three separate recording periods of five minutes, score a proportion of the
birds passing the observation point where the foot pad is visible - this will provide a
sample of n (line speed birds per minute (ls) x number of minutes (t)).
Observe the birds where bottom of the feet are clearly visible.
Record number of birds passing per minute. Count number of birds with foot pad
lesions (b/c/d/e) use scoring category in photographic reference.
In the MEYN camera system, three scores are reported 0 (as 0 below), 1 (as 1
below) 2 (combining all score of 2 and above 2, 2+ and 2++)
To classify use calculation below, in which t = period of observation (minutes), F
a/b/c/d/e = number of birds with foot pad lesion, ls = line speed (birds per minute)
and n = number of birds observed in total (t x ls).
Percentage of birds with foot pad lesions in each category = ( F(0), F(1) etc../n) x
100%
Classification
Individual level:
Percentage (%) of birds with foot pad lesions in each category.
Andrew Butterworth
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Table 2 - Collection of data for broiler chicken on farm (actually measured on farm).
Welfare Criteria
Good feeding
Good housing
Good health
Appropriate
behaviour
Measures
No measure
Drinker space
Thermal comfort
Panting, huddling
Ease of movement
Stocking density
Absence of injuries
Absence of disease
No measure
12 Absence of fearfulness
Table 3 - Collection of data for broiler chicken on farm (but measured at the slaughter house) These measures
are assessments of disease which are made at the slaughterhouse but which reflect disease conditions
indicating the farm life of the bird and are not reflections of the slaughter process.
Welfare Criteria
Andrew Butterworth
Good feeding
Good housing
Emaciation
No measure
No measure
Thermal comfort
No measure
Ease of movement
No measure
Absence of injuries
Absence of disease
Absence
of
pain
induced
management procedures
No measure
No measure
No measure
12 Absence of fearfulness
No measure
Good health
Appropriate
behaviour
Discussion
The tools being developed in animal based
measure (ABM) or outcome based measure (OBM)
systems now under development in Europe evolve
the trend toward inclusion of assessment techniques
which reflect what can be measured on the animal.
It seems likely that some ABMs are likely to find their
way into poultry farm assessment schemes, and,
to a certain degree, already have started to do so
Measures
by No measure
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Table 4 - Collection of data for broiler chicken at slaughterhouse (these measures relate directly to the
assessment of the slaughter process).
Welfare Criteria
Good feeding
Good housing
Good health
Appropriate
behaviour
Measures
No measure
Thermal comfort
Ease of movement
Absence of injuries
Absence of disease
No measure
No measure
No measure
12 Absence of fearfulness
Acknowledgement
GEERS, R., PETERSEN, B., HUYSMANS, K., KNURADESZCZKA, S., DE BECKER, M., GYMNICH, S.,
HENOT, D., HISS, S. and SAUERWEIN, H. (2003) OnFarm Monitoring of Pig Welfare by Assessment of
Housing, Management, Health Records and Plasma
Haptoglobin. Animal Welfare 12:643-647.
HURNIK , J.F. (1990) Worlds poultry science association
invited lecture: Animal welfare: ethical aspects and
practical considerations. Poultry Science 69:18271834.
References
Andrew Butterworth