Data di Pubblicazione:
2013
Citazione:
ANIMAL-BASED INDICATORS FOR ON-FARM WELFARE ASSESSMENT ON CATTLE AND GOATS / M. Battini ; tutor: S. Mattiello, G. Stilwell ; coordinatore del dottorato: G. Gandini. UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO, 2013 Mar 08. 25. ciclo, Anno Accademico 2012. [10.13130/battini-monica_phd2013-03-08].
Abstract:
Animal welfare is a scientific discipline in continuous development and updating, motivated by the increasing concerns from the European citizens.
Recent researches highlighted the importance of the use of animal-based indicators to assess and evaluate the actual welfare status of farmed animals. Moreover, indicators should be feasible (concerning time and money consumption), as well as being valid and reliable.
Many welfare assessment protocols have already been developed for various farmed species, such as cattle, pigs and poultry, but they still require refinement and deeper studies, in order to adapt the way of data collection to different situations, giving more appropriate results.
In Chapter 1, the aim of the study was to investigate the long-term stability of two behavioural tests (Avoidance Distance – AD; Avoidance Distance at the Feeding rack – ADF) used to evaluate the human–animal relationship, in order to refine on-farm welfare assessment protocols for dairy cattle and to adapt them to alpine husbandry systems. Fifty lactating cows were tested three times (before grazing period – bg; during grazing period – dg; after grazing period – ag) during a year, following their management changes (indoor period vs outdoor summer grazing). Values of AD ag (113.93 ± 21.21 cm) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those observed in AD bg (71.07 ± 14.63 cm) and in AD dg (77.68 ± 18.11 cm). A similar trend was recorded also for ADF, which was significantly higher after the grazing period (ADF bg vs ADF ag: 25.00 ± 6.80 vs 47.50 ± 8.72 cm; P < 0.05). For certification purposes, the effect of summer grazing period should be borne in mind, as it may affect the reaction of cows towards humans.
In Chapter 2, the aim of the investigation was to compare the prevalence of welfare indicators (integument alterations, lameness and malformations) of poor welfare in 612 dairy cows among five Italian cattle breeds with different milking production and selective pressure (local breeds vs high selected breeds) kept in tie-stalls in the Italian Alps under similar housing and management conditions. The local breeds presented a significantly lower prevalence of all the considered variables compared with the other more productive and selected breeds (P < 0.001). The effect of the breed significantly affected the welfare of dairy cows in tie-stalls in alpine traditional husbandry systems, as the prevalence of the negative welfare indicators studied was lower in local breeds, which were better adapted to local farming conditions.
In addition to the refinement required for indicators on already investigated farmed species, the EU commission is presently requiring to develop welfare assessment protocols considering other farmed species in European countries not yet covered by previous research projects, such as small ruminants (sheep and goats), other poultry (turkeys) and equines (horses and donkeys).
In order to answer to this request, we concentrated on goats and, in Chapter 3, a literature review on animal-based indicators for this species was carried out to gather information about promising indicators to be included into an on-farm welfare assessment protocol. Indicators were classified into four principles and twelve criteria. Twenty-five promising indicators were found, but in many cases actions are still required in order to assess their validity, reliability and feasibility. As expected, indicators related to health and disease are the more represented. Adult dairy goats are widely considered, as they represent the main category bred in Europe. More studies are needed in order to confirm the already existing results and to improve the development of effective on-farm welfare assessment protocols.
In Chapter 4, the s
Tipologia IRIS:
Tesi di dottorato
Keywords:
animal welfare ; cattle ; goats ; on-farm assessment protocol ; animal-based indicators
Elenco autori:
M. Battini
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