Ruminants’ Welfare Assessment

Most consumers expect welfare to be part of the core of animal production and will avoid products which they view as not fulfilling minimum conditions. But even if consumers did not object to poor animal welfare, there is more than enough evidence that promoting welfare corresponds to better performance and higher quality products. Thus, there are plenty of reasons vindicating welfare assessment of farm animals. Welfare is a multidimensional concept enclosing both physical and mental components, so assessment has to address its full complexity to be credible and fair. To achieve this, assessment protocols should include valid and reliable indicators pertaining the real welfare of all the animals in a group. The protocols should also include easily measured indicators to guarantee its feasibility in farm conditions. CIISA’s Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Lab has been involved in both the developing and the application of welfare assessment protocols in ruminants. As part of the AWIN project, CIISA built, together with the University of Milan research team, an assessment protocol for dairy goats. It was also the first to apply the Welfare Quality® protocol to Portuguese intensive dairy farms and to introduce changes to these protocols so that they could be used in ruminants at pasture.