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In recent years, animal welfare has become an important element of sustainable production that has evolved along with the transformation of animal production systems. Consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare are changing around the world, especially at emerging markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Survey-based research on consumer attitudes towards farm animal welfare has increased. However, the geographical coverage of studies on consumer attitudes and perceptions about farm animal welfare has mostly been limited to Europe, and North America. Until now, Latin American consumers’ attitudes towards animal welfare have not been well studied. Despite the fact that Mexico, Chile and Brazil belong to the same region (according to international organizations), there are marked differences between these countries in terms of their economical and geographical characteristics among other factors. Those differences potentially have an impact on consumer attitudes towards animal welfare and livestock production systems in general. Given the evidence from the literature review, it seems advisable that Latin American producers and food industry who engage in animal welfare-enhancing practices should clearly label their products with information on the type of husbandry system to reach those consumers who want to make an informed choice. Therefore, there are some aspects that need to be studied and cannot be worked separately in order to promote and understand consumer attitudes towards dairy and beef systems, such as geography, economic development, and politics.

Improvements in the welfare of farmed animals in the EU have been achieved by legislation, increased welfare capacity in the food chain, greater public awareness, welfare measurement tools and dissemination of best practice. However, pressure for improvement grows. The EC recognises that delivering improved welfare would best be achieved by increasing welfare capacity, including establishing a Network of Welfare Reference Centres to provide support for welfare research, knowledge transfer and policy design. Designing a structure for this Network presents a challenge, as it would have multiple functions, interact with diverse stakeholders and operate in a complex environment. Here, we describe the use of a novel strategic planning approach to design an optimal structure for this Network. Our evaluation found that no existing structure was ideal, but that by taking functional units from several existing models, an optimal model could be identified.

As humans, we recognize the importance of exercise. We go to the gym, walk our dogs, and ride our horses. Even our hamsters get a wheel to run on. Considering this, it is surprising that, when it comes to the production animals that make up the bulk of domestic animals, the concept of ‘exercise’ becomes more muddled. There is empirical evidence of improvements to health and behavior that have been linked to what has been perceived in the literature as the provision of exercise to dairy cows as well as of the preference for cows to access environments like pasture often associated with exercise. More unclear is whether these benefits and preferences are a direct result of exercise or due to the increased movement opportunity provided by the housing and management methods that are implemented in these studies. To address this conceptual quandary, it is necessary to look at the methods used to measure exercise in the literature. For quantitative evaluations of exercise, researchers turn to measures of the cow’s locomotor activity, looking at the distance, speed, and or duration of time spent moving, often with the aid of technologies such as GPS and pedometers to obtain a more comprehensive analyses of locomotor activity. Equally important to the method of measurement of locomotor activity are the qualitative factors associated with exercise and locomotor activity in the literature, including: 1) changes to characteristics of the cow’s housing environment (e.g. space allowance/cow, walking surface, stall hardware), and 2) changes to the duration of time/frequency that cows are managed under certain housing options (e.g. provision of outdoor access). Moreover, providing a cow with an environment in which she can exercise does not guarantee that she will utilize the resources provided to do so. Considering all of the existing knowledge, it becomes more apparent that the positive outcomes of these studies cannot be attributed to exercise, per se, but to the level of movement opportunity provided to the cow. Furthermore, level of movement opportunity may be dependent on the preferences and needs of individual cow, but is also ultimately limited and/or facilitated by the cow’s housing system and characteristics therein. This change in perspective can lead to an improved ability to make suitable recommendations to producers on how to keep their cows healthy, fulfill a wider range of behavioral needs, and keep their cows in motion.

Dairy housing systems can have major implications on how freely cows move within their environment and how fully they can express their behavioral repertoire, impacting overall welfare. To ensure housing systems are meeting the needs of the dairy cow, more information is needed on the best method of loose-housing for dairy cows. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine whether cows express different locomotor activity, lying behaviors, and time budgets when housed in two different housing types (strawyard - SY vs. free-stall - FS) that provide similar space and 2) measure whether similar locomotor activity and time budgets are expressed in a SY and FS under winter confinement versus under summer conditions with outdoor access. Twenty-four cows were randomly allocated into six groups (n = 4 per group), balanced for parity and DIM. Groups were subjected to the FS and SY housing treatments for one week each in a crossover design, with each treatment applied three weeks apart. The same design and procedure was repeated twice: at the end of the winter housing period and at the start of summer after a 6-week grazing period. Locomotor activity and lying data was collected by pedometers and live observation of cow behavior were carried out 2x/wk for 2 h/observation period. The findings revealed no difference in number of steps between treatments or seasons. In summer, more visits to pasture was positively correlated with a higher number of steps in both the FS (r = 0.59, p

Domestic pig fear of humans is common, certainly because a lot of the human interactions are aversive and the current intensive pig husbandry systems do not leave much place for positive interactions. However, the situation may change because the quality of human–animal relationship is being included in many welfare evaluation systems. The development of the relationship with humans involves different sensory channels (acoustic, visual, tactile or chemical). Memory is central in the relationship, and it leads pigs to discriminate and even recognise individual humans. The nature of the relationship matters as it will modulate not only pig health and welfare but also productivity and product quality as well as stockpeople work quality and job satisfaction. Future research aiming at improving the human–pig relationship will have to focus on the pigs’ sensorial capacities and social behaviour, as well as stockperson training.

Acute mastitis is one of the most common diseases of high-producing dairy cows. However, there is still lack of knowledge on which precise behaviours change first at the beginning of acute mastitis, and whether behavioural changes might serve as a tool for early detection of clinical mastitis. In addition, mastitis can cause motivational conflict in the behavioural priorities of a cow, and thus blur the classical patterns of sickness behaviour: cows’ increased lying behaviour which may be uncomfortable or painful due to the sore udder. To study this, we monitored the behaviour of six cows after induction of acute endotoxin mastitis. Cows served as their own controls. Their behaviour was filmed from 1 day before the induction (control day) to 24 h after the induction (induction day). To follow-up on the inflammation, milk samples were taken and the cows’ health status was checked at regular intervals. Mean daily durations were determined for all behaviours, except stepping and body care, for which mean daily frequencies were counted. For standing and lying behaviours, also mean bout durations were analyzed. To examine the effects of time since the induction of mastitis, data were accordingly divided in 2-h periods. We analyzed the effect of induction on overall behaviour and behavioural rhythms with linear mixed models, taking repeated observations into account. Overall cows spent less time lying on the induction day than on the day before, and less on the side of the inflamed udder quarter. Cows also spent longer time overall for eating silage during the induction day, and they also stepped more than during the previous day. Cows spent less time lying and ruminated and drank less when the udder was severely swollen and when they had high fever. We concluded that unlike in typical sickness behaviour, cows did not increase their time spent lying, but instead stood more, and avoided lying on the side of the inflamed udder quarter. We suggest that pain experienced in the udder overrides the motivational the state of the cows’ sickness behaviour. In the future, novel mastitis detection tools should therefore be able automatically detect and combine changes on both physiological parameters (i.e. fever) and complete behavioural patterns consisting of resting, standing and eating behaviours.

Piglet crushing remains a major problem in pig production and is partly related to sow behavioural traits. The sows’ responses to the presence of humans around farrowing could partly contribute to piglet crushing through increased reactivity and getting up and lying down behaviour. The aim of the study was to determine if the sows’ behaviour observed during standard management procedures during gestation and after farrowing can be related with their reproductive performance including crushing levels. One hundred sows originating from a selection unit were observed before expected farrowing on their fear (withdrawal) response to human presence at feeding and their ease of transfer to the farrowing unit. After farrowing, their reaction was observed (latency to change position, number of postural changes) during a 5 min period of piglet handling (tattooing, tail cutting) and through the number of postural changes for the next 3 h. Parity influenced most of the behaviour observed during gestation, but not after farrowing. A high withdrawal response of sows tended to be correlated with higher transfer speed to the farrowing unit (P = 0.10), was correlated with a shorter latency to change position and with more postural changes during piglet handling (P

Weaning in suckler calves influences performance in a learning task. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the improved performance after weaning, including relocation, is due to differences in motivation for the reward or in learning abilities. Forty Aubrac calves were used; half of them were weaned from their dams at around eight months, the other half were weaned one month later. After weaning, calves were housed in groups of four in a new setting. From the day after weaning of the last group of calves, the animals were subjected to two tests: (1) an arena test, (2) a T-maze test where one arm led to either a social or a food reward. The T-maze test consisted of three sessions: in Session 1, trials were conducted until the animal acquired the task (i.e. did not take the unrewarded arm on three consecutive trials); in Session 2, the motivation for the reward was assessed via the walking time of the animal to reach the reward; in Session 3, the place of reward was reversed and the animals were trained until they acquired the new task. Calves weaned for one day explored more (P

International audience; Although veal production is highly standardised, there still remains variability in productivity between farms, which might be due to the farmers' behaviour towards their animals, which in turn depends on their attitude towards animals. Fifty farms affiliated with the same veal company were studied. The farmers' behaviour with the calves was observed during one morning meal. The farmers were then asked to fill in questionnaires designed to measure their attitude towards calves, and to obtain information about their background (e.g. age, gender, level of education). The productivity results (daily weight gain, feed conversion, and mortality rates) were obtained from the veal company. The frequency of gentle contacts was positively correlated with the description the farmers made of their behaviour with the calves and their beliefs about the sensitivity of calves. Female farmers showed a more positive behaviour towards the calves, had more positive beliefs about the importance of contacts with calves, and made a more positive description of their own behaviour. Positive behaviour was associated with better productivity. Furthermore, bigger units had lower mortality rates. It is concluded that for veal farmers, a positive attitude towards calves, a positive behaviour towards them, and good production results are linked.; Relation entre l'attitude et le comportement des éleveurs envers les animaux, et la production de veaux de boucherie. Bien que la production de veaux de boucherie soit très standardisée, il reste une certaine variabilité dans les résultats techniques entre élevages. Cette variabilité résiduelle pourrait être due à la façon dont les éleveurs se comportent envers leurs animaux. Cette étude a pour objectifs de décrire le comportement des éleveurs avec leur veaux, d'en comprendre l'origine (en fonction de l'histoire des éleveurs et de leurs attitudes envers les veaux), et d'évaluer la relation entre la productivité des élevages et le comportement et l'attitude des éleveurs. Cinquante élevages affiliés au même intégrateur ont été étudiés. Tous utilisaient la même alimentation et recevaient le même suivi technique. Les contacts et les mouvements de l'éleveur ont été observés pendant la distribution du lait aux veaux. Puis les éleveurs ont été interviewés au moyen de deux questionnaires. Le premier visait à déterminer leurs attitudes envers les veaux : des questions sur leurs croyances concernant la sensibilité des veaux au comportement humain, sur l'importance des contacts humains pour la réussite de l'élevage, et sur la fréquence des contacts donnés par eux-mêmes, étaient posées. Le second visait à obtenir des informations sur l'histoire des éleveurs (par exemple âge, genre, niveau d'éducation). Des analyses en composantes principales ont été réalisées pour évaluer la cohérence à l'intérieur de chacun de ces groupes de données et pour calculer des variables synthétiques. Les données sur la croissance des veaux, l'indice de consommation et la mortalité ont été fournies par l'intégrateur après les observations. Les résultats montrent que les éleveurs qui ont un comportement positif envers les veaux (contacts doux fréquents et contacts brusques rares) ont également une attitude positive envers les animaux (ils croient en leur sensibilité) et attribuent plus d'importance aux contacts qu'ils donnent. Les éleveurs-femmes ont montré un comportement plus positif envers les veaux, et également une attitude plus positive envers ce comportement (elles jugent les contacts importants et rapportent donner fréquemment des contacts doux). Les meilleurs résultats techniques ont été observés chez les éleveurs qui avaient le comportement le plus positif. De plus, la mortalité était moindre dans les plus grandes unités. En conclusion, parmi les éleveurs de veaux de boucherie, une attitude positive envers les veaux, un comportement positif avec eux, et de bons résultats techniques sont liés. De plus, les femmes semblent avoir une attitude et un comportement plus positif envers les animaux.

Information on animal welfare and ways that farm animals are kept has gained more and more importance with regard to the consumers’ behaviour and expectations when buying food products. In certain countries, animal welfare is considered as an important extrinsic quality attribute of animal products. Until now, hardly any studies have been conducted in Latin America on consumers’ expectations and knowledge regarding animal welfare aspects of the products they buy. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and expectations of consumers in Chile regarding information about dairy production systems and animal welfare, and the main aspects they considered when buying dairy products. A face-to-face interview was conducted on a sample of 501 persons from the Province of Santiago, Chile. The survey was conducted in major supermarkets from 15 different municipalities of Santiago in November and December 2012. The main aspects considered before purchasing dairy products were fat content (30%) and price (26%). It was shown that 66.9% of the participants associated the term animal welfare with responsible pet ownership, 12.4% to farm animal care, 11.6% to vegetarianism and 9.2% to the freedom and nature of animals. Age, educational level and family income were related (P < 0.001) to responsible pet ownership whereas gender did not relate to the concept of animal welfare. From the total surveyed participants, 73% were interested in receiving more information about animal welfare; 62% of these were women between 18 and 30 years of age. Information about the conditions of milk production and animal welfare were considered to be an important aspect to be included in dairy products’ labelling for 86% of the participants. Also, 68% of the participants declared a willingness to pay more for an animal welfare friendly dairy product. Data from this study may be useful in order to include animal welfare as an extrinsic quality attribute of dairy products in Chile and to define a market-oriented strategy including animal welfare.

Une des productions les plus critiquées à l’heure actuelle est celle des veaux de boucherie. Ces animaux sont élevés dans des milieux jugés artificiels par beaucoup d’entre nous. De fait, l’isolement social, le manque de place, l’absence de tétée et l’absence d’aliments solides sont autant de facteurs qui affectent le bien-être des veaux. De plus, le soigneur, par ses gestes quotidiens auprès des animaux, détermine une part importante de la réactivité des veaux lors de manipulations. Des améliorations des conditions de vie des veaux de boucherie semblent possible. L’élargissement des cases individuelles, le logement en groupes stables, la complémentation avec un aliment contenant des fibres, la mise à disposition d’objets à téter peuvent être proposés. Certaines de ces mesures sont d’ailleurs rendues obligatoires par la réglementation., Veissier Isabelle, Lensink Joop. Bien-être des veaux de boucherie : problèmes et solutions. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 153 n°3, 2000. pp. 293-302.