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Rat tickling is a heterospecific interaction for experimenters to mimic the interactions of rat play, where they produce 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (USV), symptoms of positive affect; tickling can improve laboratory rat welfare. The standard rat tickling protocol involves gently pinning the rat in a supine position. However, individual response to this protocol varies. This suggests there is a risk that some rats may perceive tickling as only a neutral experience, while others as a positive one, depending on how tickling is performed. Based on our research experiences of the standard tickling protocol we have developed a playful handling (PH) protocol, with reduced emphasis on pinning, intended to mimic more closely the dynamic nature of play.We will test whether our PH protocol gives rise to more uniform increases in positive affect across individuals relative to protocols involving pinning. We will compare the response of juvenile male and female Wistar rats as: Control (hand remains still against the side of the test arena), P0 (PH with no pinning), P1 (PH with one pin), P4 (PH with four pins). P1 and P4 consist of a background of PH, with treatments involving administration of an increasing dosage of pinning per PH session.We hypothesise that rats exposed to handling protocols that maximise playful interactions (where pinning number per session decreases) will show an overall increase in total 50 kHz USV as an indicator of positive affect, with less variability. We will explore whether behavioural and physiological changes associated with alterations in PH experience are less variable.We propose that maximising the numbers of rats experiencing tickling as a positive experience will reduce the variation in response variables affected by tickling and increase the repeatability of research where tickling is applied either as a social enrichment or as a treatment.

The Open Science movement aims at ensuring accessibility, reproducibility, and transparency of research. The adoption of Open Science practices in animal science, however, is still at an early stage. To move ahead as a field, we here provide seven practical steps to embrace Open Science in animal science. We hope that this paper contributes to the shift in research practices of animal scientists towards open, reproducible, and transparent science, enabling the field to gain additional public trust and deal with future challenges to guarantee reliable research. Although the paper targets primarily animal science researchers, the steps discussed here are also applicable to other research domains.

Precision Livestock Farming is the use of technology to help farmers monitor and manage their animals and their farm. Precision Livestock Farming technologies can be used to improve not only animal welfare and health, but also production. Automated measures reflecting the welfare of an animal can be related to its environment, and to the behaviour and physiology of the animal, as well as its position relative to environmental features. We need to ensure that the automatic measures we record reflect the type of behavioural or physiological changes we are interested in. Other aspects to consider are space and time, in terms of variable environmental conditions and animal-related changes that occur gradually. Different types of equipment can be used for measuring behaviour automatically, and these are either attached to, interacting with, or remote from the animal. A combination of these is often the most efficient method, but it is also more complex to manage. There are also species differences as to what is feasible. Small farms are unlikely to be able to afford the type of equipment used by larger enterprises, and we need to put more effort into finding Precision Livestock Farming technologies that can work for the smallholder. The use of Precision Livestock Farming technologies for efficient animal welfare monitoring in practice requires affordable, reliable, and easy-to-use equipment, providing data that reflect – adequately and in real-time – different aspects of the state of the welfare of animals within the herd., Precizno stočarstvo uključuje primjenu tehnologija koje stočarima pomažu pri praćenju i upravljanju njihovim životinjama i farmom. Tim se tehnologijama mogu unaprijediti ne samo zdravlje i dobrobit životinja nego i proizvodnja. Automatizirani načini mjerenja koji pokazuju dobrobit životinje mogu se odnositi na njezin okoliš, ponašanje i fiziologiju, kao i na njezin položaj s obzirom na značajke okoliša. Cilj je mjerenjem osigurati dobivanje ponašajnih i fizioloških promjena koje nas zanimaju. Drugi aspekti koje treba uzeti u obzir jesu prostor i vrijeme, s obzirom na promjenjive uvjete okoliša i promjene vezane uz životinju do kojih s vremenom dolazi. Za automatizirano mjerenje ponašanja mogu se upotrijebiti različiti tipovi opreme koji se mogu postaviti na životinju, koji su na neki način povezani sa životinjom ili mogu biti udaljeni od nje. Premda je najzahtjevnija, kombinacija ovih metoda obično je i najučinkovitija. Izvodivost osim toga ovisi i o vrsnim razlikama. Male farme obično si ne mogu priuštiti opremu kao što to mogu velike te je potrebno uložiti više napora u pronalaženje tehnologijskih rješenja kojima će se moći koristiti male farme. Njihova primjena za učinkovito praćenje dobrobiti životinja zahtijeva dostupnu i sigurnu opremu kojom se lako rukuje i kojom se pravodobno dobivaju odgovarajući podaci upotrebljivi za različite aspekte dobrobiti zivotinja unutar stadu.