Browsing by Subject "Welfare"

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Ethologische und klinische Untersuchungen zur Käfig- und Bodenhaltung bei Mastkaninchen
(2010) Toplak, Andrej; Reiter, Klaus
The aim of this project was to evaluate the effect of different rearing systems on the basis of ethological and clinical parameters in young domestic rabbits kept for meat production. Newly developed pen housing was compared with the conventional cage-rearing. Four experiments were performed between June 2005 and July 2006 with total 1349 animals. ZIKA-hybrid rabbits were assigned into different rearing systems after weaning. The fattening period lasted eight weeks. In the cages the group size was four animals (8.3 animals/m2) and in pens 24 animals (7.8 animals/m2). In experiment A the conventional cage rearing was compared with the pen rearing on plastic perforated floor and with pen rearing with straw litter. The effect of the elevated ledges was analysed in experiment B. The influence of straw as enrichment was studied in experiment C. The possibility of separated fattening of male and female growing rabbits was tested in the experiment D. The housing had a significant effect on some important behavioural traits of the animals. The frequencies of locomotion in pens were compared with cages significantly higher. This could be due to the restricted possibility of movement in the conventional cages compared to the pens. The intensive locomotion was performed very seldom and less markedly in the cages, very likely due to the lack of space. As opposed to that, the intensive multiple hops could be observed very frequently in the pens. In the cages only modified single hops could be performed. The elevated slates had no significant effect on the frequency of locomotion. In the cages with elevated slates the frequencies of locomotion were still significantly lower compared to the pens. The results obtained by peripheral computed tomography confirmed the behavioural observations of locomotory frequences. The pQCT-parameters were higher in pen reared animals. The differences between the animals without the elevated ledges and the pen reared animals were especially significant. Particularly the strain-strength-index was bigger when it comes to the animals in the pens. The major differences were determined in the diaphysis of the analysed bones. The aggressive interactions occurred very rarely and were not intensive. The majority of aggressive interactions resulted only in minor bite wounds. By clinical examinations predominantly small scratches and small superficial bite wounds were found. No clear differences could be determined between different rearing systems. Animals can bear easily minor scratches and bite wounds without any long-term residual effects. Severe aggression and problematic wounds were observed very seldom. In experiment D the percentage of the animals with injuries was higher in pens than in cages. The percentage of the animals with lesions was especially high in the mixed groups with males and females in the experiment. In general more males than females had bite injuries. Bare cage environment may be averse to animals. The animals may be unable to adapt, and show abnormalities of behaviour. Abnormal behaviour was shown independently of the housing system. The rate of abnormal behaviour decreased in pens. However, it is also important to note that the pen-raising was not sufficient to completely prevent the development of abnormal behaviour. The frequency of the scratching and gnawing on the equipment could be significantly reduced with straw as enrichment. Only minor differences were found between the tested rearing systems regarding blood parameters. Although some of these differences were significant. Mortality did not differ between the treatments. Most of the mortality was caused by diarrhoea in the second and third week of the experiment. The daily weight gain was significantly different between the treatments in experiments A, B and C. The animals in pens with litter achieved the lowest daily weight gains. On the other hand, the daily weight gains of the animals in pens with perforated floor were comparable with the daily weight gains of the animals reared in cages. In experiment D no differences were found in this respect. In all four experiments no differences between the treatments were found in daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The rabbits showed only a weak interest for straw litter. This may be due to the attraction towards the cleanliness and dryness of the perforated plastic floor compared to the litter. The use of litter may also depend on the environmental temperature. Especially the pen housing on plastic perforated floor with straw in the wire container showed positive effects on the behaviour of the rabbits without reduction of performance. More studies are needed before any final conclusion about the appropriateness of the group housing in developed pens can be made. These results have to be proven in further field studies under commercial conditions.
Non-invasive welfare evaluations in horses : the usefulness of laterality
(2020) Marr, Isabell; Stefanski, Volker
Animal welfare is becoming increasingly important, especially for animal owners. In particular, prey animals such as horses generally suffer in silence. To improve the evaluation of animal welfare in practice and to simplify it in scientific research, new welfare indicators are needed that are easier to assess, less time consuming, and repeatable. Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate laterality as a welfare indicator that could meet these requirements. Domestic horses were used as model organisms as they display sensory and motor laterality on individual and/or population level; their sensory organs are placed laterally, non-invasive stress hormone analysis is already well-established, as a highly social animal that evolved on open ranges it is prone to suffering from inappropriate human management regimes, and it displays various stress responses. In STUDY it could be demonstrated that a shift to an enhanced preference for the right brain hemisphere was in line with increased stress hormone concentrations in faeces. Sensory laterality and motor laterality measured while grazing, shifted to the left when natural needs were restricted by a change from group to individual housing. Sensory laterality changed immediately after the change of housing conditions, whereas the motor laterality changed with a time delay of one week. STUDY 2 demonstrated that motor laterality measured as initial forelimb use correlated with the cognitive bias (welfare indicator). Right-sided horses were faster to approach an ambiguous stimulus and therefore displayed a positive cognitive bias. But neither motor laterality, measured through grazing stance, nor sensory laterality were related to cognitive bias. STUDY 3 demonstrated that a preference for left side sensory organ use is not only evident in negative contexts but also in positive contexts, because the horses also preferred their left side during affiliative interactions that are assumed to induce positive emotions. This study demonstrated that not only the direction of shift in laterality, but also the context of the shift, should be recorded to reliably identify poor or good welfare. Therefore, it is recommended that additional stress parameters be applied to reliably evaluate animal welfare. STUDY 4 investigated whether the sampling and analysis of faecal stress hormones and immunoglobulin A could be simplified by applying a novel conservation method. Often it is not possible to immediately freeze the faecal samples and/or the transportation to the lab is lengthy. The study demonstrated that faecal samples can be dried a closed system such as an air-tight tube containing silica gel. The samples were dried within 24 hours, as fast as in controlled air-drying conditions at room temperature. The new and simpler drying method prevented the stress hormones (glucocorticoid metabolites) from enzymatic degradation and conserved them, demonstrated by the fact that the detectable concentration remained unchanged. In contrast, immunoglobulin A showed a reduction in the detectable concentration. Therefore, if possible, the conservation of faecal samples should be avoided when immunoglobulin A is to be analysed, although it would be possible to apply an extrapolation to attain fairly reliable results. This new drying method will simplify research on wild horses into the type of stressors they are confronted with, the impact of natural stressors, and effect of stressors on, for example, their laterality in comparison with domestic horses. STUDY 5 investigated whether the strength of laterality provides insight into basal physiological and immunological status, stress response, stress reactivity, or cognitive bias. Only a correlation between age and the strength of laterality was found, with strength of laterality increasing with age. However, age could explain only 30 per cent of the inter-individual variation in strength of laterality. The results demonstrated that the strength of laterality is not a reliable indicator of animal welfare. The direction of laterality may be of greater importance. Altogether, it was demonstrated that laterality is a promising, reliable, repeatable, and objective indictor of animal welfare, which is quick and easy to asses, and inexpensive. Like other well-established welfare and stress indicators, laterality has its limitations. Therefore, it is recommended that other welfare indicator should be simultaneously assessed and changes in laterality recorded, as different traits and personalities result in a high inter-individual variation in base laterality indices. Possible influences and correlations between emotional processing and cerebral lateralization are discussed. Nonetheless, further research is needed to establish a more reliable measurement of motor laterality, and to better understand the relationship between emotional processing and lateralization, as well as possible influencing factors.
Wohlbefinden von Mastschweinen in verschiedenen Haltungssystemen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ethologischer Merkmale
(2003) Weber, Ragnhild E. F.; Valle Zárate, Anne
This study aims to compare practice oriented husbandry systems with regard to their effect on the welfare of fattening pigs. This should also contribute to the development of evaluation indicators for pig welfare. A literature review was conducted covering Definition of Welfare, Indicators for Welfare Assessment, Behavior of Fattening Pigs, Ethological Methods for Welfare Assessment, and Husbandry Systems for Fattening Pigs. Insights attained were significantly taken into account when developing and conducting the study. 2 husbandry systems were established, compromising on conventional pig husbandry and currently available knowledge on the welfare of fattening pigs. The investigation emphasizes on ethological traits. This research is part of a comprehensive project investigating prevalent fattening pig husbandry systems in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with regard to animal welfare and pig farmers? and consumers? attitudes towards husbandry conditions. The present study was conducted on the experimental station Frankenforst of the University of Bonn, Germany. A total of 256 Piétrain (Pi) x German Landrace (DL) or Pi x (Large White (DE) x DL) fattening pigs were investigated throughout 2 periods of time: middle of June 1998 to beginning of January 1999, and middle of April to end of September 1999. They were kept in two enriched husbandry systems. One system was equipped with heater, forced ventilation and partly slatted floor (TSP: 8 pigs/pen), the other was in an open stable with half the area deep littered (OT: 32 pigs/pen). The enrichments included chains, a wooden chewing bar, and a straw rack in the non-bedded system. Over a period of 10 weeks indirect video observations were conducted once per week between 5:30 and 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. The behavioral traits observed included feeding, exploration and occupation, abnormal occupation, comfort, aggression and fighting, locomotion, and resting and lying. In the second year direct observations were additionally conducted at specific times to analyse occupation and comfort behavior in more detail. Further traits investigated included: state of health, medical treatments, skin lesions, changes of extremities and claws, general condition, carcass, lung, liver, heart, kidney, and lymph node changes, fattening and slaughtering performance and housing characteristics. The results showed that rooting, which is of utmost importance for the welfare of pigs and which could only be performed in the OT, could not completely be compensated for in the TSP by the enrichment objects and the stable environment. In the TSP the behavioral disorders of pseudo-rooting and manipulation of pen-mates were clearly performed more often. In contrast, the husbandry environment of the OT (straw bedding, enrichment, more overall space, more outside stimuli) had a positive effect on the behavior of the pigs. An improvement of the pigs? welfare in the OT can particularly be concluded from the increased level of rooting, playing, alertness, and walking+standing as compared to the TSP. Comfort+wallowing, the least observed behavior, was also performed significantly more often in the OT. On the other hand, fattening pigs in the OT were also not completely free of behavioral disorders. In both husbandry systems pigs laid (with no other activity) more than 70 % of the observation time. Low lighting in the TSP probably caused a less pronounced endogenously predisposed two-phase daily rhythm of the pigs with less activity in the morning as compared to the pigs in the OT. The forced ventilation in the TSP and the non-bedded area of the OT were not completely sufficient to cool the pigs in summer. The territorial division of the pen by the pigs was disturbed to the point that no clear distinction between lying, defecation and feeding areas could be made. Cardiovascular problems occurred in the OT on some very hot days. Skin lesions, changes in the extremities and claws and the pigs? general condition did not deviate greatly from normal and healthy conditions. No obvious relation of injuries being caused by means of the husbandry system could be found. Carcass inspections showed that lung alterations and pleuritis occurred most frequently. Significant differences between the husbandry systems (OT > TSP) were found for liver and pluck findings. With regard to animal health the pigs in the TSP were better off. It can be presumed that welfare was reduced by the slight Ra. outbreak in the OT in the second year. Differences in daily gain and feed conversion were only due to a substantially lower performance of the pigs in the OT in the first year probably caused by higher thermoregulation efforts. By means of the methods and traits (indicators) used the welfare of the pigs in the two different husbandry systems could be compared. Proposals for further improvements of the methods as well as for the improvement of the husbandry systems were submitted.