My background Safeguarding farm animal welfare Wageningen University and Research Centre The Netherlands, since 1979 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala, Sweden, since 2007 Harry Blokhuis Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala, Sweden My background Animal Behaviour: Welfare assessment Housing & management Alternative housing systems Collaboration in EU projects FP4: Coordinator of 2 collaborative projects (1997 2001) FP5: Chairman of COST action (2000 2004) FP6: Coordinator of: Specific Support Action (SSA) (2004) LayWel (2004 2005) Welfare Quality (2004 2009) FP7: Coordinator of: EAWP (2008-2011) Partner in: AWARE EU-PLF SANCO: Coordinator of EUWelNET Horizon2020: Partner in Hennovation Veterinary and animal science - 450 employees and around 200 doctoral students - Facilities for 1000 students Veterinary and animal science - 450 employees and around 200 doctoral students - Facilities for 1000 students - Animal hospital (small animals and horse clinic) 1
Veterinary and animal science - 450 employees and around 200 doctoral students - Facilities for 1000 students - Animal hospital (small animal and horse clinic) - Experimental facilities for cattle, pigs and poultry Collaborations in Horizon2020 Safeguarding farm animal welfare -, what are we talking about? Safeguarding farm animal welfare -, what are we talking about? - Safeguarding AW; for whom? Why? - The Welfare Quality approach - Precision Livestock Farming - European (EU) developments Views on animal welfare The OIE welfare definition Physical growth, no physiological stress, healthy Naturalness Natural Mental No fear, anxiety, frustration means how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. Naturalness Mental Physical 2
The OIE welfare definition means how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate, and if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling and humane slaughter/killing. Output Input Management Resources Farmer Assessment E.g.: feeding, use of range, weaning E.g.: litter, size of box, Legislative control housing Society system Trade Input Indicators Output Product Safeguarding farm animal welfare -, what are we talking about? - Safeguarding AW; for whom? Why? Food companies Farmers Actors in the food chain Consumers General public Safeguarding and improve animal Welfare Legislators Importance of animal welfare General public How important is it to protect the welfare of farm animals? Importance of animal welfare General public How important is it to protect the welfare of farm animals? To inform general public (SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 442 (2015) (SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 442 (2015) 3
General public Public concerns General public Public concerns Top concerns in Member States (SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 354 (2010) Food-related risks) Concerns, e.g.: - barren environment - high stocking densities - transport - mutilations Many public concerns get scientific support (c.f. EFSA scientific reports) Information General public Would you like to have more about the conditions under which farmed animals are treated in your country? General public Actors in the food chain Thus: To inform animal general welfare public is among the important public concerns regarding food and the public would like to be more informed (SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 442 (2015) Actors in the food chain General public Food companies in the market Supermarkets A large part of animal products (60% of 300) surveyed in 10 most popular retailing outlets of six EU countries (UK, Italy, Norway, France, Netherlands, Sweden) were communicating to consumers some aspects of farm animals lives or the production methods adopted. Half of these products were carrying welfare claims that were not supported by any specific welfare-friendly production standard. In all cases they were bundled with other quality specifications (e.g. better taste, higher safety, environmental friendliness, and so forth). 4
in the market in the market is an important aspect in the marketing of large food producing companies World's largest restaurant chain, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries across approximately 36,900 outlets Unilever owns over 400 brands (e.g. Axe, Dove, Omo, Becel, Hellmann s, Knorr, Lipton, Lux, Magnum, Rama, Rexona, Sunsilk), with a turnover in 2016 of over 50 billion euros Largest food company in the world with 447 factories in 194 countries. Products include baby food, medical food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, ice cream, frozen food, pet foods and snacks. in the market Food companies In quality food chains and markets, animal welfare is increasingly an important attribute of an overall conception of food quality: business opportunity 5
Actors in the food chain Product Consumers General public Food companies Consumers 54% of respondents have difficulties finding proper on the animal welfare standards applied in producing food EU special barometer on attitudes of EU citizens (March 2007) Thinking of animal welfare Consumers animal welfare is not at the forefront of consumers when shopping for food Consumers Willingness to pay Would you be willing to pay more for products sourced from animal welfare-friendly production systems? 59% (SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 442 (2015) Willingness to pay Actors in the food chain Consumers Consumers Is willingness to pay realized in the shop? - growing trends in the size of the market share of animal friendly products, e.g.: - organically produced products - non cage eggs - various welfare labelled products (e.g. Beter Leven and RSPCA Assured / Freedom Food - recent survey in Sweden: 10 % of Sweden's population are now vegetarian or vegan, where the number was 6 % 5 years ago Consumers want more on animal welfare and there seems to be some willingness to pay for animal welfare 6
Actors in the food chain Farming and animal welfare Farmers General public Food companies Consumers Farmers - Farmers want to take good care of their animals - They recognise the link between good welfare and good economics - welfare market demands - welfare production costs Bad welfare affects production/economy Farm managers underestimate lameness prevalence Table 1 The effects of different types of lameness (sole ulcer, digital dermatitis, foot rot) on net return, lameness ca ses, % of lameness treated, average cost of lameness and average cost per case, following an optimal replacement policy Net return a Lameness % cases b lameness treated c of Average of cost lameness Average cost per case d No lameness 426.05 All 384.31 23.5 94.1 41.74 177.62 Digital dermatitis and foot rot Sole ulcer 410.67 12.2 92.3 26.36 216.07 Sole ulcer and foot rot Digital dermatitis Sole ulcer and digital dermatitis 389.50 Foot rot 4.3 97.3 5.19 a net returns in US$ per cow and year b incidence of lameness (cases per 100 cow years) c percent of treated lame cow s per lame cow s d average cost per lameness case 393.75 7.1 95.5 9.44 132.96 120.70 (Cha et al., 2010, Prev. Vet. Med. 97, 1-8) Comparison of observed lameness and farmers estimation (%) Šárová et al., 2011 Bad welfare affects production/economy Bad welfare affects production/economy Bad feathered birds had 46% higher maintenance requirement than well feathered birds (Tauson and Svensson, 1980, Swedish J. agric. Res. 10, 35-39) (Zhao et al., 2012, Poultry Sci. 92, 295-302) 7
Farmers Actors in the food chain - Farmers want to take good care of their animals - They recognise the link between good welfare and good economics - A need for animal welfare management support Safeguarding farm animal welfare -, what are we talking about? - Safeguarding AW; for whom? Why? - The Welfare Quality approach approx. 250 scientists 44 organisations 17 countries The Welfare Quality approach approx.18 M (15 M from EU) The Welfare Quality approach Main aim: To develop a system to assess animal welfare in order to safeguard and improve animal welfare along the food chain System should be useful to all interested parties in the food chain Consumers General public Food companies Safeguard Safeguarding and improve animal Welfare Farmers Legislators Welfare assessment Management Resources Farmer Assessment E.g.: feeding, use of range, weaning E.g.: litter, size of box, Legislative control housing Society system Trade Input Management Resources Farmer Assessment Legislative control Earlier: mainly resource based welfare Society assessment Trade Indicators Output Product Indicators Product 8
Legislation mainly resource based Welfare assessment E.g.: EU Council Directive 1999/74/EC Enriched cages From 1 January 2002: - 750 cm 2 /hen (600 plus) - nest - litter - 15 cm perch per hen - 12 cm feedtrough per hen - 2 nipple drinkers per cage - claw-shortening devices Management / Resources? Indicators Farmer Assessment Problems: Legislative control - Resources may have different effects on welfare under different conditions (e.g. climate, breed) Society Trade - Effect of management is ignored Product Welfare assessment The Welfare Quality System Management Indicators Resources Farmer Assessment The Welfare Quality project aimed Legislative to develop welfare assessment control systems using animal based measures Society Trade Product Principle Welfare criteria Examples of potential measures feeding 1 Absence of prolonged hunger Body condition score 2 Absence of prolonged thirst Presence of drinker and routine for checking function housing 3 Comfort around resting Frequencies of different lying positions, standing up and lying down 4 Thermal comfort Panting, shivering 5 Ease of Movement Slipping or falling health 6 Absence of injuries Clinical scoring if integument, carcass damage, lameness Appropriate 7 Absence of diseases Enteric problems, downgrades at slaughter 8 Absence of pain induced by management procedures Evidence of routine mutilations such as tail docking, dehorning, stunning effectiveness at slaughter 9 Expression of social s Social licking, aggression 10 Expression of other s Play, abnormal 11 human-animal relationship Approach and/or avoidance tests 12 Absence of general fear Novel object test Measures shall Animal based measures Be valid: measure aspects of animal welfare Be reliable: inter and intra observer reliabilty Cover all criteria ~30 measures/animal type Be feasible on farms / at slaugther and require limited amounts of animal handling, time, cost, skills, Injuries Animal based measures Wounds Scratches Location Ears Thirst Expressing social Expressing other Hunger feeding Appropriate human-animal relationship Thermal comfort housing health Comfort around resting No disease Ease of movement 0 1 2 No painful management procedures Photos: University of Newcastle Positive emotional state No injuries 9
Measures Criteria Principles Injuries Animal based measures Welfare Quality assessment protocols Broiler feet Thirst Hunger feeding Thermal comfort housing Comfort around resting Ease of movement Expressing 0 social 1 2 No 3painful management 4 procedures Expressing other Appropriate human-animal relationship Positive emotional state health No injuries No disease Photos: Butterworth and de Jong www.welfarequalitynetwork.net Integration of Safeguarding farm animal welfare -, what are we talking about? Overall assessment - Safeguarding AW; for whom? Why? Raw data Absence Thirst of prolonged thirst Expressing social Expressing other 12 scores feeding Appropriate human-animal relationship Four principles and 12 criteria Absence of prolonged hunger Hunger Thermal comfort housing health Comfort around resting No disease 4 scores Ease of movement No painful management procedures 1 Welfare category Excellent Enhanced Acceptable Not classified - The Welfare Quality approach - Precision Livestock Farming Positive emotional state No injuries Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) The use of advanced technologies to optimize the management of animal welfare and health Management of animal welfare and health Climate Care taker Environment Water Feed Conspecifics Pathogens Behavioural changes Time budget Resource use Social 10
Management of animal welfare and health Climate Care taker Environment Water Feed Conspecifics Pathogens Management of animal welfare and health Climate Care taker Environment Water Feed Conspecifics Pathogens Management Behavioural changes Evaluation Behavioural changes Evaluation Management of animal welfare and health Climate Care taker Environment Water Feed Conspecifics Pathogens CowView Technology Indoor animal localisation system Management PLF technology Behavioural changes Evaluation CowView Technology CowView Technology cubicles alleys trough walking idling eating resting Start Ketosis event End Ketosis event Back to normal Alert deviation Description of the normal time budget of each cow Cow more active (eg walking) than normal alarm: oestrus? Cow less active (eg resting) than normal alarm: disease? Just before the problem, cows resting time deviates from normal (Veissier, 2016) 11
Automatic measures of lameness in cattle Coughing detection in pigs Real-time automatic lameness detection based on back posture extraction in dairy cattle: Shape analysis of cow with image processing techniques Internet Network (External Data Storage) Remote observation Farm PC Poursaberi et al., 2010 Climate controller Feed controller Coughing detection in pigs Safeguarding farm animal welfare Figure 2 shows the evolution of the respiratory distress in function of time, measured on a farm Respiratory distress index, measured on a farm in The Netherlands. n the Netherlands. On February 24 th 2015, 72 piglets of 10 weeks old were placed in the ompartment. On February 24th, 72 piglets (10 weeks) were placed in the compartment. -, what are we talking about? - Safeguarding AW; for whom? Why? - The Welfare Quality approach Figure 2: Case 2, the Netherlands, SIV. (Berckmans et al., 2015) The clear increase in the respiratory distress index from March 8 th 14 th corresponds very well with the high number Farmer of coughs noticed (76) counted increased by the assessor on March 13 th. Only on March 12 th, e., about 4 days coughing after the increase on March in the 12th automatically generated respiratory distress index, the armer noticed an increased (about level 4 days of coughs after during index his routine check. A 3-day group treatment with oxycycline and sodium salicylate was immediately started and from March 15 th onwards, the increased) espiratory index continued to drop. A level below 10 was reached again on March 19 th. Based on ral fluid samples (from this compartment and other compartments in the farm), the veterinarian oncludes that SIV is the probable cause of the respiratory distress. - Precision Livestock Farming - European (EU) developments European (EU) developments EFSA provides scientific advice in response to requests from the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU Member States EFSA Scientific opinions Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) Total Related to animal welfare (%) 2008-2012 2013-2017 56 27 (48.2) 68 16 (23.5) Source: www.efsa.europa.eu European (EU) developments EU strategy on animal welfare (2012 to 2015) Main factors affecting the welfare status of animals in the Union: - Lack of enforcement of EU legislation by the Member States - Consumers' lack of appropriate on animal welfare aspects - Many stakeholders lack sufficient knowledge about animal welfare - A need to simplify and develop clear principles for animal welfare 12
European (EU) developments EU platform on animal welfare Dialogue on animal welfare issues among: - Competent authorities - Businesses - Civil society - Scientists European (EU) developments EU platform on animal welfare Coordinated actions: - better application of EU rules on animal welfare - development of voluntary commitments by businesses to improve animal welfare - promotion of EU animal welfare standards to valorise the Union's products at the global level European (EU) developments A European network of reference centres for animal welfare Support Commission and Member States with technical Expertise; Conduct training courses for staff from competent authorities; Contribute to dissemination of research findings and technical innovations among EU stakeholders and scientific community; Coordination of research European (EU) developments Feasibility study - EUWelNet provided proof of principle for a functional Coordinated European Animal Welfare Network - The EUWelNet consortium and its Advisory Board strongly recommend that such a Network should be established - The Network should be organised as a small number of interconnected regional centres (with regional s), coordinated by a small professional unit European (EU) developments A European network of reference centres for animal welfare European (EU) developments First EU reference centres on animal welfare Regional Centre 1 The Commission launched a call for the selection of the first EU Reference Centre for animal welfare (13-10-2017) Regional Centre 2 Regional Centre 3 Steering board Coordinating body Regional Centre 4 Regional Centre 5 Selected consortium: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany Focus on pigs 13
Thank you! 14