Meet welzijn aan dier zelf

Vanaf 2009 is er een methode om het welzijn van dieren te meten met een standaardaanpak. Een groot Europees onderzoeksproject moet ervoor zorgen dat er dan een werkbare meetlat ligt. Aan de ontwikkeling werken veel instellingen mee uit verschillende lande

Assessing the rider's seat and horse's behavior: difficulties and perspectives

correct seat and position are the basis for a good performance in horseback riding. This study aimed to measure deviations from the correct seat, test a seat improvement program (dismounted exercises), and investigate whether horse behavior was affected by the rider's seat. Five experienced trainers defined 16 seat deviations and scored the occurrence in 20 riders in a dressage test. Half the riders then carried out an individual training program; after 9 weeks, riders were again scored. The study took no video or heart-rate recordings of horses and riders. Panel members did not agree on the deviations in the rider's seat; the study detected no differences¿with the exception of improvement of backward-tilted pelvis¿between the groups. Horse behavior, classified as ¿evasive,¿ increased; horse heart rate decreased in the experimental group. Heart rates of riders in both groups decreased. Seven of 9 riders in the experimental group had the impression that the exercises improved their riding performance. There is a clear need to develop a robust system that allows trainers to objectively evaluate the rider's sea

Recent developments in European and international welfare regulations

The Protocol on Animal Welfare annexed to the EC Treaty in 1999 obliges the European Institutions to fully consider animal welfare in the drafting and implementation of Community legislation. The reform of the common agricultural policies (CAP) foreseen by Agenda 2000 follows the trend of more market oriented measures decoupling subsidies from production. Farming is seen as fundamental to other key societal goals such as food safety and quality, animal welfare, rural development, sustainability etc. Over the years, recommendations of the Council of Europe and EU Directives specifically concerning farm animal welfare were developed and these are becoming increasingly stringent. European regulations relevant for poultry include Directives on the housing of laying hens, transport and slaughter. Recently, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) identified animal welfare as a high priority for the coming years. Actions include the development of internationally applicable guiding principles and standards for good animal welfare practice. Animal welfare is an issue of increasing significance for European consumers and citizens. Since the consumer is the end-user, his or her requirements form the bottom-line for any effort intended to achieve the ultimate fine-tuning necessary to assure societal and economic sustainability of agri- and food-chains (`from farn to fork¿). This means that efforts to inform the consumers and to address their concerns about animal welfare need to be at the forefront of policy and industry agendas

The development and causation of feather pecking in the domestic fowl

Feather pecking in poultry consists of pecking directed at the feathers of other birds, sometimes pulling out and eating these feathers. It may result in severe damage of the integument of the birds, including wounds of the skin. Finally wounded birds may be pecked to death (cannibalism). About 30 years ago, when most poultry was kept in traditional floor systems, this behaviour was an important cause of mortality. Nowadays most birds are housed in small groups in battery cages in modern poultry houses and in The Netherlands they are usually beaktrimmed (partial amputation of the beak). This resulted somehow in a decreased mortality due to feather pecking.However, the effects of feather pecking may have become less fatal, the behaviour as such did not decrease and pecking still causes a lot of (feather) damage and feather pecking is still a problem in modern poultry farming.Firstly, the problem relates to animal welfare, which is clearly at stake for the pecked birds. Moreover, beaktrimming may counteract the occurrence of cannibalism and may prevent a lot of suffering, it is a painful operation which should be omitted if possible.Secondly, feather pecking is also economically detremental. Defeathering has a pronounced increasing effect on heat production, leading to an estimated increase of energetic needs between 5 and 20 % for laying hens in battery cages.The development and expected practical use of alternative systems for laying hens is also relevant with respect to feather pecking. As these systems often incorporate characteristics of traditional floor systems, this may enhance feather pecking.The present study was aimed at elucidating the basic motivation behind feather pecking and the process leading to it.In Chapter 2 pecking behaviour of birds on a litter floor was compared with that of birds on a slatted floor, from hatching until 17 weeks of age. The average frequency (per animal per hour) of pecking at conspecifics was 73.2 in groups on slatted floors and 27.8 in groups on litter. It increased over time in groups on slatted floors, whereas it tended to decrease in groups on litter floors. Moreover, in the latter pecking at conspecifics was much less damaging. Here about 20 % of the pecks was directed at particles on the plumage of other birds, which is relatively harmless, and about 25 % at feathers. In the groups without litter, these percentages were 1 and 55 respectively.Ground pecking frequency appeared to be about 6 times higher in groups on litter compared to groups on a slatted floor.At 17 weeks of age the experiment was continued by transferring half of the animals from each floor-type to the other type of flooring material. Most striking was that animals reared on litter and changed to slats, showed a strong increase of pecking at conspecifics (together with an increase in feather damage) and a strong decrease of ground pecking. Birds reared on slats and moved to litter showed a strong increase in ground pecking and the majority showed a decrease of pecking at conspecifics. In the latter birds, plumage recovered from the damage done to it in the first part of the experiment.It was concluded that the results supported the hypothesis that feather pecking evolves as redirected ground pecking.Experimental evidence to support this hypothesis is presented in Chapters 3 and 4. In Chapter 3 the motivation for groundpecking was experimentally varied in 6 week old female chicks, housed on litter. The same experimental procedure that stimulated ground pecking in chicks on a litter floor, appeared to stimulate feather pecking in chicks on a slatted floor. This supports the hypothesis that ground pecking and feather pecking share common causal factors. Chapter 4 takes another approach to test the same hypothesis. Here, again using 6 week old chicks, floor-type was suddenly changed from a half litter half slatted floor into a full slatted floor. The fact that groundpecking decreased and feather pecking increased again supported the above hypothesis.The redirection of ground pecking was described in both chapters in terms of incentive motivation theory. In this concept of motivation the role of incentive stimuli in inducing motivational states and in directing behaviour is emphasized. Specific characteristics of litter, a slatted floor or feathers which may affect their ranking as an incentive are discussed. Possibly visual, tactile or gustatory feedback signals play a role, as well as positive long-term effects of ingestion. Moreover, it was stated that the possibility to perform specific consummatory behaviour patterns, may also affect the validation of a substrate as an incentive. In relation to this it was also suggested that the possibility to perform groundscratching in combination with pecking, may add to the stimulus feedback. Obviously the animal's past experience with environmental stimuli is crucial in the validation of stimuli as incentive.In Chapter 5 the effects of early experience with litter were studied. Hens were reared on litter floors (20 groups) or on wire floors (20 groups) until 17 weeks of age. Then all groups were moved to pens with half litter half slatted floors. It appeared that feather pecking was less in litter reared hens compared to hens reared on wire. Also feather damage was less in the litter reared groups. It was concluded that experiences during rearing influence pecking preferences during the laying period.In the same experiment the effect of beaktrimming was studied. As the beak of the chicken has a variety of sensory receptors, beaktrimming is likely to result in sensory deficits. This may affect tactile discrimination and interfere with the validation of an object as an incentive for pecking. During the rearing period beaktrimmed birds showed a lower frequency of ground pecking as well as feather pecking, on litter as well as wire floors. During the laying period all groups showed the same level of ground pecking irrespective of beaktrimming or floor type. Beaktrimming only showed an effect on feather pecking in the wire reared groups. Here feather pecking reached a very high level, although it did not much harm to the plumage of the birds. It was concluded that beak trimming does not change pecking preference nor does it decrease pecking frequency. Beaktrimming is effective in reducing feather pecking damage.In Chapter 6, it is reported that a high housing density significantly decreases ground pecking and scratching in young domestic fowl. Although no serious feather pecking occurred, it is suggested that a high housing density stimulates the redirection of ground pecking which may result in the development of feather pecking.In the general discussion (Chapter 7) a regulatory model of ground pecking is presented, in which the role of incentives is incorporated. The motivation of pecking is discussed and it is concluded that pecking serves several functions such as energy supply, consummatory stimulation or information gathering. The model of ground pecking is modified to allow the incorporation of these different functions. On the basis of this model some suggestions for future research are made. In a last paragraph the risk of some husbandry factors in relation to the occurrence of feather pecking are discussed and some measures to prevent feather pecking are suggested

Fusion Pores Live on the Edge.

Biological transmission of vesicular content occurs by opening of a fusion pore. Recent experimental observations have illustrated that fusion pores between vesicles that are docked by an extended flat contact zone are located at the edge (vertex) of this zone. We modeled this experimentally observed scenario by coarse-grained molecular simulations and elastic theory. This revealed that fusion pores experience a direct attraction toward the vertex. The size adopted by the resulting vertex pore strongly depends on the apparent contact angle between the adhered vesicles even in the absence of membrane surface tension. Larger contact angles substantially increase the equilibrium size of the vertex pore. Because the cellular membrane fusion machinery actively docks membranes, it facilitates a collective expansion of the contact zone and increases the contact angle. In this way, the fusion machinery can drive expansion of the fusion pore by free energy equivalents of multiple tens of k <sub>B</sub> T from a distance and not only through the fusion proteins that reside within the fusion pore

Gedragsonderzoek in etagehuisvesting

Het etagesysteem is een alternatief grondhuisvestingssysteem. Het doel was om tot een huisvestingssysteem te komen waarin het welzijn van de hennen beter is gewaarborgd dan in de batterijkooi en dat bedrijfseconomische en zootechnische aspecten van het project worden momenteel op praktijkschaal nader uitgewerkt. Dit rapport doet verslag van het gedragsonderzoek dat binnen het project is uitgevoerd

The welfare of laying hens

The conditions under which laying hens are housed remain a major welfare concern. It is one of the most intensive forms of animal production and the number of animals involved is very high. According to Directive 1999/74/EC laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens unenriched cages will be prohibited from 2012 onwards. The provisions of the Directive are being progressively implemented since 2002. Both the recent report of the European Food Safety Authority (Welfare aspects of various systems for keeping laying hens) and the EU funded LayWel project, evaluated the various welfare aspects of different housing systems for laying hens. In the LayWel project special emphasis was put on furnished cages but also non cage systems,such as aviaries and free range systems, were investigated. Here we give an overview of the most severe risks for poor laying hen welfare in the different housing systems, as indicated by the LayWel project and the EFSA report. Laying hens place a high value on a discrete nest space. The LayWel database illustrates a high use of the nest box in all housing systems and indicates a risk to welfare of hens in conventional cages where no nest box is available. Dustbathing and foraging are generally accepted as high priority behaviours. Depending on the lay-out, these behaviours can not be (fully) performed in furnished cages, which is a threat to bird welfare in these housing systems. Feather pecking is still a very predominant welfare problem in birds, specifically in non cage systems with a prevalence between 40-80% in commercial flocks. In addition, it should be noticed that the rearing period is of primary importance for the adaptation of thehens to the housing system during the laying period