Complex Housing, but Not Maternal Deprivation Affects Motivation to Liberate a Trapped Cage-Mate in an Operant Rat Task.

Early life environment influences the development of various aspects of social behavior, particularly during sensitive developmental periods. We studied how challenges in the early postnatal period or (early) adolescence affect pro-social behavior. To this end, we designed a lever-operated liberation task, to be able to measure motivation to liberate a trapped conspecific (by progressively increasing required lever pressing for door-opening). Liberation of the trapped rat resulted either in social contact or in liberation into a separate compartment. Additionally, a condition was tested in which both rats could freely move in two separate compartments and lever pressing resulted in social contact. When partners were not trapped, rats were more motivated to press the lever for opening the door than in either of the trapped configurations. Contrary to our expectations, the trapped configuration resulted in a reduced motivation to act. Early postnatal stress (24 h maternal deprivation on postnatal day 3) did not affect behavior in the liberation task. However, rearing rats from early adolescence onwards in complex housing conditions (Marlau cages) reduced the motivation to door opening, both in the trapped and freely moving conditions, while the motivation for a sucrose reward was not affected

Opinions of organic and free-range broiler farmers on animal welfare and the EBENE(R) app for animal welfare self-assessments

International audienc

PPILOW, a European project dedicated to welfare in Poultry and PIg Low-input outdoor and Organic production systems - Newsletter issue 2

Newsletter du projet PPILO

PIGLOW application for animal welfare self-assessment by farmers

The PIGLOW smartphone app was designed for organic and free-range farmers to monitor the welfare of their own pigs. The app contains animal-based questions that relate to one of the 4 Welfare Quality principles: good housing, good feeding, good health and appropriate behaviour. The results include scores/average percentages for each welfare indicator, automated advice with risk factors for possible welfare problems, and an anonymous comparison with the scores of other app users (benchmarking). Once a farmer has completed multiple welfare scans, a graph will show how their scores have changed over time, providing a historical record of welfare on the farm. Using the PIGLOW app could help increase awareness of potential welfare problems and its risk factors, which could make it easier to prevent problems from occurring. Farmers are advised to discuss the results with their veterinarian or other advisors to, if relevant, come up with the best approach to improve animal welfare on their farm

Opinion of organic and free-range pig farmers on animal welfare and the PIGLOW app for animal welfare self-assessments

The PIGLOW app was designed for the PPILOW project, enabling organic and free-range pig farmers to monitor the welfare of their pigs. The app is based on the 4 principles of the Welfare Quality protocol: good housing, good feeding, good health and appropriate behaviour. The tool includes automated feedback and anonymous benchmarking. A longitudinal study on 20-30 pig farms has started in order to determine the long-term effect of the use of the app on animal welfare. A survey is being conducted to assess participants’ views on animal welfare and their expectations of the app (n=10). Answers are given on a scale of 1 (disagree completely/not important at all) to 7 (agree completely/very important). When asked how they would define good animal welfare, 7/10 farmers included the possibility to express natural behaviour. The farmers scored the importance of 16 welfare aspects addressed in the PIGLOW app. The lowest score was given for thermal comfort (x̄=5.3, sd=1.1) and the highest score for the availability of drinking water (x̄=7, sd=0). Thus, even the least important of the indicators were scored above the point of neutrality (score 4). When asked how they think their own farm performs on these same 16 aspects, the scores for all except one (feed structure) were lower than those they gave for the importance of the aspect. The mean difference between these two values was largest for absence of wounds/lesions (x̄1-2=1, sd=1.3) and absence of lameness (x̄1-2=1, sd=1.7). It therefore seems likely that these are the welfare aspects for which farmers think improvement on their farm is most desirable. Farmers expect a historical record of their data (x̄=5.9, sd=1.2) and benchmarking (x̄=5.7, sd=1.5) to be the most useful aspects of the PIGLOW app. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°816172

Development of tools for farmers to self-assess the welfare of poultry and pigs in organic and outdoor systems

A goal of the PPILOW project is to develop and evaluate tools for animal welfare self-assessments by poultry and pig farmers of organic and outdoor systems. To accomplish this goal, two smartphone applications are being modified or developed in eight different languages. The EBENE® app, which was primarily developed for conventional poultry farms, was adapted to be more suitable for outdoor farming systems and the PIGLOW® app for outdoor pig farms was newly developed. For both apps, a selection of welfare indicators to be included in the assessments was made based on a suitability analysis of indicators from existing welfare monitoring protocols (e.g. Welfare Quality© , Dierenwelzijnscan). The opinions of National Practitioner Groups (NPGs), including representatives of feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, veterinarians, processors and farmers, were taken into account in this decision process. NPGs from six and three countries were surveyed for EBENE® and PIGLOW®, respectively. Preference was given to animal-based indicators, all of which fit into one of the four welfare principles of the Welfare Quality© protocols, namely good feeding, good housing, good health and appropriate behaviour. A trade-off was made between the time investment by the farmers and the level of detail of the assessment, resulting in assessments that take approximately one hour to complete. The results of the apps include scores for all welfare indicators and anonymous benchmarking. The farmers also receive automated feedback for each welfare indicator that includes an explanation of and risk factors for related potential welfare problems. Separate welfare assessments are available for broilers and laying hens, and for fattening pigs and sows at different production stages. Additionally, both apps have the possibility to assess the depopulation process. The user-friendliness and feasibility of the apps was tested during on-farm trials in Belgium and France, after which minor adjustments were made to wording and specific questions. The use of these tools for welfare self-assessments could sensitize farmers to the presence of potential welfare problems and the automated feedback could motivate and guide them to take corrective actions or seek additional advice of experts. A longitudinal study to assess the effect of the use of the apps on animal welfare and on the farmers’ opinions of the apps on commercial fattening pig and broiler farms is currently being conducted. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°816172

EBENE application for poultry welfare self-assessment by farmers

The EBENE® smartphone app was designed for farmers to monitor the welfare of their own poultry and rabbits in different production systems, including free-range and organic systems. The app contains animal-based questions that relate to one of the 4 Welfare Quality principles: good housing, good feeding, good health and appropriate behaviour. The results include scores for each welfare indicator and aggregated criteria and automated advice with risk factors for possible welfare problems. An anonymous comparison with the scores of other app users is also possible within a specific company (benchmarking). Using the EBENE® app could help increase awareness of potential welfare problems and risk factors, which could make it easier to prevent problems from occurring. Farmers are advised to discuss the results with their veterinarian or other advisors to, if relevant, come up with the best approach to improve animal welfare on their farm

Interactive demonstration of the functionalities of a welfare self-assessment tool for improving animal welfare on-farm in organic and outdoor systems

International audienc

Opinion of organic and free-range pig farmers on animal welfare and the PIGLOW app for animal welfare self-assessments

International audienc