The importance of research applicability

Marino & Merskin’s (2019) review contains key information about the complexity of sheep and their intelligence level, but lacks practical application. The key to making any long-term changes to sheep welfare at an industry level is by generating research that is practically relevant to the sector. The practical application of research should be considered at the design stage and in consultation with producers. Additionally, thought needs to be given to how the practical application of the research will be transferred to those people directly involved in animal care (e.g., producers, stockpersons, etc.). Focusing on the practical relevance and application of research at all stages of the process will foster changes to long-held beliefs and attitudes

Social bonds in dairy cattle: the effect of dynamic group systems on welfare and productivity

The recent increase in intensification of the UK dairy industry has led to the majority of cattle in the UK being housed in large, dynamic groups. Proposals for two large-scale dairies intending to house between 3,000 and 8,000 head of cattle have been met with considerable opposition by both producers and the public alike. Recent reports by both the Farm Animal Welfare Council and European Food Safety Authority have highlighted the continued welfare issues relating to dairy cattle, especially those housed in such large, dynamic groups. Conversely, with the current economic challenges being imposed on the UK dairy industry, there are many who see these systems as the future of dairying and discount the welfare concerns being highlighted. This project aimed to address one of the main welfare issues that receives scarce consideration when designing such systems; the social bonds of dairy cattle. A herd of 400 Holstein-Friesian cattle, plus followers, were observed in cubicle housing under commercial conditions. Through the identification of preferential relationships using an association index, important social bonds between individuals were identified. The majority of relationships between dyads were however weak, short term associations appearing together no more than once throughout the observation period. These bonds were significantly stronger in younger cattle demonstrated through the closer proximity maintained and the higher association index scores between dyads. Between the ages of 7 & 11 months animals performed the most positive social behaviour and had the strongest dyad relationships. In order to assess the strength of these positive relationships between dyads and to investigate the importance of these relationships to cattle, a short term (30 minutes) separation test from the remainder of the herd was carried out. Cattle’s responses to the challenge were assessed both physiologically and behaviourally. A significantly lower heart rate (

Development of an Automated Pain Facial Expression Detection System for Sheep (Ovis Aries).

The use of technology to optimize the production and management of each individual animal is becoming key to good farming. There is a need for the real-time systematic detection and control of disease in animals in order to limit the impact on animal welfare and food supply. Diseases such as footrot and mastitis cause significant pain in sheep, and so early detection is vital to ensuring effective treatment and preventing the spread across the flock. Facial expression scoring to assess pain in humans and non-humans is now well utilized, and the Sheep Pain Facial Expression Scale (SPFES) is a tool that can reliably detect pain in this species. The SPFES currently requires manual scoring, leaving it open to observer bias, and it is also time-consuming. The ability of a computer to automatically detect and direct a producer as to where assessment and treatment are needed would increase the chances of controlling the spread of disease. It would also aid in the prevention of resistance across the individual, farm, and landscape at both national and international levels. In this paper, we present our framework for an integrated novel system based on techniques originally applied for human facial expression recognition that could be implemented at the farm level. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that this technology has been applied to sheep to assess pain

Towards automatic monitoring of disease progression in sheep: A hierarchical model for sheep facial expressions analysis from video

Pain in farm animals harms the economics of farming and affects animal welfare. However, prey animals tend to not openly express signs of weakness, making the pain assessment process difficult. We propose a novel hierarchical model for disease progression evaluation, adapted for a wide range of head poses, according to which relevant information is extracted. A fine-tuned CNN is applied for face detection, followed by a CNN-based pose estimation and pose-informed landmark location method. Then multi-modal features are extracted, combining the appearance of regions-of-interest, described using a Histogram of Oriented Gradients, with geometric features and the pose values, leading to a binary Support Vector Machine classifier. To evaluate the efficiency of the complete pipeline, videos of the same sheep recorded at initial and advanced stages of treatment were tested, showing a decrease in the average pain score detected. The pain evaluation method significantly outperformed the existing state-of-the art approach, being the first to apply a pose-based feature extraction in sheep pain detection

Why pain is still a welfare issue for farm animals, and how facial expression may be the answer

Pain is a sensory and emotional experience that significantly affects animal welfare and has negative impacts on the economics of farming. Pain is often associated with common production diseases such as lameness and mastitis, as well as introduced to the animal through routine husbandry practices such as castration and tail docking. Farm animals are prey species which tend not to overtly express pain or weakness, making recognizing and evaluating pain incredibly difficult. Current methods of pain assessment do not provide information on what the animal is experiencing at that moment in time, only that its experience is having a long term negative impact on its behavior and biological functioning. Measures that provide reliable information about the animals’ affective state in that moment are urgently required; facial expression as a pain assessment tool has this ability. Automation of the detection and analysis of facial expression is currently in development, providing further incentive to use these methods in animal welfare assessment

Intra- and inter-operator variability of refractometric total proteins measurement of canine plasma

Refractometric total proteins are commonly used in practice as a quick and inexpensive way to measure total protein concentration in bodily fluids. Little information is available about how the operator performing the measurement affects the results. The aim of our study was to determine the inter- and intra-operator variability of refractometric total proteins measured on canine plasma using a temperature-compensated handheld refractometer. A pooled sample of canine lithium-heparin plasma was created using leftover samples from dogs presented to our hospital. The sample was then divided into three aliquots. Total proteins of these aliquots were measured by veterinary nurses, interns, residents and specialists working at our hospital. Statistical analysis revealed excellent inter-operator (ICC 0.99, CI 95% 0.971–1.00) and intra-operator (ICC 0.997, CI 95% 0.990–0.999) variability. Having different operators measuring refractometric total plasma proteins in practice should not affect the results. This suggests different operators can be used when monitoring total plasma proteins of a patient over time and when designing a study that involves this test

Commentary on Marino & Merskin on Sheep Complexity

Commentary on Marino & Merskin on Sheep ComplexityMarino & Merskin’s (2019) review contains key information about the complexity of sheep and their intelligence level, but lacks practical application. The key to making any long-term changes to sheep welfare at an industry level is by generating research that is practically relevant to the sector. The practical application of research should be considered at the design stage and in consultation with producers. Additionally, thought needs to be given to how the practical application of the research will be transferred to those people directly involved in animal care (e.g. producers, stockpersons, etc.). Focusing on the practical relevance and application of research at all stages of the process will foster changes to long-held beliefs and attitudes

Pain in Sheep

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: epub 2024-01-19, issued 2024-01-19Publication status: PublishedPain in sheep can occur for a variety of reasons, including disease, injury, and naturally through parturition. Sheep, as a prey species, do not overtly express pain making it challenging for owners and veterinarians to recognise and thus effectively treat pain. By observing facial expressions, it is possible to recognise and quantify the pain a sheep may be experiencing. This enables the provision of treatment and the prevention of any further suffering. Information © The Author 202

Chapter Twelve: Handling and Restraint of South American Camelids

Members of the camelid family evolved to live in arid and mountainous areas. This chapter will focus on what are known as the New World species of camelid, whose habitat mainly covers the Andes regions of South America. Four camelids can be found in South America, namely: Guanacos (Lama guanicoe), vicunas (Lama vicugna), llamas (Lama guanicoe glama) and alpacas (Vicugna pacos). The two wild forms, the guanaco and the vicuna diverged from a common ancestor approximately two million years ago; an event unrelated to domestication. Due to hybridisation the exact process of domestication has been controversial; however, recent genetic analysis has suggested that the alpaca is the domesticated form of the vicuna and the llama is the domesticated form of the guanaco (Kadwell et al. 2001). Domestication is thought to have taken place some 6000 years ago (Wheeler, 1995) when a predominant herding economy based on llama and alpaca was established at Telarmachay (a region of the Peruvian Andes). Archaeological evidence suggests that both llamas and alpacas were part of a sacrificial rite in South American culture and were key to the expansion of the Inca Empire some 500 years ago (Bonacic, 2011). Physically (apart from size) there is little difference between the llama and alpaca, which is a result of deliberate hybridisation between the two species over the past 35 years. Whilst the alpaca and llama still play an important role in their countries of origin, they are also viewed worldwide as: pets, exotic animals, livestock, zoo animals and wild animals