Origin and assessment of bruises in beef cattle at slaughter

Studies of bruises, as detected on carcasses at the slaughterhouse, may provide useful information about the traumatic situations the animals endure during the pre-slaughter period. In this paper, we review scientific data on the prevalence, risk factors and estimation of the age of bruises in beef cattle. Risk factors such as animal characteristics, transport conditions, stocking density, livestock auction and handling of the animals are discussed. Investigation of the age of bruises could provide information on when in the meat chain bruises occur and, could help to pinpoint where preventive measures should be taken, from the stage of collecting the animals on the farm until slaughter. We review the methods available to assess the age of the bruises; data on human forensic research are also included. The feasibility to identify traumatic episodes during the pre-slaughter period, in order to improve animal welfare is discusse

The effect of chopped hay on feed intake, rate of eating and rumination of dairy cows.

The effect of chopped hay on feed intake, eating rate and rumination time was studied. Relations between these variables were evaluated. Ten pregnant cows at the end of lactation were given 3 kg concentrates daily and chopped or unchopped hay to appetite. Chopping the hay did not significantly affect intake of hay or total ruminating time. Duration of rumination/kg hay was significantly less when chopped hay was given. Chopping the hay also significantly reduced the number of boli/day. Daily intake of hay was positively correlated with duration of rumination. When long hay was given, a higher eating rate was associated with a longer rumination time; with chopped hay there was no significant relation. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Time patterns of feeding and rumination in domestic cattle

For the maintenance of its caloric and nutritional balance, an animal must consume food. The level of intake ultimately depends upon the factors that govern onset and cessation of the successive feeding spells. These factors may be studied either at the purely behavioural level, or at the level of the underlying physiological mechanisms. However, in both cases a detailed specification of the overt behaviour is a prerequisite. This study attempts to present such a specification of feeding behaviour in cattle. However, for explaining the feeding pattern, rumination behaviour has been considered as well.Units of feeding and rumination behaviour were defined at the level of 'bouts', i.e. uninterrupted performances of these behaviours. In the case of feeding behaviour, clusters of bouts formed higher order units, termed 'meals'. All other behaviour was only considered in terms of 'intervals' between the feeding and rumination bouts. For the analysis of durations of the behaviour units, the first- order Markov process was used as the random model. Deviations from randomness were derived from the frequency distribution of the durations.The concept of 'state variables' was introduced to refer to the conditions in the animal that determine, together with external stimuli, the likelihood of occurrence of a given behaviour. As working hypothesis it was assumed that (1) there are state variables that specifically promote feeding, and (2) state variables that specifically promote rumination.The first part of the investigation concerned an analysis of the feeding and rumination patterns of cows fed ad lib. with hay wafers (Chapter 2, 3 and 4). The feeding rhythm in cattle is characterized by an alternation of 'meal' and 'interval' states. In the meal state, the animal is likely to eat, but this may be interrupted by relatively short spells of non-feeding behaviour. In contrast, in the interval state feeding is unlikely. To make a distinction between these two states as sharp as possible, a meal criterion of 20 min seems preferable.The feeding rhythm is subject to strong diurnal rhythmicity. During the greater part of daylight, the main feeding period, meal size is positively correlated with length of the preceding interval, suggesting that meals tend to stop once some fixed level of food repletion is reached. On the other hand, meal size is not correlated with the length of the interval to the next meal. Therefore, it is improbable that cattle do not start meals until the food ingested at the previous one has been used up. However, the correlations between meal size and length of the adjacent interval change markedly towards the end of the day, probably due to the strong changes in the motivation for feeding at that time.Rumination occurs in prolonged bouts, which are clearly spaced out in time. Apart from interference by feeding, the rumination rhythm maintains a rather constant periodicity over the day. Furthermore, duration of a bout does not affect the duration of the interval till the next bout, but a weak tendency exists for the latter to become longer when it starts earlier.The ad lib. data strongly suggest that ongoing rumination may be broken off under the influence of the state variables for feeding, and further that renewed rumination is prohibited as long as the feeding rhythm stays in the meal state. After feeding has interfered in this way, the phase of the rumination rhythm is reset. The resumption of rumination is rather independent of the size of the foregoing meal.The percentage of time spent on rumination during a between-meal interval does not affect size of the subsequent meal; nor does meal size affect the amount of rumination during the next interval. However, daily food intake and total rumination time are positively correlated, suggesting that facilitatory relations between the two behaviours do exist on a longer time scale.On the basis of these results obtained under ad lib. conditions a preliminary model of feeding and rumination in cattle was put forward (Paragraph 4.4). On aim of the following experiments was to assess to what extent the assumptions in this model hold for a wider range of conditions.In the first experiment it was established that the prevention of rumination during a three-hour period of food deprivation results in an increase of rumination in the subsequent period, but does not change the feeding pattern at all (Chapter 5). This supports the assumption that feeding has priority over rumination whenever the causal factors of the two behaviours are in conflict. Moreover, it indicates that the state variables for feeding are wholly independent of the amount of rumination in the foregoing period of at least three hours.Subsequent experiments involved the restriction of feeding to two periods of two and a half to three hours a day (Chapter 6). In one experiment the amount of food given was additionally restricted to different levels, both on a hay wafer and long hay diet. The results reveal that the state variables for rumination are strongly dependent on food intake, presumably the intake integrated over the foregoing 24- 48 hours. However, amount of food consumed and nature of the diet have different influences on the state for rumination (for, whereas on the hay wafer diet amount of food eaten and length of the intervals between rumination bouts are negatively correlated, a minimum interval length is already reached at a very low level of intake of long hay, the coarser diet).During the prolonged non-feeding periods, the rumination rhythm maintained a fairly constant periodicity, irrespective of the level of food intake. This indicates that the need for rumination wanes only slightly with the performance of this behaviour. Further, the experiments confirm that overt rumination is inhibited whenever the feeding rhythm is in the meal state. Evidence has also been found that this inhibition is promoted especially by the presence of food stimuli, but external cues informing the animal that food will become available may be effective as well. Finally, the results suggest that after overt feeding has interfered, the rumination rhythm is reset to a fixed phase.This study was concluded by putting together the final model of feeding and rumination in cattle (Chapter 7). Various predictions that can be made by combining the assumptions in this model fit the data of the described experiments very well. On the other hand, it has been emphasized that the assumption of absolute priority of feeding over rumination needs further verification

Overall animal welfare reviewed. Part 2: Assessment tables and schemes

In the scientific literature several attempts have been made to systematically assess the overall welfare-status of animals in relation to housing and management. This paper reviews assessment tables and schemes that have been constructed to this end. These tables and schemes have a tabular format that allows an assessment of housing systems using a list of welfare-relevant attributes (properties of the housing system). Rather than identifying deficits, the focus of this review is on finding positive recommendations for the purpose of developing a method for overall welfare assessment (OWA) on a scientific basis. The main recommendation is to use the tabular format as representation formalism for OWA. The concept of linked tables provides the key to performing OWA on a scientific basis in an explicit and systematic way

Overall animal welfare assessment reviewed. Part 1: Is it possible?

Several authors have concluded that scientists should not attempt to perform overall animal welfare assessment (OWA). They argue that scientists have continued to fail to make progress in this area and that value judgements are inherently involved in OWA for which science cannot provide answers. We take a more positive attitude toward OWA and argue that scientists should avoid creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. OWA is necessary for making actual moral and political decisions. Science has already accumulated much relevant information about welfare and this information should be applied in decision making. The task of OW A is to assess welfare based on knowledge of the biological needs of animals. Weighting of welfare relevant factors constitutes a problem. However, when scientists cannot provide empirical data to solve weighting issues, this does not mean that rational answers cannot be found, e.g. in the form of procedural rules. OWA is conceived as a problem of multi-criteria decision making with fuzzy information. It focuses on the descriptive aspect of welfare, i.e. on what the welfare status of the animals really is without taking an ethical stance. The welfare status of animals depends on their biology and on the way animals assess their own welfare. It does not depend on how it happens to be perceived by us. Even though OWA necessarily remains a human activity, it is not arbitrary, nor does it allow of multiple \u27correct\u27 answers. OWA is a descriptive activity that can achieve more and more accuracy as science proceeds

Overall animal welfare reviewed. Part 3: Welfare assessment based on needs and supported by expert opinion

Welfare concerns what matters to animals from their point of view. What matters to animals is their state of need. Satisfaction and frustration of needs are associated with emotional states, the subjective experience of which directly determines the welfare status of an animal. Because emotional states are difficult to assess, overall welfare assessment (OWA) is best approached as an assessment of needs. For actual OW A a list of needs must be formulated. Different authors have formulated different lists. From these lists a concept need-list was constructed. For validation the needs-based approach for OWA was discussed in interviews with experts (n = 21) in the field of ethology and other welfare related sciences. These experts generally used mental terminology to define welfare, but when asked to classify their definition of welfare, many preferred a definition in terms of measurable parameters or a combination of both mental terms (feelings) and measurables. Most experts believed that welfare can be assessed objectively and that the problem of OWA is indeed best approached through an assessment of needs. Experts differ as to the exact composition of the list of needs. A list of needs is formulated which we intend to use for OWA in the case of sows

Overall welfare assessment of pregnant sow housing systems based on interviews with experts

In interviews with 11 pig experts the main housing systems for pregnant sows were identified as tethering (T), individual housing in stalls (IS), group housing with stalls (GS), trickle feeding or biofix (B), electronic sow feeding (ESF), and outdoor housing with huts (O). The family pen system (Fam) was added as a reference system. The experts were asked to give a welfare score for each housing system. The 2 individual housing systems (mean scores: T=1.8; IS=2.3) scored significantly lower than more intensive indoor group housing systems (GS=5.4; B=5.3; ESF=6.2), and these scored lower than the more extensive systems (O=8.0; Fam=9.1; ANOVA, PP=0.008). The most important aspects for welfare assessment were space, substrate, feeding-related agonism and social parameters such as group size and group stability. Three different models were constructed to calculate welfare scores from the arguments given by the experts. When represented graphically the results seem comparable to the expert scores, although 2 of the 3 models differed significantly from the expert scores using analysis of variance. These results indicate that pig experts are able to perform overall welfare assessment in a rational way that allows modelling and that there is a consensus underlying welfare assessment. These outcomes provide support for the further development of a decision support system to assess farm animal welfare on a scientific basis