Lawrence, AB

Vigors, Belinda

English

Minimising animal health issues, compared to promoting the expression of naturalbehaviours, has a greater impact on how UK public judge farm animal well-being. However, animalwell-being is judged to be best when both health and natural behaviours are considered.Individuals with a greater belief in animal mind, along with vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians,place more importance on animals being able to express natural behaviours

SRUC - Scotland's Rural College

Scotland's Rural CollegeHappy or healthy? Public perspectives on farm animal health and natural behavioursand opportunities for positive welfare - Research BriefVigors, Belinda; Lawrence, ABPrint publication: 01/06/2021Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publicationCitation for pulished version (APA):Vigors, B., & Lawrence, AB. (2021). Happy or healthy? Public perspectives on farm animal health and naturalbehaviours and opportunities for positive welfare - Research Brief. (Research Briefing). Scotland's Rural College(SRUC).General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Download date: 27. Nov. 2022 1 June 2021 (RPC RB 2021/03) Happy or healthy? Public perspectives on farm animal health and natural behaviours and opportunities for positive welfare 1 Belinda Vigors and Alistair Lawrence 2  Main Findings • Members of the public (MOP) are thought to place more importance on positive aspects of animal welfare (e.g. the expression of natural behaviours) than negative aspects of welfare (e.g. minimising health issues). This briefing reports on findings from a representative survey of the UK public (n=810).  • Participants were presented with one of four hypothetical scenarios and asked to judge the well-being of the farm animals: Farm 1: Health issues were minimised and natural behaviour were not promoted Farm 2: Health issues were minimised and natural behaviours were promoted Farm 3: Health issues were not minimised and natural behaviours were not promoted Farm 4: Health issues were not minimised and natural behaviours were promoted o Farm 2 was judged as the best for farm animal well-being, indicating that MOP want farm animals to be both healthy and able to express natural behaviours.  o Animal health, as opposed to natural behaviours, had the greatest impact on how participants’ judged animal well-being across the four scenarios.  • Participants also rated how important minimising health issues and promoting natural behaviours were for farm animal well-being. When asked to choose between the two, 64% of participants selected minimising health issues as the most important factor for farm animal well-being.  • Females were more likely than males to give a higher rating for the importance of promoting natural behaviours. Having a greater belief in animal mind (sentience) or being vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian increased the likelihood of highly rating natural behaviours as important. Participants who grew up on a farm were more likely to give a lower rating for the importance of natural behaviours.   1 This research was undertaken within the Scottish Government Rural Affairs and the Environment Strategic Research Programme 2016-2021, under Theme 2, Research Deliverable on Livestock Welfare (2.2.7): Productive and Sustainable Land Management and Rural Economies. For more information, see: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/StrategicResearch/strategicresearch2016--21. 2  Contact: Belinda Vigors, Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Group, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, SRUC. 07884546902. belinda.vigors@sruc.ac.uk. Key message: Minimising animal health issues, compared to promoting the expression of natural behaviours, has a greater impact on how UK public judge farm animal well-being. However, animal well-being is judged to be best when both health and natural behaviours are considered. Individuals with a greater belief in animal mind, along with vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians, place more importance on animals being able to express natural behaviours. 2 Introduction When it comes to farm animal welfare, a common belief is that members of the public (MOP) are most concerned with animals being able to express their natural behaviours. Both public and private welfare standards and policies are often designed with this in mind, making use of measures such as ‘days spent at pasture’ or ‘access to the outdoors’ to respond to these public expectations3. However, research examining public attitudes has been conflicting, with some studies indicating that public priorities for farm animal welfare may not be so clear-cut but instead vary according to the nature of the situation a farm animal is in4. Developing a clearer understanding of when and why members of the public may place greater emphasis on natural behaviours (as opposed to minimising health issues) is thus important for the development of welfare policies which address and are aligned with public expectations.  Methods An online survey, using a 2x2 factorial design, was administered to 810 individuals, representative of the UK public in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. The survey examined how they (i) judged the well-being of farm animals under different conditions of health and natural behaviour provision; (ii) how important they felt minimising health issues and promoting natural behaviours were for farm animal well-being and; (iii) demographic factors influencing their views and judgements of what matters for farm animal well-being.  Research and Policy Implications In light of the growing belief that what members of the public predominantly want is for farm animals to be able express natural behaviours, this research: • Challenges this by finding that, overall, whether health issues were minimised or not had the greatest influence on how MOP judged the well-being of the animals in the hypothetical scenarios. • Suggests that the priority MOP give to natural behaviours may depend on the situation an animal is in. When health issues were not minimised participants judged well-being to be poorer even if natural behaviours were promoted, indicating they potentially see the benefits of natural behaviours arising only once health issues are first taken care of.  • Finds that what MOP ideally want is for farm animals to be both healthy and able to express their natural behaviours. This has implications for the design of welfare policies and standards which meet public expectations and fits with recent research findings.  • Highlights the importance of individual demographic factors to account for variances in how MOP prioritise health and natural behaviours for farm animal well-being. That a greater belief in animal mind and dietary preferences (of non- or reduced meat consumption) are linked to greater emphasis being placed on natural behaviours (as opposed to health) is particularly interesting from a policy perspective. This suggests that society may develop higher expectations for animal welfare if a reduction in meat consumption continues to rise and if a belief in animal sentience continues to grow across society.   3 Lundmark F, Berg C, Röcklinsberg H. Private Animal Welfare Standards—Opportunities and Risks. Animals. 2018 Jan 2;8(1):4. 4 Cardoso CS, von Keyserlingk MAG, Hötzel MJ, Robbins J, Weary DM. Hot and bothered: Public attitudes towards heat stress and outdoor access for dairy cows. Yildirim A, editor. PLoS ONE. 2018 Oct 31;13(10):e0205352. For more information on the work of SRUC’s Rural Policy Centre, please contact the team on: T: 0131 535 4256; E: rpc@sruc.ac.uk; W: www.sruc.ac.uk/ruralpolicycentre     

Happy or healthy? Public perspectives on farm animal health and natural behaviours and opportunities for positive welfare - Research Brief

https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/files/42646493/RPC_Research_Briefing_Template_2021_Public_Perspective_Positive_Welfare.pdf

Happy or healthy? Public perspectives on farm animal health and natural behaviours and opportunities for positive welfare - Research Brief

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