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- Dippel, Sabine, et al.
(författare)
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Health and welfare of organic pigs in Europe assessed with animal-based parameters
- 2014
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 4:2, s. 149-161
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organic pig farming aims at maintaining a high health and welfare state of the animals through appropriate housing, management and feeding. Better knowledge of health and welfare indicators should help to identify critical points and hence to improve health and welfare as well as performance of organic pigs. This paper describes the health and welfare of organic pigs from 101 farms across six EU countries, using selected animal-based parameters from the Welfare Quality® protocol. Parameters were collected in sows, suckling and weaned piglets in 3 to 20 farms per country. Their assessment was trained before farm visits and inter-observer agreement determined after farm visits. The most prevalent problems identified in sows were thinness (median farm prevalence 18.8 %, range 0–81.0), injuries on the anterior part of the body (15.5 %, 0–66.7), injuries on hind part of body (7.9 %, 0–50), obesity (4.9 %, 0–50.0) and vulva lesions (3.5 %, 0–42.9). In suckling piglets, the median prevalence in terms of groups affected per farm was 0 % for all parameters but ‘> 50 % dirty piglets in group’, for which it was 10 %. Farm prevalence ranged from 0 to 100 % for ‘≥ 1 lame piglet in group’, presence of diarrhoea, and ‘> 50 % dirty piglets in group’. In weaned piglets, the median prevalence in terms of groups affected per farm was 0 % with a range of 0 to 100 % for all parameters. Based on the collected data, body condition, skin and vulva lesions in sows, lameness, diarrhoea and respiratory problems in piglets could be used as management and welfare indicators, with good potential for enhancement through farm improvement schemes like herd health planning. However, some definitions could be improved, especially lameness, diarrhoea and respiratory problems in piglets.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsson, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Epidemiological study concerning the characteristics of organic pig farming in selected European countries
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Literature reviews (see also report of WP1) revealed that there is limited information on the health and welfare of sows in organic production systems. Therefore, interviews and on-farm assessments were conducted in a total of 101 organic pig farms in different European countries. The objectives were to gain knowledge about the current farm and management conditions and the health status of organic pigs in Europe and to identify possible risk factors and constraints that could be considered when trying to improve animal health status. The questionnaire comprised a total number of 215 questions, covering housing conditions, management routine and feeding regime as well as preventive, hygienic and therapeutic health measures and available data about the animal health status. Participating countries were: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. 66 farms kept at least one age group of pigs outdoors while 35 farms kept their pigs exclusively indoors, for the most part with a concrete outside run. On average, 74.6 (± 106.6) sows were housed per farm. Housing conditions on organic pig farms were characterised by a large heterogeneity within and between European countries. The variation was further increased by the fact that some organic farms were dealing simultaneously with different housing systems for pigs of the same life stage. Concerning the portion of bought-in-feedstuffs in relation to the total feed consumed, 52 farms indicated that more than 50 % of the feed ration consisted of home-grown feed. 43 farmers declared that less than 50 % of the feed originated from the farm whereas only 6 farms produced 100 % of their feed themselves. In general, knowledge of the farm manager about the quality of feed ingredients used and the composition of the diets were low. Only few farmers made use of multiple phase-feeding in the different life stages of the pigs. There is reason to suspect that the feeding regimes were suboptimal on the majority of organic pig farms, leaving ample room for easily feasible improvements. Genotypes used on the maternal and paternal side differed widely between countries. Artificial insemination was carried out on 53.9 ± 38.0 % of the investigated farms. 20 farms favoured natural service while 6 % of the farms used artificial insemination only. With respect to the health management, some farms made comprehensive use of the various options such as quarantine, vaccination or parasite and rodent control, wheras many farmers neglected the implementation of preventive measures, including appropriate hygiene and disinfection measures. On the majority of organic farms with indoor housing, the options for disinfection were hindered by the fact that many farms were not able to implement an all-in all-out concept as they did not possess partitioned buildings which could have been cleaned and disinfected separately without the risk to contaminate pigs in the same building. 82 % of the farms received data on pathological findings of fatteners from the abattoir, whereas only 54 farms had abattoir data on sows available. In correspondence with the large variation in the living conditions for pigs, also production data and mortality rates differed widely between organic pig farms. According to the estimation by the farmer concerning the occurrence of selected animal health problems, mortality of suckling piglets and weaners and weaning diarrhoea were named as the most relevant diseases problems.5 Although dedicated to the same minimum standards, organic pig farming does not provide the same living conditions or a homogenous outcome of animal health parameters. Thus, organic standards do not automatically lead to a high status of animal health but, like all systems, also depends on the quality of management. Differences in management practices, restrictions in the availability of resources (labour time, financial budget etc.), and a lack of feedback and control mechanism within the farm system appears to be a main reason for the substantial variation between farms
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Hultgren, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Cattle behaviours and stockperson actions related to impaired animal welfare at Swedish slaughter plants
- 2014
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Ingår i: Applied Animal Behaviour Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-1591 .- 1872-9045. ; 152, s. 23-37
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At a slaughter plant, cattle are sometimes exposed to rough handling which may reduce animal welfare (AW). In an observational study at four Swedish commercial slaughter plants, AW-related behaviours of cattle and actions of abattoir stockpersons handling the same animals were recorded simultaneously. The objective was to estimate the occurrence of different behaviours and actions related to negative AW during driving and stunning at large-scale cattle abattoirs, assess associations between such behaviours and actions, and analyse differences between plants and animal categories (dairy cows, beef cows, adult bulls and heifers/bullocks). Direct continuous observations of focal animals were made using laptops either in a section of the driving race to the stun box (132 animals) or in the stun box (313 animals), generating a total of 14.5 h of observations. The animals were stunned using a penetrating captive bolt gun or a rifle. Counts per animal of 14 behaviours and 16 stockperson actions were calculated. Sixteen percent of the observed animals displayed total behaviour counts >5 in the driving race, and 2% did so in the stun box; 32 and 8% of the observed animals received total counts >5 of stockperson actions in the race and stun box, respectively. We estimated that two-thirds of the animals were processed without displaying/receiving any of the behaviours/actions associated with severely negative AW. AW scores were acquired by adding together all observed behaviour counts (and action counts, separately) weighted by expert-assessed ratings denoting the degree of impaired AW. Spearman rank correlation was used to analyse associations between behaviour counts, action counts and AW scores. Only three moderate to strong correlations (p >= 0.4, P <= 0.001) between single behaviours/actions were found ("slapping rear" and "slapping front"; "prodding" and "shouting"; and "prodding" and "beating rear" in the driving race). The correlation between AW scores based on behaviours and actions was statistically significant but rather weak both in the driving race (p = 0.37, P<0.0001) and stun box (p = 0.22, P = 0.0002). The effects of slaughter plant and animal category on behaviour counts and AW scores were estimated using standard or zero-inflated negative-binomial regression. The risks of most behaviours related to negative AW differed considerably between plants. In the stun box, adult bulls had a 2.5 times higher risk of "struggling-kicking" (P = 0.016) and a 2.0 times higher risk of displaying "backing-turning" (P = 0.016) than had dairy cows, indicating poorer welfare for the bulls. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Wiberg, Sofia Elisabet
(författare)
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Description of organic pig production in Europe
- 2014
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Ingår i: Organic Agriculture. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1879-4238 .- 1879-4246. ; 4, s. 83-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 7. |
- Wiberg, Sofia Elisabet, et al.
(författare)
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Health and welfare in Swedish game bird rearing
- 2009
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Ingår i: Sustainable animal production. The challenges and potential developments for professional farming. - 9789086860999 ; , s. 395-407
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Wiberg, Sofia Elisabet
(författare)
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Slaughter - not only about animals : an interdisciplinary study of handling of cattle at slaughter
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In order to get meat for human consumption animals have to be slaughtered. In Sweden, about 450,000 cattle are slaughtered every year; in 2011 93% of these were slaughtered at the 16 largest slaughter plants. Maintaining acceptable animal welfare standards in the industrial slaughter of animals places great demands on the management and staff. Good animal welfare means that consideration has been given to the animals' biology and subjective experience and to its possibilities to adapt to the environment. Previous research has shown that the interior design in a slaughter plant and the way animals are handled are important for animal welfare. The aim of the studies included in this thesis was to use an interdisciplinary approach to describe and analyse human-animal interactions around the slaughter of cattle, to identify important factors for the maintenance of good animal welfare. In the first study, pre-defined behaviours of randomly chosen animals and the stockpersons handling them prior to slaughter were recorded. In the second study, data was collected through ethnographic observations at slaughter and interviews with stockpersons and slaughter plant management. Results show that a part of the animals were driven to stunning and stunned without performing or receiving any of the pre-defined behaviours. The behaviours perceived as most detrimental for the animal welfare were observed only a few times. A theme that recurred in the ethnographic observations and interviews with stockpersons and management was denoted work flow, meaning that there was a smooth flow in the work without unwanted interruptions. For management, work flow was important for efficient production and for stockpersons for the feeling of a good working day. Animal flow is crucial for work flow and can have a major impact on animal welfare. A good planning of the incoming animal transports is an important factor to maintain a good animal welfare. An appropriately designed slaughter plant interior can facilitate the driving of animals and thus promote a smooth and even animal flow and a good work flow. Routines and methods for the driving of animals at slaughter plants need to be further discussed to avoid unnecessarily rough driving.
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