Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-sqlfs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-11T02:03:03.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Definition of criteria for overall assessment of animal welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

R Botreau ,
I Veissier ,
A Butterworth ,
MBM Bracke  and
LJ Keeling
R Botreau*
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, Saint-Genès-Champanelle F-63122, France Institut de l'Elevage, BP18, Castanet Tolosan F-31321, France
I Veissier
Affiliation:
INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, Saint-Genès-Champanelle F-63122, France
A Butterworth
Affiliation:
University of Bristol Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford, BS40 5DU, UK
MBM Bracke
Affiliation:
Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 65, Lelystad NL-8200 AB, The Netherlands
LJ Keeling
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Environment and Health, University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7038, Uppsala SE-750 07, Sweden
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Welfare is multidimensional, comprising good health, comfort, expression of behaviour, and so on. Its overall assessment therefore requires a multicriteria evaluation. The set of criteria shall be exhaustive (no missing item), minimal (only necessary items), agreed by stakeholders, and legible (a limited number of criteria). Furthermore, the interpretation from one criterion shall not depend on that from another. We propose a set of 12 subcriteria grouped into four criteria: feeding, housing, health and optimised emotional states. This work will assist in developing measures to be used on-farm to form a European standard for overall assessment of animal welfare.

Keywords

animal welfareintegrationmulticriteria evaluationoverall assessment
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 16 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level , May 2007 , pp. 225 - 228
Copyright
© 2007 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Blokhuis, HJ, Jones, RB, Geers, R, Miele, M and Veissier, I 2003 Measuring and Monitoring Animal Welfare: Transparency in the Food Product Quality Chain. Animal Welfare 12: 445–455CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boe, KE and Faerevik, G 2003 Grouping and Social Preferences in Calves, Heifers and Cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 80: 175–190Google Scholar
Bouyssou, D 1990 Building criteria: a prerequisite for MCDA. In: Bana e Costa, CA (ed) Readings in Multiple Criteria Decision-Aid. Springer Verlag: Heidelberg, GermanyGoogle Scholar
Bracke, MBM, Spruijt, BM and Metz, JHM 1999 Overall animal welfare assessment reviewed. Part 3: Welfare assessment based on needs and supported by expert opinion. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 47: 307–322CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capdeville, J and Veissier, I 2001 A Method of Assessing Welfare in Loose Housed Dairy Cows at Farm Level, Focusing on Animal Observations. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science Supplement 30: 62–68Google Scholar
Duncan, IJH 2002 Poultry welfare: Science or subjectivity? British Poultry Science 43: 643–652Google ScholarPubMed
Farm Animal Welfare Council 1992 FAWC updates the five freedoms. Veterinary Record 17: 357Google Scholar
Fraser, D 1995 Science, values and animal welfare: exploring the ‘inextricable connection’. Animal Welfare 4: 103–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemsworth, PH and Coleman, GJ 1998 Human-Livestock Interactions: The Stockperson and the Productivity and Welfare of Intensively Farmed Animals. CAB International: Oxon/New YorkGoogle Scholar
Main, DCJ, Webster, F and Green, LE 2001 Animal Welfare Assessment in Farm Assurance Schemes. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science Supplement 30: 108–113Google Scholar
Mason, G and Mendl, M 1993 Why is there no simple way of measuring animal welfare? Animal Welfare 2: 301–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raussi, S, Lensink, BJ, Boissy, A, Pyykkonen, M and Veissier, I 2003 The Effect of Contact With Conspecifics and Humans on Calves' Behaviour and Stress Responses. Animal Welfare 12: 191–203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roy, B 1996 Multicriteria Methodology for Decision Aiding. Kluwer Academic: Dordrecht, The NetherlandsCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Špinka, M, Dembele, I, Panamá, J and Stìhulová, I 2005 Lame dairy cows have shorter avoidance distances. In: Proceedings of the 39th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. 20-24 August 2005. Sagamihara, JapanGoogle Scholar
Winckler, C, Capdeville, J, Gebresenbet, G, Horning, B, Roiha, U, Tosi, M and Waiblinger, S 2003 Selection of Parameters for On-Farm Welfare-Assessment Protocols in Cattle and Buffalo. Animal Welfare 12: 619–624CrossRefGoogle Scholar