Recently, several farm assurance schemes in the United Kingdom have been adopting innovative approaches, such as welfare outcome assessment, into their routine procedures. In this paper, we present the findings of four consultation exercises, undertaken as part of a review process that examined farmer perspectives on planned or implemented changes to their current certification visits as members of UK-based dairy and laying hen schemes. The changes included the introduction of welfare outcome assessment by assessors, joint-scoring of welfare-outcome measures by farmers and assessors and self-assessment of welfare outcome measures by farmers between assessor visits. This study also explores the challenges that arise when schemes are aiming to adopt a scheme-level continuous improvement approach to promote welfare improvement on participating farms. The key challenges fall under three themes: the purpose and value for the farmer of the assessment of welfare outcomes as part of a farm assurance assessment process; the potential conflict rather than concordance with the role of the farmer in caring for their animals; and finally the technicalities of the assessment process, such as sample sizes for assessment being calibrated for gauging welfare prevalence at a scheme rather than farm level and the role of the farm assurance assessors both to assess impartially compliance against the standards and to provide welfare advice to support improvement. This study highlights that the involvement of farmers at all stages in the development and in the evaluation of outcome assessment initiatives is likely to be beneficial for welfare improvement on-farm.

The aim of this study was to assess hair cortisol concentrations in New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that were subjected to relocation and surgery to evaluate HPA-axis activity; in addition, we used this marker of cortisol secretion to evaluate the allostatic load of animals undergoing surgery. After a period of acclimatisation, which lasted 40 days from their arrival at the enclosure, 19 rabbits were subjected to T1-T12 dorsal arthrodesis (RS), 19 were sham-operated (SS), and 19 were non-operated (CON). Hair samples were collected at the time of arrival (ST1) at the animal facility, and seven other sets of hair samples were collected at 40-day intervals from the same area of skin for a period of 240 days as re-shaved hair (anagen phase): immediately before surgery (ST2) and after the surgery (ST3, ST4, ST5, ST6, ST7, and ST8). The transition from the rabbitry to the animal breeding facility led to a significant increase in cortisol concentration (ST2) in all of the groups. At ST3, the RS group presented higher cortisol concentrations than those of the SS group and the CON group. At ST4, the experimental groups showed similar values that remained constant until ST8. The results show that the management of rabbits undergoing surgery should be evaluated very carefully, and hair cortisol concentrations may provide a means of avoiding the dangerous cumulative effects of additional stressors close to surgery.

A case control study with a questionnaire was carried out to compare feeding practices, diet composition, housing and management in 78 herds with or without a history of tail-biting in undocked pigs (Sus scrofa) in Finland. Tail-biting was measured as the mean annual prevalence score of tail-biting damage (TBD) for a farm. Logistic regression parameters were calculated separately for risk factors present in piglet (lactation), weaner, and finishing units. Risk factors found in piglet units for TBD were slatted floors and area of slats. In the weaner units, slatted floors, area of slats, use of whey or wheat in the diet, and use of purchased compound feeds were associated with a risk of TBD. In the finishing units, slatted floors, area of slats, increasing number of finisher pigs at the farm, absence of bedding, liquid feeding, several meals per day, specialised production type and a group size greater than nine pigs were found as risk factors for TBD. Increased farm size was connected to risk for TBD in the overall dataset. The nutritional risk factors seem to operate together with other risk factors, but with relatively lower odds. The risk factors of undocked herds in this study seem to be similar to the risk factors from earlier studies of docked pigs. This study provides information which can be used to refine decision-support tools for management of the potentially higher risk for tail-biting among long-tailed pigs, thus aiding compliance with EU law and enhancing pig welfare.

In response to an increased awareness concerning the welfare of captive animals, several studies have investigated the effect of provisions on stress levels in model species, such as small mammals, birds and fish. In contrast, reptiles have received less attention. Although many reptilian species are becoming increasingly popular in the pet trade and are frequently used as model species in various branches of biology and a number of studies have explored how they react to stress in different contexts (eg social, predatory), little is known about how they react to stress induced by housing conditions or experimental treatments. In this study, we quantified the effect of provision of perches and leaves as refuges (provisioned) on the behaviour, morphology and physiology of the green anole (Anolis carolinensis). Our results showed that increased or decreased structural complexity of the cage had no effect on body mass, tail-base width, heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (H/L ratios), brightness, body colour, behaviour and faecal corticosterone metabolite (FCM) levels for both males and females in the experimental treatments (provisioned or deprived situation). Our study animals did score very highly for several stress-indicating variables in the three weeks preceding the experiments — suggesting that they had experienced considerable stress during capture, transport and temporary housing in the pet store.

The relationship between the socio-economic status of working equine owners and the welfare status of their animals is yet to be documented. The aim of this study was to provide an approach to understanding socio-economic status, quality of life and working aspects of working horse owners, in order to establish their social vulnerability index and to determine how these measures correlate with the welfare state of their horses. Seventy-two owners and their urban working horses (n = 122) were studied. Owners’ socioeconomic and educational status was established together with their quality of life perception and multi-dimensional poverty index. The animal welfare index was constructed using animal-based measures. Whilst over 90% of owners were considered vulnerable, only 28.3% of horses were classified as being in a poor welfare state (eg presence of lesions and morphology not adequate for draught type). There were no significant correlations between owners’ factors and the animal welfare index. We conclude, therefore, that social vulnerability of owners does not necessarily imply that their animals will be in a poor welfare state.

Concern for elephant welfare in zoological facilities has prompted a number of exhibit and management modifications, including those involving enrichment. Knowledge of how these changes impact indicators of welfare, such as elephant movement and behaviour, is crucial for continued improvement of elephant husbandry and care. The present study used observations and GPS-collected data to determine the effects of available space and food presentation on the walking distance and behaviour of thirteen African elephants (Loxodonta africana), which had a dominance structure ascertained by animal care staff at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (SDZSP). This facility has two exhibits of approximately equal size. Three treatments were created to assess the effects of food and space enrichment: (i) access to half of the exhibit with food (Half); (ii) access to the entire exhibit with food in one yard (Both/Half); and (iii) access to the entire exhibit with food in both yards (Both). For Half and Both/Half, food was presented in each yard for an equal number of trials. Significant differences across treatments were revealed for average total walking distances but this was not found between any two given treatments. Walking distance varied among elephants belonging to different dominance groups, with middle-ranked elephants taking the most advantage of a larger available space. Behaviour did not differ across treatments, but the change in behavioural diversity from one treatment to another was significant for subordinate elephants. The information obtained from this study has direct implications for the management of the SDZSP elephants and for other facilities looking to increase walking distance or subordinate behavioural diversity.

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations (2007) make it an offence to allow unnecessary suffering to animals, highlighting that farmers have a duty of care for their livestock. Despite this, the current global mean prevalence of lameness in sheep in England is 5%; ie ~750,000 lame adult sheep at any time. To investigate farmers’ attitudes to sanctions and rewards as drivers to reduce the prevalence of lameness in sheep, farmers’ attitudes to external inspections, acceptable prevalence of lameness and attitudes on outcomes from inspections were investigated using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 43/102 convenience-selected English sheep farmers responded to the questionnaire. Their median flock size was 500 ewes with a geometric mean prevalence of lameness of 2.8%. Few farmers selected correct descriptions of the legislation for treatment and transport of lame sheep. Participants considered 5-7.5% prevalence of lameness acceptable and were least tolerant of farmers who rarely treated lameness and most tolerant of farmers experiencing an incident out of their control, eg disease outbreak. Participants consider sanctions and rewards would help to control lameness on sheep farms in England. Sanctions (prosecution, reduction in payment from the single [basic] payment scheme or suspension from a farm assurance scheme) were considered ‘fair’ when lameness was ≥ 10% and rewards ‘fair’ when lameness was ≤ 2%. If these farmers’ attitudes are applied to 1,300 randomly selected flocks with a mean prevalence of lameness of 3.5%, 24.6% of flocks that had ≥ 10% lameness would be sanctioned and 32.5% of flocks that had ≤ 2% lameness would be rewarded.

Given the difficulties of conducting regular endocrine and veterinary assessments of animals, behavioural observations are often the most commonly used tool to assess the welfare of animals in human care. Behavioural measures, inexpensive and convenient to collect, also have their challenges, such as ensuring the behaviours of interest are reliable indicators of an animal's internal state. Welfare assessments include both positive and negative indicators, and a commonly used indicator of negative welfare is self-directed behaviour (SDB). SDB has been described as a behavioural indicator of stress through observation and experimentation; however, this pattern is not universal despite assumptions otherwise. The purpose of this study was to experimentally evaluate the use of SDB as an indicator of negative welfare in mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) with the goal of understanding the function of SDB in relation to stress. Using a touchscreen-mediated cognitive task, the mandrills were observed to self-scratch significantly more often during incorrect than correct trials; however, rates of SDB did not vary between increasingly difficult testing conditions. The mandrills had individual variation in their use of body-shakes and yawns under negative and positive conditions that mirror similar variation observed in other primates. This study provides experimental evidence that self-scratching in mandrills can be used as a behavioural indicator of anxiety and that welfare assessments for animals in human care need to account not only for species’ differences, but also for individual differences.