Farm Animal Welfare Research Articles

A Review of You Only Look Once Algorithms in Animal Phenotyping Applications

Animal phenotyping recognition is a pivotal component of precision livestock management, holding significant importance for intelligent farming practices and animal welfare assurance. In recent years, with the rapid advancement of deep learning technologies, the YOLO algorithm—as the pioneering single-stage detection framework—has revolutionized the field of object detection through its efficient and rapid approach and has been widely applied across various agricultural domains. This review focuses on animal phenotyping as the research target structured around four key aspects: (1) the evolution of YOLO algorithms, (2) datasets and preprocessing methodologies, (3) application domains of YOLO algorithms, and (4) future directions. This paper aims to offer readers fresh perspectives and insights into animal phenotyping research.

Cow factors to address when performing avoidance distance tests at the feeding rack.

Cow factors to address when performing avoidance distance tests at the feeding rack.

Can 'good' farm animal welfare co-exist with 'profitable' farming business models?

Here Beth Clark, Albert Boaitey and Carmen Hubbard discuss what constitutes good animal welfare, who is responsible for it and whether it truly can co-exist with different farming business models.

Examining the possibility of Integrating Sustainable Agricultural Practices into Laws for safeguarding the rights of farm animals

The relationship between sustainable agriculture and animal welfare is explored. Agricultural practices that promote economic prosperity and ecological balance are discussed. Ethical considerations and legal aspects that recognize animals with legal rights are discussed. Global practices in farm animal welfare are compared with those in India.

Relevance of state-behaviour feedbacks for animal welfare.

An animal's behaviour and its state, including its health and affective state, are dynamic and tightly coupled, influencing each other over time. Although both are relevant to the animal's welfare, there has been limited research on their dynamics in welfare studies. Here we aim to: (i) review evidence for feedbacks between state and behaviour that could have beneficial or detrimental consequences for farm animal welfare; (ii) propose ways in which an understanding of such feedbacks could be used to enhance welfare; and (iii) provide practical guidance. We include as state variables any features that could influence the costs and benefits of an animal's behavioural actions, including individual characteristics and aspects of its social environment. We find evidence supporting positive state-behaviour feedback loops in various livestock species, suggesting that these loops could be common in farm settings and have significant welfare implications, such as leading to abnormal behaviours and persistent negative affective states. We suggest (i) estimating within-individual feedback loops to extract individual characteristics for studying differences in welfare; (ii) identifying scenarios where change accelerated by positive feedbacks pushes an animal (or a group of animals) to a new state, also called tipping points; and (iii) generating positive feedback loops to elicit and maintain positive affective states. We end by encouraging use of dynamic models that integrate longitudinal data on animals' behaviour and state to enable exploration of their dynamics, and we provide a practical guide with annotated R code for support. Since the principles and ideas discussed here are relevant to any animals under human care, this approach could foster new perspectives for improving the welfare of all captive animals.

Physiological Responses of Saanen Does: A Comparative Study of Traditional Wooden and Aluminium Galvanized Iron Housing System in a Tropical Climate

Physiological responses are key indicators for accessing the welfare of farm animals and served as valuable references for detecting abnormal conditions caused by unsuitable environmental factors. This study aimed to evaluate the physiological responses of Saanen does in two different housing systems. Twelve (12) female Saanen does, ages 9 to 12 months with an average weight of 23.54±1.15 kg, were randomly assigned to either traditional wooden house (T0) or aluminium galvanized iron house (T1). After a 14 days of adaptation period, thermoregulator variables including rectal temperature (RT), heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) were measured every week over a 90-day period. Serum cortisol levels were also measured at weeks 0, 4, 8 and 12. Additionally, microclimate parameter, ambient temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH), were recorded each housing system weekly to calculate temperature-humidity index (THI). Housing types did not significantly (P0.05) affect the environmental parameters, but variations were observed throughout the day. High AT (34.74±0.29) and THI (86.30±0.26) were recorded in the afternoon, while RH (75.53±1.27) was higher in the morning. Notably, RR was elevated in T0, whereas HR was higher in T1. Significant diurnal variations (P0,05) were observed in both RT and RR, with higher values observed in the afternoon compared to the morning and evening. Serum cortisol levels, however, were unaffected by housing type. These findings suggest that both housing systems may induce stress in the animals, but T1 provided better conditions for heat dissipation and had lower maintenance costs. Thus, T1 presents a more suitable alternative to T0 in tropical climates, potentially improving the welfare and comfort of Saanen does.

Developing and Evaluating Animal Welfare Case Studies for Veterinary Students.

Within veterinary education, case studies promote critical thinking and provide an opportunity for students to solve problems they may encounter after graduation. Cases are useful for many disciplines within veterinary medicine, but are particularly beneficial for teaching complex, multidisciplinary topics such as animal welfare. There are several resources within the literature describing methods for creating effective cases for a wide variety of educational disciplines. However, animal welfare educators are not often provided guidance on how to develop their own cases and seldom get the opportunity to receive feedback on cases they have created. The goal of this article is to provide animal welfare educators with a resource they can use when creating their own case studies for veterinary students. Our specific objective is to describe the process used to develop and evaluate farm animal welfare case studies for veterinary students.

Technological Gap Analysis: A Case Study of Anand, Gujarat

Background: Indian Dairy Industry is vital to the growth of rural economy of India and employing good dairy farming practices is a sustainable approach to achieving this goal. Good dairy farming practices, according to FAO, are about implementation of effective and suitable practices on dairy farms so that the intended use of dairy products and by-products could be achieved while ensuring the farm business remains economically viable. The aim of the present study was to analyze the technological gap in adoption of good dairy farming practices among dairy farmers. Methods: Anand district was selected purposively. For the estimation of technological gap, six major components of dairy farming viz, animal health, hygienic milking, animal nutrition, animal welfare, environmental and socio-economic management practices of animals were used. Result: The study results indicate that nearly three-fifths of the respondents exhibited a medium level of overall technological gap in good dairy farming practices, followed by 27 per cent of respondents showing a low level of technological gap. Comprehensive awareness and training programs should be crafted to educate farmers about the importance and implementation of effective dairy farming practices, with a focus on animal health, hygienic milking, nutrition, welfare, environmental management and socio-economic aspects. Strengthening of extension services, financial incentives and formulation of regulatory frameworks is crucial in bridging the technological gap in good dairy farming practices.

Differentiated policy implementation in food safety and animal welfare policymaking

AbstractAgri‐food policies are in the midst of far‐reaching transitions, including the transformation towards sustainable production and food consumption. The European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy prioritize food safety and animal welfare issues, aiming to transform food systems towards more sustainability. Despite existing EU legislation, little is known about how EU agri‐food policies are implemented across member states. Our analysis addresses this gap by examining the conditions that shape how EU requirements are implemented in 16 EU member states in two policy areas: food safety and farm animal welfare. Through our qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), we identify distinct pathways to differentiated implementation in both sectors, with a shared emphasis on political engagement, green party influence, and public advocacy, while also highlighting domain‐specific governance dynamics. Understanding variations in the implementation of EU demands among member states is crucial to identify gaps, assess governance effectiveness, and promote harmonization within the EU.

Dairy calves provided with environmental enrichment are more active, playful and have fewer feeding interruptions

Concerns for farm animal welfare have led to the use of environmental enrichment to stimulate natural behaviours and promote positive emotions. In cattle, the provision of brushes is sometimes recommended but their use in calves and the effects they may have are not well established. The use of precision technologies enables the collection of detailed behavioural data that can be used as welfare indicators. Here we use ultra-wideband location sensors to measure activity and play, along with automatic milk feeders to measure feeding. We assessed the effects of stationary brushes on the behaviour of 226 dairy calves for up to 72 days. Half of the calves had access to the brushes for half of the experimental period. Using a mixed-effects linear model we showed that when brushes were present calves had significantly higher activity, fed slower, had fewer interruptions in their meals and spent less time around the feeder, suggesting reduced competition. Furthermore, calves that had access to brushes during the trial were more active and playful, even on days when the brushes were not available, compared to the control group. This finding indicates for the first time that enrichment may have a lasting effect on calf behaviour and welfare.

Farm Animal Welfare and Producer Profitability

AbstractPast research shows that farm animal welfare (FAW) policies can reduce consumer and retailer welfare, but producer welfare implications are less certain. This study uses equilibrium displacement modeling of the U.S. wholesale shell egg market to determine how the transition to cage-free egg sales could affect short- and long-run producer welfare. Under varying assumptions and retailer demand shifts, the results consistently demonstrate that producer profits are expected to decline as retailers pivot toward cage-free purchasing, holding all else constant. These findings help explain the tension surrounding FAW policies across the supply chain and can be used to inform industry and policymaker discussions on the topic.

Nose-clip use in semi-free ranging pigs reduces rooting without disrupting affiliative behaviour or causing prolonged stress.

Nose-clip use in semi-free ranging pigs reduces rooting without disrupting affiliative behaviour or causing prolonged stress.

Understanding politicisation of farm animal welfare through stability and change in public trust

Understanding politicisation of farm animal welfare through stability and change in public trust

Simplified Internal Audits of the Welfare Quality Protocol in Dairy Farms: Are They Effective in Improving Welfare Practices?

The Welfair® certificate has become an important part of food chain integrity for animal welfare assessment in several countries, relying on a rigorous audit that verifies compliance with legislation and assesses animal welfare through the Welfare Quality Protocol (WQP). Dairy cattle farmers are encouraged to conduct internal audits beforehand to self-assess the farm's animal welfare level. Since early 2023, the Welfair® scheme has proposed simplified audits to shorten the time needed for internal audits. Ten measures are selected from the WQP, five of which must always be assessed: body condition, water provision, lameness, integument alterations, and pain management in disbudding. The main objective of this study was to determine whether analyzing the results of these five key indicators helps in identifying welfare problems, ultimately leading to a better final score. To test this, seven Portuguese commercial dairy farms were randomly selected to conduct a simplified internal audit followed by a certification audit. Considering the circumstances of our study, the visits proved essential to promoting better welfare practices, which positively influenced the final classification. However, areas that require improvement (such as the lack of an accurate risk analysis of the simplified audits provided by the Welfair® scheme) were identified and are discussed.

A Survey on Inter-animal Welfare Comparisons

Abstract According to a survey among a representative sample of the Belgian population, most people believe that farmed animals like chickens have the same capacity for suffering as humans, and that most farmed land animals (broiler chickens) have negative welfare levels (i.e., experience more suffering than happiness). The suffering of a farmed land animal, estimated by people, is equal in size to the positive welfare of a human (in Belgium) whereas the welfare level of a wild bird is zero on average. As there are more farmed animals than humans in the world, and the populations of small farmed animals (chickens, fish, shrimp and insects) are increasing, most people would have to come to the conclusion that net global welfare (of humans, farmed animals and wild animals combined) is negative and declining. People who care about global welfare should therefore strongly prioritize decreasing animal farming and improving farmed animal welfare conditions.

Skilled Decisions and Animals Used for Human Purposes: Results From Convenience and Representative US Samples

ABSTRACT Beliefs, values and value-related justifications, and general cognitive skills predict some human uses of animals. To help understand some of the relations among these factors, we present a model about decisions concerning some human uses of animals based on the Framework for Skilled Decisions. In two studies, we tested models predicting key outcome variables including self-reported consumption of animals and animal products and support for actions aimed at farmed-animal welfare. Studies 1a and 1b used path models to test relations among key factors, including objective knowledge, calibration about how much one knows, the 4Ns, and numeracy. Study 2 replicated the model in a large, representative sample from the United States. These models may be theoretically important because they provide insight into some of the potential cognitive factors involved in decisions about human uses of animals and the relations of those factors. Practically, these models may be useful because they may provide insights, and highlight potential obstacles, concerning interventions aimed at changing people’s decisions involving animals.

Socio-economic analysis of the EU citizens' attitudes toward farmed animal welfare from the 2023 Eurobarometer polling survey.

Europeans' expectations and opinions regarding the conditions and welfare of farmed animals have evolved continuously. Since 2005, the Eurobarometer (Eb) polling instrument has been used to monitor EU citizens' attitudes towards farmed animal welfare (FAW). Using the last Eb survey (2023), this study categorized respondents into clusters according to their answers to 12 selected questions on FAW. The ultimate goal was to highlight trends useful to stakeholders and policymakers within the animal food supply chain to design and implement activity planning, progress, and information campaigns. As the Eb data came from a stratified multi-stage, random (probability) sample design, the seven clusters sorted through our statistical approach reflected the opinions of the EU population in 2023. These clusters could be further merged into three macro-clusters with two main opposite levels of concern (>80% positive answers) about FAW: concerned about at least 10 questions (74% of the sample); concerned about no more than three questions (6% of the sample); and a third macro-cluster in between concerned about five to seven questions, especially on specific farming practices (20% of the sample). An analysis of the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents within clusters (gender, age, education, occupation scale, geographical origin, and regular contact with animals) showed that the main discriminating features were gender, level of education, and regular contact with animals; women and well-educated people in regular contact with companion animals were more concerned about FAW overall. The analysis also highlighted divergent responses regarding shopping habits and information searches among the clusters.

Exploring the legitimacy of industry-led farm animal welfare governance using examples of Canadian and United States dairy standards

Abstract The governance of farm animal welfare is led, in certain countries and sectors, by industry organisations. The aim of this study was to analyse the legitimacy of industry-led farm animal welfare governance focusing on two examples: the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle and the Animal Care module of the proAction programme in Canada, and the Animal Care module of the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) programme in the United States (US). Both are dairy cattle welfare governance programmes led by industry actors who create the standards and audit farms for compliance. We described the normative legitimacy of these systems, based on an input, throughput, and output framework, by performing a document analysis on publicly available information from these organisations’ websites and found that the legitimacy of both systems was enhanced by their commitment to science, the presence of accountability systems to enforce standards, and wide participation by dairy farms. The Canadian system featured more balanced representation, and their standard development process uses a consensus-based model, which bolsters legitimacy compared to the US system. However, the US system was more transparent regarding audit outcomes than the Canadian system. Both systems face challenges to their legitimacy due to heavy industry representation and limited transparency as to how public feedback is addressed in the standards. These Canadian and US dairy industry standards illustrate strengths and weakness of industry-led farm animal welfare governance.

2023 동물복지에 대한 국민의식조사 결과에 대한 분석과 생명철학적 제언

In recent years, discussions surrounding animal protection have gained significant attention in society, driven by a diverse array of voices advocating for animal welfare. A prominent example is the recent enactment of a new law in South Korea: on February 6, 2024, the National Assembly passed the “Special Act on Ending the Rearing, Slaughtering, and Distribution of Dogs for Consumption.” This law, which will take full effect on February 7, 2027, after a three-year grace period, prohibits the rearing, slaughter, distribution, and sale of dogs for consumption purposes. The law represents a major shift, addressing longstanding animal rights concerns while reflecting the public’s evolving stance on ethical treatment of animals. In this situation, the results of a public awareness survey, released in early 2024, provide insights into the overall level of awareness among Koreans regarding animal protection. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs published the 2023 public awareness survey on animal welfare, which covers topics such as awareness of animal protection policies and laws, attitudes toward animal cruelty, perspectives on pet adoption and sales, views on stray animals and animal shelters, as well as opinions on animal experimentation and the welfare of farm animals. This article will review the key findings of the 2023 survey on public awareness of animal welfare, analyzing these results from a hermeneutic perspective. Lastly, it will conclude with bioethical recommendations aimed at raising public awareness of animal welfare based on this analysis.

The Political Salience of Animal Protection in the Republic of Ireland (2011-2020): What Do Irish Political Parties Pledge on Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation?

Ireland is the largest beef trader and a major dairy exporter within the European Union. Horse racing holds significant cultural value, while greyhound racing is economically important at the regional level. As public concern about farm animal welfare rises and biodiversity loss intensifies, this research examines the political salience of animal protection in Ireland across the 2011, 2016, and 2020 general elections. Political salience measures the degree of public concern about political issues, with party manifestos serving as indicators of this concern. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study analysed 364 statements on animal protection from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party, the Labour Party, and Sinn Féin. The results show a significant increase in the frequency and positivity of animal protection statements over the course of the election period, with a shift in the attitudes of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The Green Party has consistently promoted progressive animal protection policies. Key issues such as farmed animal welfare, wildlife and biodiversity, and horse and greyhound racing have gained prominence in party manifestos, also reflecting economic influences. Despite this growing focus, critical issues such as the puppy trade and certain aspects of farmed animal welfare remain underrepresented. This research provides the first comprehensive academic analysis of animal protection policy in political party manifestos in the Republic of Ireland.