Dairy cows did not rely on social learning mechanisms when solving a spatial detour task.

As herd-living animals, cattle have opportunities to observe and learn from others. While there is evidence of simpler processes of information transfer in cattle (social facilitation and stimulus enhancement), true social learning mechanisms in cattle remain largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate if dairy cows possess cognitive abilities to acquire new behavior through social learning in a spatial detour task.

Animal Welfare Management in a Digital World.

Although there now exists a wide range of policies, instruments and regulations, in Europe and increasingly beyond, to improve and safeguard the welfare of farmed animals, there remain persistent and significant welfare issues in virtually all types of animal production systems ranging from high prevalence of lameness to limited possibilities to express natural behaviours. Protocols and indicators, such as those provided by Welfare Quality, mean that animal welfare can nowadays be regularly measured and surveyed at the farm level. However, the digital revolution in agriculture opens possibilities to quantify animal welfare using multiple sensors and data analytics.

Animal Welfare and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper systematically evaluates the extent to which achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) is compatible with improving animal welfare. The analyses were based on discussion and independent scoring in a group of 12 participants with academic backgrounds within agricultural or veterinary sciences. We considered all categories of animals; those kept for food production, working and companion animals, but also laboratory and wild animals.

HENNOVATION: Learnings from Promoting Practice-Led Multi-Actor Innovation Networks to Address Complex Animal Welfare Challenges within the Laying Hen Industry.

The Hennovation project, an EU H2020 funded thematic network, aimed to explore the potential value of practice-led multi-actor innovation networks within the laying hen industry. The project proposed that husbandry solutions can be practice-led and effectively supported to achieve durable gains in sustainability and animal welfare. It encouraged a move away from the traditional model of science providing solutions for practice, towards a collaborative approach where expertise from science and practice were equally valued.

Towards Farm Animal Welfare and Sustainability.

As farm animal welfare becomes an increasingly important component of contemporary global livestock production, animal welfare science and animal welfare policy-making need to find new ways of entering global debates over food security and sustainability. In this paper, we explore the means by which both animal welfare science and policy should articulate with these emerging global debates. Having first established the important gains in animal welfare policy and the maturity of animal welfare science, we identify and explore the potential impact of these current debates and argue that they have the potential for profound change in our understanding of, and our response to, the welfare of animals.

Technical note: Validation and comparison of 2 commercially available activity loggers.

To validate the accuracy of 2 commercially available activity loggers in determining lying, standing, walking, and number of steps in dairy cows, 30 cows were fitted with the CowScout Leg (GEA Farm Technologies, Bönen, Germany) system and the IceTag (IceRobotics Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland) system. The CowScout Leg logger reports standing and lying in 15-min periods, whereas the IceTag logger reports standing and lying every second.

Lameness assessment with automatic monitoring of activity in commercial broiler flocks.

The possibility of using automatic recordings of broiler chicken activity in commercial flocks to assess the birds΄ walking ability (lameness) was investigated. Data were collected from 5 commercial broiler farms in 4 European countries, using 16 flocks and 33 assessment occasions. Lameness was assessed using established gait scoring methods (Kestin et al.

Exploring the economic potential of reducing broiler lameness.

1. The present study was designed first to explore the potential economic benefits of adopting management practices to reduce lameness in broiler farms, and second to explore farmers' possible perceptions of this potential in the Swedish context. The likely financial effects were addressed using a normative economic model, whereas a questionnaire-based survey was used to obtain in-depth knowledge about the perceptions of a group of broiler farmers in Sweden.

Potential risk factors associated with contact dermatitis, lameness, negative emotional state, and fear of humans in broiler chicken flocks.

The objectives of this study were to 1) identify determinants of poor welfare in commercial broiler chicken flocks by studying the associations between selected resource-based measures (RBM, potential risk factors), such as litter quality and dark period, and animal-based welfare indicators (ABM), such as foot pad dermatitis and lameness, and 2) establish the breadth of effect of a risk factor by determining the range of animal welfare indicators associated with each of the risk factors (i.e., the number of ABM related to a specific RBM).

The benzodiazepine brotizolam reduces fear in calves exposed to a novel object test.

The present study examined the effects of the intravenous administration of the anxiolytic drug brotizolam on the behavioral and physiological responsiveness of calves to novelty in a dose response fashion. Holstein Friesian heifer calves (39-41 weeks of age; body weight 200-300 kg) received an intravenous injection of either a vehicle control (12 calves) or one of four doses of brotizolam (8 calves per dose): 0.0125, 0.

Does horse temperament influence horse-rider cooperation?

Cooperation between rider and horse is of major importance in equitation. A balanced team of horse and rider improves (sport) performances and welfare aspects by decreasing stress, frustration, risks of injuries, and accidents. Important features affecting the cooperation are the physical skills, knowledge, and personality of the rider on one hand and the temperament, experience, and physical abilities of the horse on the other.

Killing of animals for disease control purposes.

In emergency disease outbreaks, large numbers of animals may need to be killed for control, containment and/or eradication purposes. Strategies for disease control will usually involve complete depopulation of herds/flocks, and may extend to depopulation across designated areas. Live animals present the major risk of spreading infectious agents so their slaughter should be completed as quickly as possible, with minimal pain and distress to the animals.

Responses of calves to acute stress: individual consistency and relations between behavioral and physiological measures.

The present study examined the consistency over time of individual differences in behavioral and physiological responsiveness of calves to intuitively alarming test situations as well as the relationships between behavioral and physiological measures. Twenty Holstein Friesian heifer calves were individually subjected to the same series of two behavioral and two hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis reactivity tests at 3, 13 and 26 weeks of age. Novel environment (open field, OF) and novel object (NO) tests involved measurement of behavioral, plasma cortisol and heart rate responses.

Do low-density diets improve broiler breeder welfare during rearing and laying?

Low-density diets may improve welfare of restricted fed broiler breeders by increasing feed intake time with less frustration of feed intake behavior as a result. Moreover, low-density diets may promote satiety through a more filled gastrointestinal tract, and thus feelings of hunger may be reduced. Broiler breeders were fed 4 different diets during the rearing and laying periods.

Parameters for quantification of hunger in broiler breeders.

The commercial restricted feeding programme of broiler breeders has a major negative effect on welfare, as the birds are continuously hungry. Objective parameters of hunger are needed to evaluate new management or feeding systems that may alleviate hunger and thus improve broiler breeder welfare. The aim of this experiment was to develop such parameters.

Responses of horses in behavioural tests correlate with temperament assessed by riders.

Reasons For Performing Study: Behavioural tests as well as observers' ratings have been used to study horses' temperament. However, the relationship between the ratings and the responses in behavioural tests has not yet been studied in detail.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine this relationship between ratings and responses.

Individual differences in behavioral and physiological responsiveness of primiparous dairy cows to machine milking.

An experiment was performed in primiparous dairy cows (n = 23) to examine consistency of individual differences in reactivity to milking, and correlations between measures of behavior, physiology, and milk ejection. Responsiveness to milking was monitored during the first machine milking, on d 2 of lactation, and during milkings on d 4 and 130 of lactation. Measurements included kicking and stepping behavior, plasma cortisol and plasma oxytocin, heart rate, milk yield, milking time, milk flow rate, and residual milk obtained after administration of exogenous oxytocin.

Effects of restricted feeding on physiological stress parameters in growing broiler breeders.

1. In previous studies, a lack of agreement in measurements of plasma corticosterone concentrations and heterophil:lymphocyte (H/L) ratio as physiological indices of stress, caused by hunger and frustration in restricted-fed broiler breeders, was observed. It could be suggested that the differences between previous studies were caused by differences in duration of restriction and time of the day of the measurements.

Heart rate and heart rate variability during a novel object test and a handling test in young horses.

Forty-one Dutch Warmblood immature horses were used in a study to quantify temperamental traits on the basis of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measures. Half of the horses received additional training from the age of 5 months onwards; the other half did not. Horses were tested at 9, 10, 21 and 22 months of age in a novel object and a handling test.

Adrenocortical reactivity and central serotonin and dopamine turnover in young chicks from a high and low feather-pecking line of laying hens.

Feather pecking in domestic fowl is a behavioral abnormality that consists of mild or injurious pecking at feathers of conspecifics. Previously, it was shown that chicks from a high feather-pecking (HFP) and low feather-pecking (LFP) line of laying hens already differ in their propensity to feather peck at 14 and 28 days of age. As a first step in investigating a possible relationship between the development of feather pecking and physiological and neurobiological characteristics of laying hens, two subsequent experiments were carried out.

Determination of the circadian rhythm in plasma corticosterone and catecholamine concentrations in growing broiler breeders using intravenous cannulation.

This paper describes a fast and simple technique for cannulation of the vena cutanea ulnaris (wing vein) in ad libitum fed growing broiler breeders of 5 weeks of age. Twenty-four hours after cannulation, blood was sampled every 4 h during 24 h. The circadian rhythm in plasma corticosterone and catecholamine concentrations was determined for the first time in growing broiler breeders.

Adaptation to social isolation. Acute and long-term stress responses of growing gilts with different coping characteristics.

The present experiment studied the acute and long-term stress responses of reactive and proactive prepubertal gilts to social isolation. Gilts with either reactive or proactive features were identified according to behavioral resistance in a backtest at a young age (2-4 days), respectively being low (LR) and high resistant (HR) in this test. At 7 weeks of age, 12 gilts of each type were socially isolated.

Transgenesis may affect farm animal welfare: a case for systematic risk assessment.

This paper considers (potentially) harmful consequences of transgenesis for farm animal welfare and examines the strategy of studying health and welfare of transgenic farm animals. Evidence is discussed showing that treatments imposed in the context of farm animal transgenesis are by no means biologically neutral and may compromise animal health and welfare. Factors posing a risk for the welfare of transgenic farm animals include integration of a transgene within an endogenous gene with possible loss of host gene function (insertional mutations), inappropriate transgene expression and exposure of the host to biologically active transgene-derived proteins, and in vitro reproductive technologies employed in the process of generating transgenic farm animals that may result in an increased incidence of difficult parturition and fetal and neonatal losses and the development of unusually large or otherwise abnormal offspring (large offspring syndrome).