**Effect of colostrum and group housing management on diarrhoea in milk fed organic
dairy calves**

Mari Reiten, Tine Rousing and Jan Tind Sørensen

Aarhus University, Animal Science, Denmark; mari.reiten@anis.au.dk

Calf diarrhoea is one of the most important welfare problems in organic dairy herds. An
experimental design was conducted in six large organic dairy herds to identify the best
diarrhoea prevention strategy for milk fed calves (0-6 weeks of age), focusing on colostrum
feeding. All calves were clinically examined weekly for signs of diarrhoea. Diarrhoea was
defined as presence of at least two out of five indicators (faecal smear under tail, diverging
faecal colour, liquid faeces, dehydration and fever (>39 °C)) at least once during the 6-weeks
study period. Calves - being with the dam for 24 h - were randomly allocated to one of two
treatments; suckling the dam or manual feeding with pre-frozen colostrum of known quality
from the herd's colostrum bank. From 1-6 weeks of age, calves were housed in groups of up to
four calves. Colostrum quality for both treatments was measured with a brix refractometer. A
brix-value ≥22% (IgG=50 g/l) was considered good colostrum quality. Differences in colostrum
quality between 'dam' and 'bank' were analysed using a generalized linear mixed model,
while effects of colostrum management (dam/bank) and colostrum quality on diarrhoea were
analysed using logistic regression models. No significant difference was found in colostrum
brix value from bank (avg. 23.1%, 133 calves) and dam (avg. 22.3%, 176 calves) (P=0.87), or
risk of diarrhoea for calves having received colostrum from dam or bank (P=0.21). The odds
of diarrhoea tend to be higher for calves receiving colostrum of lower brix value (OR=1.55 for
brix <22% (107 calves) vs brix ≥22% (202 calves)) (P=0.07). A major reason for not finding
any difference between colostrum management strategies may be insignificant difference in
colostrum quality between the two treatments (bank vs dam). Factors such as time from birth
to first colostrum intake will be further investigated.
**Assessment of the welfare of carriage horses in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia**

Tri Satya Mastuti Widi, Muhammad Danang Eko Yulianto, Eshan Kusumawicitra and Amien Fahrianto Adi

Universitas Gadjah Mada, Animal Production, Faculty of Animal Science, Indonesia;
*widi.tsm@ugm.ac.id*

Horse drawn carriage is still widely used as transportation and leisure in Yogyakarta Province. This study was aimed to assess the level of animal welfare of carriage horses in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We assessed the welfare of 225 heads of carriage horses, belong to 65 owners in Yogyakarta Indonesia. From various sources of literatures and management practices on regular basis, 25 indicators which describe the attribute of 5 freedoms, were selected. The individual assessment was defined as directly observable and objective verifiable (e.g. body condition score and presence of skin lesion and wounds, diseases and discomfort by use). Data on farm level were related to feeding, housing and health care management, exercise, training methods, and human-animal interactions. The data were analysed descriptively and compared to some existing welfare assessment, due to absence of particular welfare assessment protocols for developing countries. The results showed that 29, 20.3 and 50.7% of carriage horses had relatively good, moderate and bad welfare respectively. Health and human-animal interaction aspects obtained the worst score. In conclusion, most of horses used for carriage are handled poorly. Welfare assessment based on objective parameters can be used as first step to improve horse welfare in Indonesia, but needs continuous improvement. The animal welfare needs to be strongly and continually promoted in developing country such as Indonesia. Welfare assessment protocol for horses is needed in developing countries.
**Evaluation of EEG to procedural pain of tail docking with and without analgesic intervention**

Charissa Harris, Peter White and Sabrina Lomax

University of Sydney, Australia; char2922@uni.sydney.edu.au

Electroencephalography (EEG) offers a practical way of measuring the pain response and efficacy of analgesia in livestock. This study aims to evaluate the EEG response of tail docking in conscious sheep with and without the administration of analgesic intervention with the purpose of validating this method for future studies. Six lambs were sourced from The University of Sydney teaching flock. Tri-solfen® was administered to all treatment groups upon completion of the experiment. Animals were randomly allocated into treatment groups; surgical hot iron tail docking (HIT) (n=4), or rubber ring tail docking (n=2). For HIT one of the following analgesic interventions was applied; Lignocaine administered to the tail at docking site, Tri-solfen applied post-surgically to the would site, tri-solfen and Lignocaine, or no analgesic intervention (as per standard industry practice). Rubber ring lambs were given lignocaine administered to the tail at docking site or no analgesic intervention. Baseline EEG data was recorded for 5 minutes prior to treatment, during the procedure and 5 minutes post-procedure. Data was manually scanned and movement and noise artefacts rejected from analysis. 10 second epochs were used to calculate total power (F<sub>Tot</sub>) in mV<sup>2</sup> using specially written software in Matlab (Mathworksâ). Significant interactions between treatment and time (P<0.001) were observed in all bandwidths for all treatments. There was a significant difference (P<0.001) between HIT and rubber ring tail docking post-procedure regardless of analgesic intervention. Preliminary results show a difference between tail docking methods, likely due to the nature of differing pain pathways. Differences between analgesics treatments indicates potential for this method to determine the efficacy of pain management methods. Further replication of analgesic treatment groups is required. Preliminary results suggest there is potential for the use of EEG in differentiating analgesic use for tail docking lambs.
# Evaluation of the AWIN assessment protocol for horses in experimental conditions and in farms

Christine Briant¹, Pauline Danyl¹, Jean-Marie Yvon¹, Fabrice Reigner², Philippe Barrière², Mickaël Riou³, Anne-Lyse Layné¹, Léa Lansade¹, Michela Minero⁴, Emanuela Dalla Costa⁴ and Marianne Vidament¹

¹PRC, INRA, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, France, ²INRA, UEPAO, France, ³INRA, UE-1277, France, ⁴Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Italy; christine.briant@ifce.fr

Considering the place of Equid's welfare in societal concerns, it is necessary to have available protocols to assess welfare in a reliable and easy manner. This study aimed to test validity, feasibility and reliability of the AWIN Horse protocol, in two phases: (1) experimental and (2) in different type of farms. The phase (1) used two groups of 13 pony mares placed in different welfare conditions for 26 days. One group was kept at pasture with natural shelters (P) and the other was housed in individual boxes with food, spatial and social restrictions (B). Welfare was assessed with the AWIN horse protocol, simultaneously with scan sampling and physiological indicators. Intra and inter-groups comparisons (phase 1) and inter-observer reliability (phases 1 and 2) were performed with non-parametrical tests with P<0.05; a PCA was used to analyse Qualitative Behaviour Assessment in the B group (only a global QBA was performed in the P group). Impairments of welfare during the phase (1) were highlighted in the B group by scan scampling and physiological indicators (increase in cortisol and decrease in blood platelets). Simultaneously AWIN environmental indicators showed that space, exercise and social relationships were not sufficient in the B group compared to the P group. AWIN behavioural indicators revealed that more ponies presented abnormal behaviour in the B group (7/13 vs 0/13). However for the QBA, the scores of the animals in the B group on axis F1 of the PCA increased from the 1st to the 4th week, suggesting an adaptation to the restricted conditions (more relaxed and at ease; and less annoyed and uneasy). In conclusion, both environmental and animal indicators are necessary to evaluate welfare. Inter-observer reliability of these indicators was good or very good (κ>0.6 or 0.8) and the protocol was globally easy to use in farms.
**Behavioural measures for commercial broiler production**

Ann Catherine Rayner<sup>1,2</sup>, Ashleigh Bright<sup>2</sup>, Siobhan Mullan<sup>1</sup> and David Main<sup>1</sup>

<sup>1</sup>University of Bristol, United Kingdom, <sup>2</sup>FAI, United Kingdom; annie.rayner@faifarms.com

In order to effectively manage and improve farm animal welfare, it must be measured. Measurement allows for the identification of best and worst practice across a supply chain. Information from measurements can be used to drive improvements in animal welfare, then demonstrate where improvements have or haven't been made. Retailers, food producers and industry bodies are regularly making public commitments to animal welfare standards. Consumers are beginning to embrace their roles as citizens and purchasing habits are shifting towards more 'ethical foods'. The need of all stakeholders, for robust, meaningful, and understandable measures of animal welfare for commercial production is therefore greater than ever. Current welfare measure portfolios for commercial broilers tend to focus on health alongside environmental and resource inputs. A direct measure of behaviour is lacking. FAI Farms Ltd provide sustainable sourcing solutions, including advice and research in animal welfare, across the food supply chain. Three major food businesses have approached FAI to explore the practical assessment of broiler behaviour. We have reviewed currently available behaviour measures and trialled measures for use in research and accreditation contexts, focusing in particular on signs of positive welfare. These measures include qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) as well as scored observations of specific behaviours. Whilst there are still challenges to overcome, the inclusion of practical, positive behavioural outcomes to complete the commercial welfare measure portfolio is a real opportunity to quickly drive improvements in commercial broiler welfare.
# The development of a welfare assessment tool for the Australian Fur Seals at Melbourne Zoo

Ellen Jongman and Rebecca Kite

University of Melbourne, Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, Australia; ejongman@unimelb.edu.au

A practical, informative and ongoing welfare assessment tool is required to enable staff to monitor the welfare of animals kept in zoos. Keepers have an intimate knowledge of individual animals in their care and are best positioned to notice even minor changes in individual animals that may be indicative of welfare concerns. Using literature and consultation with keepers a tool was developed to monitor the four Australian Fur Seals in the Wild Sea exhibit at Melbourne Zoo, Australia. The developed tool highlights critical areas of welfare and enables seal keepers to note when changes occur, emphasise when welfare may be jeopardised, or when welfare improves. Indicators include resource-based (weather and water quality) and outcome-based measures (health status (weight, feed consumption and ocular condition), behaviour (sociability and demeanour) during and outside training and repetitive behaviour). The welfare assessment tool utilises the traffic light system with colours working to enhance the rapid visibility of issues of concern. The colours act as a scale to grade the severity of welfare issues for individual animals, with green indicating no issue and therefore no action. Amber indicates a noted, but mild or medium severity issue that requires monitoring and/or ongoing action (e.g. ongoing medication), but that is controlled. Red indicates a serious concern of either an existing issue that has worsened in severity or a new serious issue that has arisen and requires an immediate response (e.g. eye infection). Assessors are able to add comments in order to clarify and justify traffic light scores, as well as add any important additional information. The chosen indicators were based on actual welfare concerns of seals within the exhibit, but were limited by practical constraints. The tool is developed for use in Excel, but once refined and evaluated will be based on a more user-friendly computer-based software platform.
**Reflections on AssureWel: utilising welfare outcome assessment to improve farm animal welfare**

Sophie Elwes¹, Kate Still², Siobhan Mullan³, Sophie Collins¹, David Main³ and Jess Stokes²

¹Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, United Kingdom, ²Soil Association, United Kingdom, ³University of Bristol Veterinary School, United Kingdom; sophie.elwes@rspca.org.uk

The AssureWel project developed welfare outcome assessments (WOA) for six livestock species, utilising existing research to develop practical, scientifically robust assessment protocols to facilitate dynamic welfare management systems for farm assurance schemes. Stakeholder reflections on learnings and challenges associated with implementing protocols have been categorised into six main themes: (1) Developing protocols: measures were identified and selected by a process of literature review, expert opinion, practical experience and utilising established and accepted protocols. The most successful protocols for application and data quality contained a small number of measures, which had clear, objective scoring systems. Exclusion of some measures and compromises in scoring sensitivity were necessary to ensure protocols were practical for use within farm assurance scheme assessments. (2) Industry engagement: Key industry stakeholders were included in the WOA development process and informed of plans and progress. Industry input facilitated successful WOA development. (3) Training: Extensive training was developed for assessors which incorporated elements of classroom theory, field practice, discussion and on-going learning and re-standardisation in scoring using an online web tool. (4) Utilising WOA data to improve on-farm welfare: Behaviour change theory informed assessors how to communicate with producers on making changes to farm management based on WOA results. Easy to understand feedback forms were developed to assist producer's understanding of their WOA results and their relevance by benchmarking them against their peers. Ensuring sufficient information and advice was available to support changes without compromising the independent role of assessors in the audit process was challenging but considered key to driving change. (5) Utilising data at scheme level: WOA data was used to review current performance, set targets and inform improvement strategies to achieve continuous improvement. (6) Dissemination: AssureWel is committed to openly sharing knowledge and expertise in WOA.
Animal welfare in Danish pig herds

Björn Forkman¹, Nina D. Otten¹, Mari Reiten², Anne Marie Michelsen¹, Franziska Hakansson¹, Vibe P. Lund¹, Marlene K. Kirchner¹, Matthew J. Denwood¹, Tine Rousing², Hans Houe¹ and Jan T. Sørensen²

¹University of Copenhagen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Science, Denmark, ²University of Aarhus, Department of Animal Science, Denmark; bjf@sund.ku.dk

It is reasonable to assume that animal welfare varies not only between herds but also between different ages of an animal. The objective of the study was to use an animal welfare assessment protocol to identify areas of animal welfare concern in Danish pigs of different ages. This study involved visiting Danish pig farms and assessing the welfare of piglets, (n=57), farrowing sows, (n=57), sows and gilts (n=57), and weaners/fatteners (n=57), using a newly developed animal welfare assessment protocol. The protocol used had many of the same measures as Welfare Quality®, and covered 8 of the 12 Welfare Quality® criteria for piglets, 9 for farrowing sows, 9 for weaners/fatteners and 8 for sows and gilts. The welfare outcome of the score for each measure was weighted by the average score given by scientists (n=6), consultants (n=4) and official veterinarians (n=16) working with animal welfare. The possible scores ranged from 0 (poor welfare) to 100 (perfect welfare). The overall welfare pertaining to that measure was then calculated as the prevalence of the scores included. For piglets, the routines around tail docking and castration were the major welfare concerns (use of pain killers or not; welfare scores = 30±9 and 37±3; mean±SD). For farrowing sows, it was the farrowing space and system (28±15 and 34±0), as well as the ability to perform nestbuilding behaviour (36±25). For sows and gilts, the major concern was the time spent crated in the insemination unit (37±16). For weaners and fatteners it was the levels of mortality (37±12), the floor type in the hospital pens (37±16), floorage in the resting area (38±14) and access to water (39±19). Although the farms were not a random sample, the results can be used to identify issues that are likely to represent major animal welfare concerns in the Danish pig sector.
A Kinect based 3D cow scanner for the evaluation of body characteristics

Jennifer Salau, Jan Henning Haas, Kathrin Buttner, Wolfgang Junge and Georg Thaller
Kiel University, Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Germany;
*kbuettner@tierzucht.uni-kiel.de*

Decreases in health, fertility, and longevity and also modified behaviour are side effects of the
breeding for high yielding cows, indicating a decrease in animal welfare. As efforts exist to
include health and welfare traits in breeding objectives, the necessity is given to objectively
evaluate e.g. udder, feet and legs, rump angle or body condition. Therefore, a 3D cow scanner
is presented to assess body characteristics using computer vision. The recording unit comprises
six Microsoft Kinect cameras collecting 3D data from both sides of the cow. 19 Holstein-
Friesian dairy cows walked through the scanner ten times. The durations of these runs (run
time) were determined. Averaged run times significantly differed between cows and ranged
from 8.5 s to 51.6 s (mean: 17.2±9.4 s). Additionally, it was counted how often the animals
stopped during the run. This ranged from 0 to 11 (mean: 1.3±1.6) depending on the individual.
Indifference towards the scanner was observed after averagely five runs. Using 3D object
recognition, body parts were specified in the 3D data. The vertical distance from udder bottom
to floor (UD) and rear leg angle (RL) were calculated. UD and RL ranged from 42.4 to 61.2 cm
(mean: 49.8±5.3 cm) and 136.9 to 154.8° (mean: 146.0±4.6°), respectively. Spearman rank
correlations to conformation recording scores were 0.63, respectively, 0.67. Both traits were
significantly influenced by lactation stage and number, milk yield, time since last milking,
and height. Results suggest that additionally to measuring linear traits, the scanner could
display body characteristic changes over time and, thus, address welfare issues. Furthermore,
measurement precision significantly depended on run time and number of stops. In a future
setting the scanner should be installed permanently, so that animals get adapted and effects of
animal behaviour on the measurements are avoided.
Evaluation of an online training tool for animal-based measures of cattle welfare

Josef Schenkenfelder, Christoph Winckler and Christine Leeb

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Sustainable Agricultural

Systems, Division of Livestock Sciences, Austria; josef@schenkenfelder.co.at

In 2016, ‘BIO AUSTRIA’ introduced guidelines for the self-assessment of animal welfare at farm-level aimed at assessing and benchmarking the animal welfare state on Austrian organic farms. It contains predominantly animal-based parameters, which allow for a more valid estimation of the welfare state than resource-based parameters. However, the robustness of data from such a self-assessment largely depends on the inter-observer reliability (IOR) of the persons carrying out the measurement. In the course of the present study, an online training- tool for the assessment of 10 animal-based parameters of dairy cattle welfare was established. This tool included online a description of the measures as well as quizzes containing pictures or video clips of selected animal-based parameters which had to be assessed by the test persons. IOR as compared to a gold standard (calculated as Cohen’s κ) was investigated. Furthermore, it was of interest whether a set of factors related to the test persons’ background would influence IOR and, whether practice in terms of repeated trials leads to improvement. In total, 938 κ values from 111 users were obtained from the 10 different quizzes. When taking the quizzes for the first time, the percentage of test persons (n=58-100 users depending on quiz) achieving κ≥0.40 ranged from 49% (hairless spots) to 100% (cleanliness). For all parameters but hairless spots and body condition (76%), more than 80% of the test persons at least reached κ≥0.40. Retaking the quizzes (round 2, n=14-24) led to significant improvement of agreement for all parameters, except for hairless patches and lameness (delta κ=0.00-0.15). Significant effects on the level of agreement was found for the factors age, level of education and knowledge of animal-based parameters, respectively (e.g. lower or maximum equal performance of users aged <20 years compared to 20-29 years and 30+ years). In conclusion, the results of this study are promising as regards the intended use of the training tool. However, its potential to improve reliability of live on-farm assessments needs to be further investigated.
**EBENE: a new welfare assessment method co-built with stakeholders tested in free-range laying hen**

Cecile Levrault¹, Laure Bignon², Claire Mindus², Antoine Collin¹, Hélène Leruste¹, Karin Sahmer¹, Isabelle Bouvarel² and Vanessa Guesdon¹

¹ISA Lille, CASE, France, ²ITAVI, Centre INRA Val de Loire, France; vanessa.guesdon@yncrea.fr

As requested from the poultry industry a shared and practical method of commercial poultry and rabbit welfare assessment was developed: EBENE method. It should easily be implemented by the farmer and so its application has to be simple and fast (one hour). Here, the work for free-range laying hens is presented. The assessment indicators were defined using both Welfare quality® and several meetings with different stakeholders (scientists, customers, NGO, farmers). Indicators were collected indirectly through a questionnaire submitted to farmers and directly without handling the hens using behavioural observations/tests and a sanitary condition assessment. Two sampling methods were tested to collect indicators from behavioural observations/tests: 9 small areas (= MET1, 2×1.5 m) vs 3 large areas (= MET2, 2×3 m). Seventeen farms were included in this study. The feasibility (duration+ practicability of the assessment) and indicator repeatability (intra and inter-observer) were tested. For intra observer repeatability, 9/10 behavioural indicators (gentle pecking = GP, severe pecking = SP, preening = P, dustbathing = D, stretching = S, walk = W, exploration of environment = EE, panting = PA and huddling = H) with MET1 and 7/10 (GP, SP, D, S, W, PA and H) with MET2 were correlated at least moderately (rho≥0.5, P<0.05). For inter observer repeatability, 9/10 indicators (GP, SP, P, D, S, W, EE, PA and H), with MET1 and 3/10 (SP, W and H) with MET2 were correlated at least moderately (rho≥0.4, P<0.05). All indicators assessing sanitary condition showed at least a moderate correlation rho≥0.5, P<0.05 or a high percentage of similarity for inter and intra observer repeatability. The total average duration of direct animal assessment was longer than the defined goal: 90.95±18.77 min with MET1 vs 57.51±8.80 min with MET2. Even though assessment with MET 2 was shorter than with MET 1, the results suggest the use of assessment with MET1 because both inter- and intra- observer repeatability were better than with MET2. In order to know if a decrease of duration can be considered a bootstrap analysis has to be performed.
**Practical and affordable implementation of Equine Welfare Quality type protocol in riding-schools**

Machteld Van Dierendonck¹,²

¹Veterinary Faculties, Ghent University & Antwerp University, Belgium, ²Utrecht University, the Netherlands, Equine Clinic, the Netherlands; m.vandierendonck@uu.nl

The assessment and improvement of Equine Welfare at yard level is still a challenge, despite the Dutch equine Welfare Quality® assessment protocol (WMP, 2011) and the AWIN horse-protocol (2015). The main problem for implementation is that WQ protocols take too long and are too expensive to do at regular basis, combined with resistances to change. The goal of this study was to design and test a successful implementation of the WMP. For the WMP 150 yards were visited and 2,956 horses assessed: the health aspects and their related risk assessment were presented in Visser et al. This study was used to determine the most discriminating factors to use in the final implementation: 12 global and 63 individual factors remained in the assessment. Of these, 3 global and 46 individual factors are included in the pass-fail decision which uses 5 distinct rules. The main innovation was to split the execution of the assessment in three stages: firstly, the yard owner provides basic information like feeding schedules etc. and a ground-plan (to distribute the random sample optimally). Second, the environmental based risk-factors are assessed by specially trained and independent 'inspectors'. When a yard does not pass this stage: the further assessment stops, thus their costs stop. Finally, when a yard passes, the animal based factors are assessed by specially trained certified equine veterinarians. Twenty-three yards have been (voluntarily) assessed to test the implementation protocol; three yards, including a large riding school with highest rating on a national scheme, did not pass. The Dutch equine industry has expressed their will to make this protocol obligatory for all Dutch riding schools and training yards. The most important innovations and adaptations as well as an evaluation of the human behaviour change techniques used to overcome the resistance to change, will be discussed.
The use of pain faces for real-time assessment of pain in *Bos indicus* bull calves after castration

Karina B. Gleerup<fnref n="1" />, Teresa Collins², Gabrielle C. Musk², Timothy H. Hyndman², Heidi S. Lehmann², Craig B. Johnson<fnref n="3" /> and Michael Laurence²

Pain assessment in *Bos indicus* is challenging as they are not habituated to human contact and therefore is evaluated from the distance. The aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of using the Cow Pain Face for real-time assessment of pain following castration. Forty-two *B. indicus* bulls underwent halothane-anaesthesia allocated to four groups: one non-surgical group (n=5), and three castration treatment groups: intra-testicular and subcutaneous lidocaine (n=12), subcutaneous meloxicam (n=12) and no analgesia (n=12). The animals were observed from a distance through binoculars before (days -1 and day 0 morning) and after castration (day 0 and day 1) by the same observer who was trained to evaluate the Cow Pain Face in *Bos taurus*. The observer was blinded to treatment but not to +/- castration as this was obvious on direct observation. No pain faces were observed before castration. On the day of surgery and on day 1, all animals displayed facial expressions of pain following castration but not following anaesthesia alone. The facial expression of *B. indicus* following castration can be summarized by: (1) tension of the facial cutaneous and the caninus muscles; (2) ears backwards, facing downwards; (3) tension of the orbicularis oculi and frontalis muscles; (4) tension around and above the nostrils; and (5) tension of the orbicularis oris muscle. As expected, none of the analgesia protocols completely attenuated pain following castration. The pain face of the *B. taurus* is differs slightly due to different anatomy but could be applied to *B. indicus* and the direct evaluation was useful for detecting pain from the distance. Evaluating facial expressions in one animal took approximately one minute but was impeded by factors such as black coat colour (difficult to distinguish mimic) and feeding (chewing action more distinct than mimic) and fear of observers (fear overriding pain).

<footnote n="1">¹University of Copenhagen, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Denmark, ²Murdoch University, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Australia,</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Massey University, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, New Zealand;
[kbg@sund.ku.dk](mailto:kbg@sund.ku.dk)</footnote>
**Welfare assessment on 40 dairy goat farms in Germany**

Katrin Sporkmann, Solveig March, Jan Brinkmann and Heiko Georg
Thuenen-Institute, Organic Farming, Germany; heiko.georg@thuenen.de

Dairy goat farming is a booming branch of animal husbandry in Germany. Due to the market expansion there was a growing demand for special advice on health, feeding and housing of dairy goats. Thus, a project was initiated in 2014 to integrate innovative farmer-to-farmer study groups, welfare assessment and evaluation of housing systems. Welfare assessment and resource-based indicators should be recorded three times on 40 dairy goat farms in Germany. Between the welfare assessments farmers discussed in study groups health and welfare problems using assessment results as benchmarks. One major goal of the project was to apply standardised animal-based indicators to assess the welfare of dairy goats in Germany. The welfare assessment protocol was established according to literature sources. The AWIN-protocol for goats was not available at that time. Data acquisition was facilitated by programming an assessment tool using a relational database. On-farm assessment took a full workday including recording of animal-based and resource-based indicators, housing and gas concentration. Data analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 to calculate prevalences for all indicators on farm level and for the reference population. The first assessment started in spring 2015 with 1,876 individually assessed lactating goats on 40 farms. The assessed goats were chosen as a representative sample according to Cochran from all herds using the milking order. Ten animal-based indicators out of 24 in total showed a prevalence higher than 5%: moderate (47.6%) and severe claw overgrowth (5.2%), moderate udder asymmetry (5.1%), mild udder lesions (7.8%), small udder scars (8.9%), head lesions (15.1%), hairless patches of body (9.5%) and neck (15.5%), swellings (5.6%). 59.3% of goats avoided the approach of an unfamiliar person. In contrast to a moderate claw overgrowth in 47.6% of goats only 1.6% showed mild lameness. As a conclusion of the first application of a welfare assessment protocol for dairy goats, the welfare status of the 40 farms was considered to be high compared to similar studies in other countries. Only four indicators had a higher prevalence than 15%. On farm and study group level, animal-based indicators directed to specific welfare problems and supported discussions about improvement strategies.
CowsAndMore a new decision support system to enhance the animal welfare status
of their cows

Andreas Pelzer¹, Katharina Dahlhoff¹, Anna Lena Ahring¹, Wolfgang Büscher² and
Otto Kaufmann³

¹Chamber of Agriculture, Northrhine Westphalia, Germany, ²Institut für Landtechnik RFW
Bonn, NRW, Germany, ³Landwirtschaftlich Gärtnerische Fakultät HU Berlin, Berlin, Germany;
Andreas.Pelzer@lwk.nrw.de

The aim of the project ‘CowsAndMore’ is to develop a decision support system for dairy farmers which increases the welfare situation of their cows in the barns. The advising tool is based on three steps: (1) On farm registration of different characteristics (husbandry and management related) to describe the status quo; (2) Data analysis to compare the registered situation with target values (and other farms – bench mark); (3) Derive of advising recommendations to increase the welfare status. A new methodical aspect is the use of touchpads as tool for the ‘on farm registration’ of characteristics. All information is collected in a dynamic data pool which is used to describe the population (averages and deviations of the characteristics). To derive realistic target values the ‘best practice level’ can be calculated e.g. of the top 10% farms. The result of step 1 and 2 is the identification of weaknesses in the welfare situation of the individual farm. Basis is the objective and systematic collection of criteria and indicators in relation to behaviour, disposition and appearance of dairy cows and a standardised root-cause analysis. Also step 3 is supported by the new tool because some identified weaknesses leads to proven advises. During the final consultation with the farmer possible solutions are discussed and directly incorporated into an action plan (fixed in a printed out ‘protocol’). Actually farm data from 138 dairy farms with over 10,00 cows are the basis of the decision support system (DDS). In different accompanying scientific thesis the work criteria’s and indicator’s reliability were tested. For example the interrater-correlation-coefficient of the used hygiene scoring method was very high (r=0.89-0.92). The usability of the DDS CowsAndMore and it’s on farm effects were also validated. After the recommended changings in the bedding management in an investigated dairy farm we registered strong improvements in animal-based indicators (percentage of standing and lying animals in the cubice).
**Feeding acidified milk to Holstein calves: assessment of calf behaviour and welfare**

Amber Adams Progar, Aaron Deml, Ryan Pernu, Heather Young and Jennifer Callanan
Washington State University, Animal Sciences, USA; amber.adams-progar@wsu.edu

Feeding acidified milk to dairy calves is a popular method to reduce bacterial contamination in milk and promote *ad libitum* feeding; however, assessing calf welfare in these systems is difficult. This study investigated calf drinking behaviour when offered acidified milk vs non-acidified milk. Ten one-day-old Holstein heifer calves were randomly assigned to one of two treatments: (1) offered acidified milk on Day 1; or (2) offered non-acidified milk on Day 1. The type of milk each calf received alternated every day until weaning at six weeks of age. Calves were offered 4 l of milk daily at 5:30 and 14:00. The amount of milk refusals were recorded 30 minutes after milk was first offered at every feeding for each calf. Calf behaviour was recorded during each feeding using video cameras and body weights were recorded every seven days. Video footage was analysed for the amount of time required to finish drinking and the number of breakaways (calf stopped drinking, remained in the feeding area, and then proceeded to drink) for each calf. Pearson's correlations were used to detect significant relationships. Data were analysed as a randomized complete block design with repeated measures using SAS. The type of milk offered during the first day did not affect overall average daily gain (P=0.77). A positive relationship was detected between the amount of milk a calf refused and the number of breakaways a calf exhibited (P=0.002). When offered acidified milk, calves refused, on average, 2.50±0.12 l more milk (P<0.0001) than on days offered non-acidified milk and demonstrated 0.45±0.11 more breakaways (P<0.0001) than when offered non-acidified milk. As calves aged, they refused less milk (P<0.0001) and demonstrated fewer breakaways during feedings (P<0.0001). The results from this study showed that Holstein calves exhibited more aversive behaviour towards acidified milk than non-acidified, unpasteurized milk; however, the frequency of aversive behaviour decreased as calves aged. Based on the significant relationship between milk refusals and breakaways, calf breakaway behaviour may be a useful tool during on-farm welfare assessments of group-housed dairy calves (especially mob-fed calves).

http://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/book/10.3920/978-90-8686-862-9 - Monday, September 18, 2017 7:42:39 AM - IP Address:147.99.219.84
Comparison of behaviours and vocal signals of alpacas during handling and painful stimuli

Beatriz Zapata, Oscar Acevedo, Javier Perez De Arce and Paulina Soto

Universidad Mayor, Chile; beatriz.zapata@umayor.cl

Alpacas are domestic camelids native of South America. They are raised in farms in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia, however recently they are also being bred in several European countries, New Zealand and the USA. Despite the marked interest for this type of livestock, the knowledge of their welfare is scarce and behavioural signals are not well understood. Alpacas communicate emotions through body postures and a wide variety of vocalizations; nevertheless, it is not clear whether they are related to stress or pain response. The aim of this study was to compare body postures, behaviours and vocalizations of alpacas between handling procedures and during the administration of two injections, as part of a veterinary program. This study was conducted in a farm and 32 alpacas were included. During handling, each alpaca was separated from its group and taken to a management pen (MP). The study was in three stages: (1) HANDLING, from the time each alpaca was in the MP until they were physically restrained; (2) PAIN STIMULI, when they were injected; (3) POST PAIN STIMULI, when they were released in MP and before they were returned to their groups. The frequency of spitting and tail-up were recorded as behaviour and posture; the frequency of humming, grumbling and screaming were recorded as vocalizations. Acoustic parameters were recorded with a microphone Sennheiser® ME-66/K6, connected to a digital recorder Tascam DR-100 MKII®. The audio files were analysed using the software Raven Pro® 1.4. We measured duration and time to maximum amplitude (s) and spectral characteristics of acoustic signal, dominant frequency (Hz) and number of harmonics of acoustic signals. Friedman test was applied to compare behaviours between the three stages, and ANOVA was conducted to compare bioacoustics parameters. We found that only the frequency of humming was higher during handling than during painful stimuli (χ²=12.25, P=0.02). The frequency of grumbling, screaming, tail up and spitting was not affected by the painful stimuli (P>0.05). The same was found regarding the bioacoustics parameters (P>0.05). We can conclude that, in the handling context, humming is an indicator of stress and the remaining parameters do not allow to distinguish between stress and pain response.
Results of qualitative behaviour assessment reflect social tension in dairy goats

Susanne Waiblinger¹, Dorit Mersmann¹ and Francoise Wemelsfelder²

¹University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Welfare, Austria,

²SRUC, Roslin Institute Building, United Kingdom; Susanne.Waiblinger@vetmeduni.ac.at

Reliable, quantitative observations of social interaction for evaluation of social tension and stress on farms require relatively long observation time. Qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) might provide similar information already after shorter observation time due to a more holistic evaluation of behaviour. The aim of the study was to assess the associations of QBA with quantitative observations of social interactions, injuries and other health parameters in dairy goat herds. 45 dairy goat farms (herd size 78-620, 170±116) were visited for two days each. QBA was assessed with a fixed term scale with 29 terms by one observer for 12-22 min starting approximately 3 h prior to evening milking of the first day. Afterwards, social interactions were observed directly (totally 6 h in 3×2 h session). A randomized subsample of goats (38-332 goats) was examined with respect to injuries, general health signs and body condition. Tests assessing the goats' fear of humans were performed at the second day. PCA of QBA revealed two main components explaining 50% of variation. Component1 (29.8%) ranged from bored/ apathetic to aggressive/frightened, thus related to the level of arousal or fear. Component2 (20.3%) ranged from uneasy/annoyed to positively occupied/friendly, rather representing valence. Component1 correlated positively with the prevalence of udder injuries (r<sub>s</sub>=0.45, P=0.002) and with the distance goats kept to an experimenter in the pen (r<sub>s</sub>=0.39, P=0.02), but also negatively with the proportion of animals with swollen shoulder lymph nodes (r<sub>s</sub>=-0.35, P=0.02); goats with caseous lymphadenitis might be less active. In contrast, Component2 correlated negatively with agonistic interactions (r<sub>s</sub>=-0.33, P=0.03) in the pen and positively with affiliative interactions (r<sub>s</sub>=0.35, P=0.02). The results suggest that short observations of QBA are suitable to assess the level of social tension (assessed by frequency of social interactions and injuries) in dairy goat herds but also reflect other aspects of welfare.
The influence of male pigs on animal welfare on the day of slaughter

Helle Daugaard Larsen, Lars Ole Blaabjerg and Dennis Brandborg Nielsen
Danish Meat Research Institute, Meat Technology, Denmark; hdln@dti.dk

In Denmark, the majority of male piglets are castrated. However, there may be an ongoing trend towards fewer castrations in the future. Increasing the male pig population may have a negative effect on the welfare during lairage at the abattoir. The aim of the study was to examine how the presence of male pigs influenced the animal welfare during lairage at the abattoir. A total of 408 pigs, 148 boars, 200 sows, and 60 castrates from 9 different producers (5 with, 4 without males) were included in the study. Mixing of the two ‘males only’ deliveries with sows and castrates according to abattoir procedures will be described on the poster. Fourteen individually numbered pigs were housed together in each of five pens per delivery for one hour before slaughter. All incidents of sexual or aggressive behaviour were evaluated from video recordings. Pigs that have been fasted, mixed, transported, and maybe mixed again in an unknown environment at abattoir generally prefers to rest when offered the opportunity. Therefore, a reduced possibility to rest was used as a general indicator of the stress-level during lairage. A resting index was calculated as the percentage of pigs lying down between the 5th and 55th minutes of the lairage period, counting the number of pigs standing, sitting and lying down at 5 minute intervals (11 counts). Resting-index = (no. of observations of pigs lying down / total no. of counted postures) × 100 The resting index for pens with male pigs was very variable (12 to 96%). For pens without male pigs, the resting index varied from 73 to 94%. All sexual behaviour and the majority of aggressive behaviour was displayed by males. Sows and castrates housed with males displayed or participated in more aggressive behaviour than when not housed with males. The results indicate that the overall stress level is generally, but not necessarily, higher when male pigs are present during lairage at the abattoir.

http://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/book/10.3920/978-90-8686-862-9 - Monday, September 18, 2017 7:42:39 AM - IP Address:147.99.219.84
**Assessment of the multi-criteria evaluation system of the Welfare Quality® protocol for growing pigs**

Irena Czycholl<fnref n="1" />, Kathrin Buttner<fnref n="1" />, Christiane Kniese<fnref n="2" />, Lars Schrader<fnref n="2" /> and Joachim Krieter<fnref n="1" />

This study aims to assess the multi-criteria evaluation system of the Welfare Quality® protocol for growing pigs regarding reliability and the importance of indicators on the overall assessment. Therefore, 198 protocol assessments were carried out on 24 farms in Germany by two trained observers. To test the interobserver reliability, the same animals were observed simultaneously; test-retest reliability was assessed by repeated assessments through the same observer. Data was aggregated with the online calculator of Welfare Quality®. For criteria, principles and the overall score different reliability and agreement parameters were calculated: Spearman rank correlation coefficients (RS), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), smallest detectable change (SDC) and limits of agreement (LoA). Interobserver reliability was insufficient for the criteria comfort around resting (RS: 0.18, ICC: 0.56, SDC: 21.56, LoA: -29.06-17.02), expression of social behaviours (RS: 0.60, ICC: 0.47, SDC: 32.68, LoA: -16.63-46.61), expression of other behaviours (RS: 0.29, ICC: 0.00, SDC: 29.42, LoA: -21.03-20.59), good human animal relationship (RS: 0.26, ICC: 0.75, SDC: 20.74, LoA: -24.65-34.39) and positive emotional state (RS: 0.64, ICC: 0.70, SDC: 19.22, LoA: -29.91-19.64) as well as for the principles good housing (RS: 0.64, ICC: 0.63, SDC: 14.82, LoA: -21.42-13.04) and appropriate behaviour (RS: 0.37, ICC: 0.53, SDC: 11.99, LoA: -15.97-11.32). This is probably due to insufficiently reliable indicators. Test-retest reliability was mainly insufficient due to a low variability among farms. By partial least squares modelling, the influence of indicators was estimated with variable importance for projection (VIP) scores. VIP scores revealed some unexpected influences since the Welfare Quality® aggregation system aimed to avoid interferences and double-counting. The results propose that feasibility is enhanced by deletion and weighting of indicators according to the revealed importance. Thus, the study contributes essentially to the further development of the aggregation of welfare indicators.

<footnote n="1">¹Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany,</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Institute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry, Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Germany;</footnote>

<footnote>kbuettner@tierzucht.uni-kiel.de</footnote>
Identification of areas with poor welfare in Danish dairy herds

Nina Dam Otten¹, Victor Henrique Silva De Oliveira², Mari Reiten², Anne Marie Michelaen¹, Franziska Hakansson¹, Vibe Pedersen Lund¹, Marlene Katharina Kirchner¹, Matthew James Denwood¹, Tine Rousing², Björn Forkman¹, Hans Houe¹ and Jan Tind Sørensen²

¹University of Copenhagen, Dept. of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Denmark, ²Aarhus University, Dept. of Animal Sciences, Denmark; nio@sund.ku.dk

Animal welfare varies considerably between herds and within certain welfare areas e.g. housing, feeding or health aspects. The objective of this study was to describe the distribution of animal welfare scores for selected animal welfare measures and herd level scores using an animal centred approach for assessing animal welfare to derive at scores on measure, criteria and herd levels. The present study assessed a total of 28 measures (12 resource- and 16 animal-based measures) describing eight criteria within housing, feeding, health and behaviour aspects of dairy cow welfare. Data were collected during 2015 in 60 Danish dairy herds. For the animal-based measures, cows were sampled according to the Welfare Quality protocol, while resource measures were assessed across all cows. An index model was created using weighted and aggregated herd means of the graded measures adjusted for herd size. The model provided scores ranging from poor to excellent welfare (score 0-100) with a score below 50 indicating unacceptable welfare for each level. Overall herd scores ranged from 71.5-88.6 (SD=3.9) with a mean score of 80.4, and thus an overall acceptable welfare for study herds according to the present protocol. Identification of individual measure scores <50 were used to identify areas giving rise to welfare concerns. Results showed: 75% of the herds had unacceptable water supply; total floorage was unacceptable for 56% of the herds; the number of animals lying outside the lying area was unacceptable in 38% of the herds. In addition, 57% of herds had unacceptable levels of integument alterations (i.e. lesions and swellings) and 70% of the herds did not have an acceptable number of cow brushes. Problem areas were primarily found in relation to resource measures. In conclusion, improved welfare for Danish dairy cows could potentially be achieved by focussing on water supply, stocking density and cow brushes.
**Alternatives to castration and their long-term effects on salivary cortisol concentrations in piglet**

Jinhyeon Yun, Anna Ollila, Claudio Oliviero, Mari Heinonen, Anna Valros and Olli Peltoniemi
University of Helsinki, Production Animal Medicine, Finland; jinhyeon.yun@helsinki.fi

Piglet castration is a major animal welfare problem while the procedure is usually done without anaesthesia or analgesia. However, administration of pain medication or anaesthesia for young piglets should be considered carefully. We investigated the long-term effect of five different castration protocols on salivary cortisol concentrations of piglets when they were exposed to noise or housed with new mates. Five days old crossbred (Y × L) piglets (total n=181, from 29 litters) were allocated to five separate castration protocols: (1) TC: traditional castration without medication; (2) PK: meloxicam injection 0.4 mg/kg i.m.; (3) LA: local anaesthesia with lidocaine (2%); (4) GA: general inhalation anaesthesia with isoflurane (1.5%) and meloxicam injection 0.4 mg/kg i.m.; and (5) NC: no castration. Piglets were weaned at 36 days of average age (hereafter D36). The weaner piglets subjected to the novel stressor, i.e. thunderstorm sound at 07:40 on D84, and they were moved to the fattening unit with new pen mates at 20:20 on D85. Four salivary cortisol samples were collected on synthetic swabs at the same time each day, i.e. approximately 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 on D83, D84, D85 and D86, respectively. The data were analysed using repeated measures with a nested design. Irrespective of the treatments, the cortisol concentrations of the piglets did not respond to the thunderstorm sound, but increased after grouping with new mates in fattening units (P<0.01). After grouping, the cortisol levels of the piglets in PK group were higher than in NC and TC (P<0.05, for both), and tended to be higher than in GA group (P=0.07). In conclusion, moving weaner pigs to new environments and grouping them with new mates seems more stressful probably due to fighting than exposing them to thunderstorm noise in terms of cortisol status. The higher cortisol levels seen in castrated pigs with pain medication can be speculated to be due to increased sensitivity to the pain caused by the wound after fighting.
a method for cleaning electroencephalography data in conscious sheep

Charissa Harris, Peter White and Sabrina Lomax

University of Sydney, Australia; char2922@uni.sydney.edu.au

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) offers potential as an effective and practical way
of measuring pain response and efficacy of analgesia in livestock. A preliminary trial was
conducted to identify muscle artefacts impacting EEG signal quality in conscious sheep.
The trial was conducted using six hogget wethers sourced from the University of Sydney
teaching flock, Cobbitty NSW. Lignocaine (1 ml) was administered to electrode placement
sites to minimise discomfort. Subdermal 12 mm, monopolar needle electrodes (29 gauge)
made from surgical steel (ADInstruments, Ltd.) were placed in a three-electrode montage
adapted from Murrell and Johnson. EEG was recorded using Powerlab® and LabChart® software
(ADInstruments Ltd). Initial traces were bandpass filtered between 0.5-40 Hz to obtain
improved signals. Simultaneous video recording was used (Video Capture add on, LabChart
ADInstruments) to identify artefacts caused by muscle movement, including blinking and
head turns. Preliminary results for this trial show distinct artefact patterns for head movement
to the right, left, eye blinks, and chewing. Further analysis in Matlab (Mathworks®) is being
used to characterise these artefacts for removal from recordings. Data cleaning will allow
accurate detection of changes in EEG output, such as differentiating muscle movements from
treatment responses. These results will enable more accurate recording of EEG in conscious
sheep, allowing the progression of this method for use as a means of pain detection in conscious
sheep during husbandry procedures.
Evaluation of the welfare of dual purpose cattle in Michoacán, Mexico

Luis Rojas¹, Jaime Mondragon¹, Anastacio García¹ and Marcia Del Campo²

¹Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México-Centro Universitario UAEM-Temascaltepec. C.P. 51300. Km., Animal production, Mexico, ²Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria Tacuarembó, Ruta 5 Km 386, C.P. 45000, Uruguay, Wool and meat production, Uruguay; jaimemond_01@hotmail.com

Consumers exert more pressure on animal products with welfare. However, there is little information on animal welfare (AW) in extensive production systems. It is assumed that the animal has the freedom of natural behaviour and better well-being. Other schools of thought question psychological and physiological well-being that may be compromised by natural factors, environment, predators, and malnutrition, among others. With the objective of evaluating the welfare of dual purpose cattle in the Southeast of the state of Michoacán, Mexico; first, information was obtained on productive, technical and economic aspects from a sample of 93 production units (PU) of the 1,800 registered, by simple random sampling with 95% confidence level and a 10% error, to classify groups of producers. The data obtained was analysed with principle components (PCA) and cluster (CA). Three subsystems were obtained: subsistence production system (51 PU), family production system (36 PU) and business production system (6 PU). Afterwards, a random sample of animals was obtained, with 95% confidence level and a 10% error, from four PU of each group. The animals were evaluated with an evaluation index of AW (ANI 35 L) that ranks each criterion from 0 to 4.0 points. The sum of all the points gives a maximum total of 147. The subsistence and family subsystems had a greater animal welfare index. The indices of human-animal relationship and health decrease when the herds are larger and when hired labor is available.
# Effects of a virtual fence on individual and social behaviour and welfare of dairy cows

Paul Koene, Pieter Hogewerf and Bert Ipema

Wageningen University & Research, Animal Welfare, Wageningen Livestock Research,
the Netherlands; paul.koene@wur.nl

Dairy cows may graze more efficiently when allowed grazing in predefined areas with predictable sward height and grass quality. Moving the animals daily or preferably more frequently is needed. Using traditional fencing such as strip grazing causes high labour requirements. Undesirable effects of electric fencing might be prevented by the use of virtual fencing. A warning signal could be given to the cow when approaching the boundary and a correction signal when crossing the boundary. Questions are whether the virtual fence works as expected and what the impact of the signals is on the behaviour and welfare. Dairy cows – grazing in a group of four – in the virtual fenced area were compared with cows in the electric fenced area. This was replicated once with two other groups (n=16). During 12 days the groups were compared in several aspects. One of the aspects was grazing on a single strip (80×10 m) compared to a double strip (80×20 m). The behaviour, position and activity were monitored during 5 h per day. During the 12 day period cows stayed in the strips with only few temporary boundary crossings. In a 1-strip area the virtual fence cows showed more standing (34 vs 8.5%; P<0.001) and less lying (4 vs 14%; P<0.01). The cows in the virtual fence system showed lower nearest neighbour distances than the cows in the electric fence system (P<0.01). The behavioural synchronization of the group in the virtual fence condition – measured during standing (8.5 vs 13%) and lying (25 vs 25%) – was weaker (P<0.001) in the 2-strip area. Our conclusion is that a virtual fence is effective but has some effects on the social and individual behaviour and welfare of cows.
**Calf management extension programme to improve calf welfare on British dairy farms**

Jenny Gibbons and Andrew Dodd

AHDB Dairy, United Kingdom; jenny.gibbons@ahdb.org.uk

Studies on commercial British farms inform us that between 5.22% and 8% of heifer and bull calves are either stillborn or die within the first 24 h. A further 14% of heifers born alive and tagged do not calve down for the first time and enter the milking herd. Youngstock are the future dairy producers and it is paramount that they get the best possible start to life in terms of nutrition, health and welfare. In 2016, a calf management extension programme (Calf to Calving) of resources, tools and training for both dairy farmers and their advisers was rolled out in Britain. The objective of calf to calving is to enable dairy farmers to make measured improvements in youngstock survival and growth rate and increase the percentage of high quality heifer calves making it into the milking herd by 24 months of age. The programme involves 12 farms monitoring survival and growth rate of ten heifer calves from birth through to first calving and hosting quarterly open meetings on their farm. Calf to calving facilitates farmer to farmer learning so farmers are better able to assess calf performance, identify areas for improvement, determine their options for change and implement their chosen changes. In addition, best practice messages and the latest science on calf rearing is delivered by technical experts and veterinarians. In the first year of the programme, 43 meetings were delivered with an average of 25 attendees, 93% of which intend to make changes on farm as a result of attending a meeting. An overview of the findings and a perspective on the impact of the extension programme on calf management and welfare will be shared and discussed.
**EuroDairy: sharing experiences and best practice of dairy cattle welfare assessment across Europe**

Jenny Gibbons¹, Marija Klopčič², Luc Mirabito³ and Willem Koops⁴

¹AHDB Dairy, United Kingdom, ²UL, Biotechnical Faculty, Dept. of Animal Science, Slovenia,

³Institut de l'Elevage, France, ⁴ZuivelNL, the Netherlands; jenny.gibbons@ahdb.org.uk

In 2016, a EuroDairy network funded through the EU Horizon 2020 programme was convened. One objective is to improve animal welfare, specifically to share experiences on the use of practical outcome-based welfare measures. A survey was conducted to identify innovative activities in practical welfare assessment. A total of 11 organisations from 9 countries responded to the survey including The Netherlands (NL), United Kingdom (UK), Sweden (SE), Denmark (DK), Spain (ES), Italy (IT), Finland (FI), Slovenia (SI) and France (FR). The common welfare priorities were prevention of production diseases, better on-farm recording of health and welfare data, improving housing conditions both indoor and outdoor and pain prevention during management procedures such as disbudding. There are a number of welfare assessment initiatives including AssureWel (UK), Ask the Cow (SE) and those based on Welfare Quality® (FI, IT). Only two countries (DK, NL) set targets, for example mortality rates for cows (14%) and calves (20%). There were some similarities in the top 3 non-compliances across member states: Udder health, cleanliness, space allowance, herd health review with vet and water provision. Planned welfare activities comprise Cow Compass Beta (NL), positive welfare (UK), welfare index for cows and calves (DK), design and use of welfare pen (DK), comparing Naseva health care visit to Welfare Quality (FI), improve welfare in Parmigiano Reggiano cheese supply chain (IT). On-farm innovations include alternative housing, flooring and bedding, claw health registration programmes and adoption of smart precision technologies. Priorities identified for the EuroDairy network were: (1) exchange best practice; (2) practical, less time consuming and more uniform welfare assessments; (3) build innovations to enhance welfare; (4) behaviour and welfare needs of cattle; (5) better use of existing recorded data; and (6) mastitis and lameness interventions. The next stages include convening several webinars, workshops and farmer exchange visits to share knowledge, experiences and practical solutions.
**Identification of genes which are associated with production diseases in pigs and chickens**

Timothy Giles¹, Scott Hulme¹, Paul Barrow¹, Nathalie Le Floc'h², Anne-Marie Chaussé², Panagiotis Sakkas³, Tommy Van Limbergen⁴, Suso Mendez⁵, Joaquín Morales⁶ and Neil Foster¹

¹University of Nottingham, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, United Kingdom, ²INRA, France, ³University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, ⁴University of Ghent, Belgium, ⁵Coren, Spain, ⁶PigCHAMP, Spain; timothy.giles@nottingham.ac.uk

Production disease in pigs and chickens is caused by a variety of different pathogens, mainly enteric and respiratory, which may result in significant economic losses. Other factors such as stress, poor husbandry and nutrition can also contribute to an animal's susceptibility to disease. Molecular biomarkers of production disease could be of value by improving diagnosis and risk analysis to determine best practice with an impact on increased economic output and animal welfare. Over 480 chicken tissue samples from countries including Belgium, Spain and the UK, and over 115 pig samples from Belgium, Spain, France and Ireland were available. Samples included lung, intestine, mesenteric and tracheobronchic lymph node, bone, cartilage and sciatic nerve. Two types of software were used to analyse the microarray data; Genespring was used for statistical analysis and visualisation of transcriptomic data and Cytoscape was used to visualise molecular interaction networks between genes. Results indicated that panels of genes may identify a broad spectrum of infectious disease in chickens, whereas combinations of upregulated genes may be used as biomarkers of specific pathogens such as *Escherichia coli* or *Eimeria*. Pigs from two lines (RFI high and low) were kept in dirty environments which had the same bedding and clean environments which had fresh bedding. A greater difference was observed in the number of genes differentially expressed in the RFI high pigs than RFI low pigs. Pathway analysis from both chicken and pig experiments indicated that many networks were affected including those involved in regulating the immune-system. Whilst a large number of studies have been carried out in human medicine, further work is needed to identify molecular biomarkers in veterinary medicine and in particular those associated with production disease in the pig and poultry livestock industry.
**Genetic selection to enhance animal welfare using meat inspection data from slaughter plants**

P. K. Mathur¹, R.H. Vogelzang¹, H.A. Mulder² and E. F. Knol¹

¹Topigs Norsvin B.V., the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University, Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre, the Netherlands; pramod.mathur@topignsnorsvin.com

Animal health and welfare are monitored during meat inspection in many slaughter houses around the world. Carcasses are examined by meat inspectors and remarks are made with respect to different diseases, injuries and other abnormalities. This is a valuable data resource for disease prevention and enhancing animal welfare but it is hardly used for this purpose. Records on 69 carcass condemnations on over 147,000 finisher pigs were analysed to answer questions including: (1) what are the most common carcass condemnations; (2) are there differences between sexes; (3) are there differences between farms; (4) do fast growing pigs have more welfare related remarks; and (5) what can genetics do to enhance animal welfare. The most frequent carcass condemnation remarks were pneumonia (15.5%), joint disorders (9.4%), pleuritis (4.8%), liver lesions (2.5%) and pericarditis (2.3%). Joint disorders occurred more often in boars than in gilts. There were also significant differences between farms depending upon their housing and management. Pedigree records were available for 142,324 pigs from 14 farms and were used for genetic analysis. The heritability estimates for joint disorders, pneumonia, pleuritis, pericarditis, and liver lesions were 0.10, 0.09, 0.14, 0.24 and 0.17, respectively, on liability scale, suggesting existence of substantial genetic variation. The genetic correlations between these carcass condemnations and finishing traits were small but mostly negative, suggesting the possibility of enhancing pig health and welfare simultaneously with genetic improvement in finishing traits. Further analysis also revealed that selection of the top 25% boars to be used as terminal sires can substantially reduce the incidence of these traits in finishers. A Topigs Norsvin Welfare index (TWI) was developed based on the breeding values for these traits and their economic values for farmers and slaughter plants. This index is used to enhance animal welfare in pig farms.
Modelling intensity of interaction to estimate direct and indirect genetic effects

Juan P. Steibel¹, Rodolfo J.C. Cantet² and Janice M. Siegford¹

¹Michigan State University, USA, ²University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; steibelj@msu.edu

Selecting for social genetic effects has been proposed for improving welfare of group-housed livestock. In classical social genetic effects, the social effects are modelled assuming uniform intensity of social interaction among all group members. Such models may lead to confounding of the social effect incidence matrix with the pen or group incidence matrix. The confounding is generally avoided by using multiple mixings, where each animal is grouped with different animals in each mixing. But even if re-mixing is performed, the underlying assumption is that intensity of interaction within group is uniform among all possible pairs of individuals. Exploiting estimates of intensity of competition between all pairs of individuals has been proposed in the context of forest tree breeding, but it has not been attempted with animals. In this work, we show how dyadic social interactions estimated from decoded video observations of group-housed pigs could be used to parameterize social genetic effects models. We show that this approach allows estimation of social genetic effects separately from other group-specific effects without having to re-mix animals. We also illustrate how to build social interaction matrices to obtain variance estimates that are comparable to estimates of direct genetic variance and environmental variance components. Furthermore, we propose alternative metrics for the incidence matrix of social interactions by using frequency or duration of different types of interactions and suggest a framework for model comparison, including cross validation in the presence of successive mixings. Finally, we present equations to use the proposed models to perform genome-wide association of indirect genetic effects in addition to predicting animal-specific indirect breeding values. We conclude that in the presence of pairwise-behaviour observations, indirect genetic effects models could be parametrized to account for such information, and they could lead to an increased amount of phenotypic variance that is explained by genetic effects.
**Metabolites as new genetic selection tools to enhance behaviour in pigs**

Lisette E. Van Der Zande¹, Inonge Reimert², Pramod K. Mathur¹ and Egbert F. Knol¹

¹Topigs Norsvin BV, the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University & Research, Adaptation Physiology Group, the Netherlands; lisette.van.der.zande@topigsnorsvin.com

Favourable social behaviour between pigs is important and desirable for animal welfare, economic benefits to farmers, and human society. Already shown to be effective is genetic selection using social breeding values (SBVs). SBVs is the genetic effect based on the growth and behaviour of an individual on its pen mates. Pigs with high SBV have desirable behaviour and cause less tail damage to their pen mates. It is further desirable to have a more clear understanding of the biological mechanisms behind animal behaviour. It is known that metabolites such as serotonin, influence behaviour. However, the relationship between behaviour and metabolites is not yet well understood in pigs. If metabolites are heritable in pigs, combining the knowledge genomics and metabolites might result in more accurate prediction of behaviour. Therefore, this study contributes to the knowledge on genetics of behaviour in pigs. Six metabolites were measured on 480 genotyped animals housed in equal numbers in barren and enriched housing. Behaviour was measured through video recordings. Among the six metabolites, the concentration of haptoglobin and IgG were affected by the housing systems. In addition, SBV was significantly associated with haptoglobin and lymphocytes. The heritability estimates using genomic information for haptoglobin, leukocytes, lymphocytes, serotonin, IgG, and IgM were 0.15, 0.26, 0.14, 0.21, 0.27, 0.41, respectively, which implies that these metabolites have a good genetic basis. There was a significant effect of SBV, haptoglobin, and IgM on tail damage as victim of undesirable behaviour. However, there was no significant correlation between the six metabolites and tail biting behaviour as perpetrator. Further data analysis is underway to investigate the usefulness of over 100 metabolites to reduce the risk of some undesirable behaviours like tail biting and for overall enhancement of pig behaviour and welfare.
Genetic correlations between skin lesions and growth traits in group housed pigs

Kaitlin E. Wurtz¹, Janice M. Siegford¹, Ronald O. Bates¹, Catherine W. Ernst¹ and Juan P. Steibel¹,²
¹Michigan State University, Department of Animal Science, USA, ²Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, USA; wurtzkai@msu.edu

Pigs housed in groups are remixed with unfamiliar individuals which can trigger aggressive interactions compromising the welfare of these individuals. Skin lesions are a reliable indicator trait of aggression and are moderately heritable, suggesting that aggression may be reduced through selective breeding. However, a common concern is the relationship between skin lesions and traits related to growth and carcass composition. To investigate this concern, 1,079 purebred Yorkshire pigs were strategically remixed into new groups of familiar and unfamiliar animals at 3 life stages (weaning, grow-finish, mature gilts). Skin lesions (fresh bright red cuts) were counted immediately prior to mixing and 24 h post mixing across 3 body regions: front, middle, and rear. Body weights were recorded prior to each mixing event. Prior to slaughter, backfat thickness and loin muscle area were determined by ultrasound. Bivariate analysis was performed using a genomic best linear unbiased prediction model with fixed effects of sex, replicate, observer, weight and pre-mix lesions as covariates, and random effects of pen and genetic additive effect. The response variables were post-mix lesions with either weight gain (per life stage), back fat thickness, or loin muscle area. The genetic relationship matrix was constructed using genotypes from 52,925 SNPs. Genetic correlations between weight gain and lesions were close to zero and not significant. Backfat and lesions were slightly positively but not significantly correlated (0.08 to 0.28). A moderate negative correlation was found between loin muscle area and lesions (-0.43 to -0.62) and these genetic correlations were deemed significant for grow-finish pigs middle and rear lesions (P<0.003 and P<9.73×10⁻⁵, respectively) but not for front lesions. These results are promising for the industry because they suggest pigs can be selected for reduced lesions, thus reducing aggression, without negatively affecting growth. In addition, selection for reduced lesions may contribute to increased loin muscle area.
**Which genes are best indicators for lesion age determination on the pig carcass – a
preliminary study**

Marika Vitali¹, Sabine Conte², Giovanna Martelli¹, Martin Lessard² and Luigi Faucitano²

¹University of Bologna, Department of Veterinary Medical Science, Italy, ²Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Canada; marika.vitali4@unibo.it

Assessing the age of lesions on the carcass may help determine the time of their infliction and identify the causes. This study aimed at identifying which genes are the best indicators of lesion age on the pig carcass. Five identical lesions were inflicted at the same time on the shoulders of 10 pigs (100±20 kg) using a piglet's lower jaw. Five biopsies on each pig were performed at 1, 4, 8, 24 and 48 h after injury (1 biopsy per lesion). Intact skin was the control. Local anaesthetic and analgesics were used to reduce pain. To assess the effect of slaughter and carcass treatment on gene expression, 5 of the 10 pigs were slaughtered 24 h after the infliction of two lesions in the hams. Biopsies were taken before and after slaughter (BS and AS, respectively), and after carcass singeing. The qPCR method was used to quantify the expression of 98 genes involved in wound healing, using the 2^(-DDCT) method. Since carcass handling induced a degradation of the RNA, only samples taken before carcass dehairing were used. Genes that were not differently expressed between BS and AS were first tested on 5 pigs in all lesion age categories. Fourteen selected genes were then tested on all pigs. Statistical analyses were performed using the PROCMIXED procedure of SAS. Eight genes (CCL2, COX2, IL2, IL6, IL8, MMP1, SERPINE1, TIMP1) presented different expression patterns by the age of the lesion (P<0.05). In particular, COX2 appears to be a useful indicator of lesions of 1h (1h=6.2 [3.2-12.1], 4h=1.4 [0.7-2.6], 8h=1.7 [0.9-3.4], 24h=1.6 [0.8-3.1], 48h=1.1 [0.6-2.2]; P<0.01), and MMP1 of 4-8h (1h=1.9 [0.7-5.5], 4h=35.6 [12.4-102.3], 8h=19.2 [6.7-55.3], 24h=4.0 [1.4-11.4], 48h=1.3 [0.4-3.6]; P<0.001). Based on their different expression by age of lesion, the identified genes may be used in larger-scale studies to validate on-field methods for this assessment.
**Farmers' practices and attitudes towards artificial fed lambs and their mortality in meat systems**

X. Boivin¹, P. Malarange¹, A. Jarousse¹, J.M. Gautier², C. Mallet¹, F. Bouvier³, M.M. Mialon¹, F. Kling-Eveillard⁴ and L.A. Guilloteau⁵

¹INRA ARA VetagroSup, UMR1213 H., France, ²IDELE, SBR, France, ³INRA, Val de Loire, UE Bourges, France, ⁴IDELE, ASTRE, France, ⁵INRA Val de Loire, U82 RA, France; xavier.boivin@inra.fr

Artificial rearing is a common practice in French sheep farming particularly for raising supernumerary lambs in prolific breeds. Mortality rates can reach more than 50% suggesting possible animal welfare and health issues. This prospective study aims to investigate a range of variable rearing conditions, practices, and farmer attitudes towards animals, contact with animals and working in this system, relating this diversity to declared mortality rates. This study was based on semi-directive interviews and questionnaires. As no database exists to identify farms with artificial feeding systems, a convenient sample of farms was built through a snowball process with the help of professional organisation networks in the central area of France. Thirty-five farms (737±396 ewes) were surveyed with a particular focus on technical aspects (milk powder quality, feeding system, milk temperature, etc.). Factor analyses were performed on farm characteristics and on attitude scales. The relationship between these variables and the declared mortality rates were analysed through single and multiple regression analyses with selection processes. Our results show varying practices and farmer attitudes. 61% of farmers agreed on the profitability of these rearing practices. From the farmers' point of view, the most important elements are: for 58% of the farmers the early separation from the dam, 54% choosing the stronger lamb, 58% giving the colostrum within 6 h after birth. Declared lamb mortality varied strongly from farm to farm (15.7±13.6%: range 1-50%). Multiple regression analysis (with missing data regarding sanitary breaks) showed that three factors explained 59% of this variability (log transformed, F3,13=6.24, P<0.01): Farm size (β=+0.51), duration of the sanitary break (β=-0.27) and agreement that sheep are sensitive to petting (β=-0.84). Our results suggest that a large diversity in farmer attitudes and practices in artificial rearing systems exist in France making possible a strong scope of improvements concerning welfare and health, and reducing lamb mortality.
Could pigs have unidentified behavioural needs that warrant inclusion in future
welfare assessments?

Helena Telkanranta¹,² and Anna Valros²

¹University of Bristol, School of Veterinary Sciences, United Kingdom, ²University of Helsinki, Department of Production Animal Medicine, Finland; helaena.telkanranta@bristol.ac.uk

A growing body of research suggests that in addition to pigs' known behavioural needs, some other behaviours may also be innately motivated, and thwarting them may cause frustration. Here, we review the literature on potential candidates for 'new' behavioural needs and present our findings. One candidate is wallowing, which may have emotional significance beyond thermoregulation. Pigs spend time in water even at optimal temperatures and work to gain access to wallowing, suggesting potential similarity to dustbathing in poultry. We also discuss literature on potential significance of novelty, olfaction and nest-oriented behaviours. The latter have been observed in sows building farrowing nests, piglets burrowing in these nests and pigs of both sexes building resting nests, but their welfare-relevance has only been studied in sows before farrowing. We have collected descriptive data on pre-rest behaviours by using videos from other experiments on intensively farmed pigs with no bedding. In Experiment 1, we observed 167 gilts for 2 h, finding that 92% of events of settling to recumbency started with oral-nasal contact, mainly at the floor (52%) or another pig (31%). Experiment 2 involved pigs provided with objects for manipulation: 128 finishing pigs had pieces of wood and 51 suckling piglets had sisal ropes as material for manipulation. We observed each animal once until recumbent and immobile, presumably asleep. Of the finishing pigs, 14% placed the head or body under wood for 2 to 19 seconds before lying down; 3% remained under and in contact with it when immobile. Of the piglets, 16% placed the head or body under rope for 3 to 25 seconds before lying down; 14% remained under and in contact when immobile. We conclude the interaction with floor and objects may have been caused by a pre-sleep motivation to manipulate nest materials. Further research is needed on the welfare-relevance of these behaviours and whether they require inclusion in welfare assessments of the future.
# Risks to welfare associated with changes in infrastructure and management in expanding dairy herds

Laura Boyle¹, John Mee¹ and Joanna Marchewka²

¹Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland, ²Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Animal Behaviour, ul. Postepu 36A, Jastrzębiec, 05-552, Magdalenka, Poland; laura.boyle@teagasc.ie

Herd size increased following quota abolition in Irish pasture based dairy farms. However, investment in farm infrastructure and appropriate changes in farm management may not have occurred concurrently and have potential implications for cow welfare. This study aimed to establish the changes in and opinions about such issues on Irish dairy farms in the past 3 years (2012-2015). The survey was conducted with farmers (F; n=115) at 2 national farming events and cattle vets (V; n=60) at a national conference using a questionnaire by interview. Teagasc dairy advisors were asked to complete the questionnaire themselves (A; n=48) at a training event. Results are expressed as % of group surveyed. Data were analysed in SAS using logistic and mixed procedures. The majority (77%) of F increased herd size. More F who increased herd size invested in the milking parlour (93.5%) than those that did not expand (6.5%) (X²=8.3; P=0.004). However, these two groups did not differ in terms of investment in housing or roadways (P>0.05). There was good agreement between V (90.0±3.9%) and A (87.5±4.82%) that the best way to herd cows is on foot (P<0.05). However, more than 30% of F reported using a vehicle. On those farms, herds were larger than where cows were herded on foot (152.7±15.9 vs 99.0±6.1 cows; P<0.001). We did not investigate whether F only began to employ a vehicle for herding following expansion. The distance to the furthest pasture (884.4±45.2 m) was positively correlated with herd size (r=0.26, P=0.01). Investment in milking parlours involved increased capacity, indicating that cow welfare is not likely to be adversely affected by inefficiencies in the milking process in expanded herds. However, the lack of investment in roadways combined with potential for faster herding and longer walking distances in such herds poses risks to cow welfare, particularly lameness. Furthermore, give that cows are housed for on average 3.6 months p.a. the lack of investment in housing in expanded herds poses risks of overcrowding and social stress.
**Welfare-adjusted life years: combine welfare compromise and premature death to a whole**

Kendy Teng¹, Brecht Devleesschauwer², Charline Maertens De Noordhout³, Paul McGreevy¹, Peter Bennett¹, Jenny-Ann Toribio¹ and Navneet Dhand¹

¹University of Sydney, Australia, ²Scientific Institute of Public Health, Belgium, ³Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium; kendy.teng@sydney.edu.au

This paper aims to demonstrate a novel metric, welfare-adjusted life years (WALYs), which allows quantification of welfare compromise caused by diseases in companion animals and integrates it with another perspective of disease impact, premature death, as a whole. The welfare compromise component, years lived with compromised welfare, is calculated by multiplying the number of cases, the average duration of the disease until remission or death, and the welfare compromise weights (WCWs); the premature death component is named years of life lost, estimated by multiplying the number of deaths due to the disease and the standard life expectancy at the age of death (i.e. years of lost). WALY is the sum of the two components: larger the WALY of a disease, greater the negative impact caused by the disease. WALY value can be calculated for all diseases if their essential epidemiological data are available and if WCWs for their welfare states (each disease has several welfare states, depending on the clinical signs and disease sequela) are present. WCWs can be generated by conducting a survey including paired comparison and anchoring questions. Using paired comparison questions, respondents are asked to consider two hypothetical dogs with different welfare states and specify which dog they deemed having better welfare than the other. This creates a list of welfare states ordered in the magnitude of welfare compromise, and anchoring methods, such as visual analogue scale, time trade-off or people trade-off, can assign each welfare state a WCW between 0 (perfect welfare) and 1 (worst welfare). To demonstrate WALY metric, 35 welfare states for 10 inheritable diseases of dogs were selected and their WCWs were generated, and the results of different anchoring methods were compared.
Interdependence of management and automated milk feeders to ensure dairy calf
health

Catalina Medrano-Galarza¹, Stephen Leblanc¹, Andria Jones-Bitton¹, Trevor Devries²,
Anne Marie De Passillé³, Jeffrey Rushen³, Marcia Endres⁴ and Derek Haley¹

¹University of Guelph, Canada, ²University of Guelph, Canada, ³University of British Columbia, Canada, ⁴University of Minnesota, USA; cmedrano@uoguelph.ca

Dairy cattle welfare assessment schemes have traditionally been focused primarily on mature
cows. We have examined data on management practices with automated milk feeders (AMF)
to identify factors associated with calf health problems, that ultimately impact welfare, and
which could be measured in calf welfare assessment schemes. Seventeen dairy farms with AMF
in Ontario (Canada) were visited 4 times, seasonally, over 1 year. All calves (n=1,488) in pens
(n=35) with AMF were health scored to identify number of calves with diarrhoea (CD) and
bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Data on calf, feeder, and pen management practices were
analysed using mixed-effects negative binomial regression models. Overall calf-level prevalence
of CD and BRD were 23% and 17%, respectively. Median (IQR) within-pen prevalence of CD
and BRD was 17% (7-37) and 11% (0-28), respectively. Predictors associated with reduced
within-pen prevalence of CD were the feeding of probiotics (risk ratio [RR]=0.5, P<0.01),
cleaning AMF hoses daily compared to weekly (RR=0.53, P<0.03), and individual-housing
(vs group-housing) before introduction to the AMF pen (RR=0.6, P=0.07). In contrast, use of
maternity pens other than for calving tended to be a risk factor (RR=1.6, P=0.07). Predictors
associated with reduced within-pen prevalence of BRD were increased total solids in milk
replacer (RR=0.93, P=0.04), and dry top bedding over a wet bedding pack no deeper than
5 cm (RR=0.6, P=0.04). Predictors associated with increased within-pen prevalence of BRD
were sharing air with cattle up to 5-8 months old (RR=3.4, P=0.01) or older (RR=2.0, P=0.07),
and introduction to the AMF pen after 9 d old compared to <3 d (RR=2.1, P=0.04) or 3 to 6
d (RR 2.0, P=0.02). To conclude, risk factors for disease and reduced calf welfare in group-
housed calves fed with an AMF are commingling with older animals and infrequent cleaning
of the feeder.
**Effect of lactation system and floor type on aggressive behaviour of rabbit does housed in groups**

Cristina Zomeño<fnref n="1" />, Marco Birolo<fnref n="1" />, Francesco Gratta², Andrea Zuffellato<fnref n="3" />, Gerolamo Xiccato² and Angela Trocino<fnref n="1" />

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the lactation system and the floor type on the aggressive behaviour of rabbit does reared in a part-time group housing system. Thirty-two crossbred pregnant rabbit does were housed in groups of four from 8 d until 2 d before kindling and from 2 d until 33 d after kindling in collective pens (n=8). Half of the pens had wire net floor covered with mats (W), and half plastic slatted floor (P). During the controlled lactation (from 2 d to 18 d after kindling), in half pens (2 W and 2 P) each doe always nursed its own litter (fixed lactation; F), whereas in the remaining half (2 W and 2 P) each doe nursed whatever litter of the group (random lactation; R). The number and duration of the aggressive interactions in each pen were video-recorded for 30-min intervals every hour for 24 h at three days, i.e. 8 d before kindling, and 2 d and 18 d after kindling. Data were analysed using hour, day, lactation system and floor type as fixed effects and pen as random effect (PROC GLIMMIX, SAS). Does showed higher durations of aggressive interactions (16.6±1.59 vs 12.4±1.20 sec/pen/interval) and mount attempts (14.1±2.40 vs 7.4±1.28 sec/pen/interval) in F than R pens (P<0.05). They exhibited more (0.47±3.56 vs 0.32±2.43 events/pen/interval) and longer (17.1±1.64 vs 11.9±1.16 sec/pen/interval) aggressive interactions in W than P pens besides more chasing (0.08±3.22 vs 0.04±1.69 events/pen/interval) and mount attempts duration (14.1±2.41 vs 7.4±1.27 sec/pen/interval) (P<0.05). In conclusion, lactation system and pen floor influenced aggressiveness. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the reasons and the mechanisms for the different aggressiveness observed with the two lactation systems, and to confirm differences between does kept on wire net compared to does on plastic floor.

<footnote n="1">¹University of Padova, Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, Italy, ²University of Padova, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, Italy,</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³A.I.A. Agricola Italiana Alimentare S.p.A, Italy; cristina.zomenosegado@unipd.it</footnote>
**The motivation-based calving facility**

Maria Vilain Rørvang, Mette S. Herskin and Margit Bak Jensen

Aarhus University, Department of Animal Science, Denmark; maria.vilainrorvang@anis.au.dk

To ease calving and safeguard animal welfare, cows are moved to individual calving pens (ICP) when calving is due. However, cows may be moved too late and disturbed, which prolongs calving and challenges welfare. Development of calving systems based on dairy cows' pre-calving motivation to seek isolation may facilitate the use of ICPs. This study examined whether such system, facilitates the use of ICPs. Danish Holstein cows (n=66) were housed in groups of six in a 9×9 m area connected to six individual and secluded calving pens (4.5×3 m). Cows were trained to use one of two isolation opportunities i.e. ICPs with functional gates (n=34) allowing only one cow access at a time, or ICPs with permanently open gates allowing free cow traffic (n=32). Response variables were location of calving, social and calving behaviour. Factors influencing the use of the isolation opportunities were identified by logistic regression (R-software) and are presented as odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Contrary to the hypothesis, functional gates did not increase the use of ICPs (21 cows with open gates vs 13 cows with functional gates: OR: 51.41 [1.83-72.97]; P=0.068). Across all cows, dominant cows (determined using displacement events) had the highest odds of calving inside an ICP (OR: 1.14 [1.07-1.30]; P=0.0035). If an alien calf was present during the last 8 h pre-calving, cows were less likely to calve inside an ICP (OR: 0.46 [0.011-1.25]; P=0.069). Cows that had their first rhythmical contractions in an ICP had higher odds of calving in the pen (OR 54.05 [2.89-162.82]; P=0.036). Taken together, functional gates did not facilitate isolation seeking and the cows may have perceived the mechanical gate as an obstacle rather than an advantage when choosing calving site. It is possible that the cows were not able to combine the learnt response with the innate motivation. Social factors had a strong influence on seeking isolation. In order to develop a successful motivation-based calving system, where ICPs are used appropriately, future studies should focus on easing entry to ICPs, explore options to increase the isolation motivation and reduce competition for ICPs.
**The relationship between response to humans and social aggression in pigs**

Carly I. O'Malley¹, Kaitlin E. Wurtz¹, Juan P. Steibel¹,², Ronald O. Bates¹, Catherine W. Ernst¹ and Janice M. Siegford¹

¹Michigan State University, Department of Animal Science, USA, ²Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, USA; omalle50@msu.edu

Mixing unfamiliar pigs is common in modern production, resulting in intense fighting that can lead to injury and stress. To address this concern we need to understand how aggression is related to other behavioural traits. Responses in human approach tests (HAT) and handling tests were compared with skin lesions to assess the relationship between aggression and human-response for 257 grow-finish stage barrows across 20 pens. Pigs were mixed at 10 wk. Skin lesions (fresh, red marks), a reliable proxy of social aggression, were counted pre-mixing, 24 h post-mixing, and 3 wk post-mixing (stable) by body location (front, middle, and rear) because of research showing differences in fighting strategy based on location. Behaviour tests were conducted at 14 wk. For HAT, frequency and intensity (low/moderate or extreme force) of oronasal contact with observer was recorded every 30 s for 9 min. For handling tests, activity and reactivity while entering, in, and leaving a weigh crate were recorded. General linear mixed models compared HAT responses and skin lesions. For analysis in stable groups, the response variable was lesions by body location; fixed effects were human approach response, repetition, lesion observer, pen as random effect, and weight at mixing as covariate. No effect was found for stable score lesions and interaction with observer (*P*>0.05). For analysis of 24 h post-mix, pre-mix lesions added as a fixed effect. We found that pigs bullied after mixing (high rear lesions) interacted more intensely in HAT (*P*=0.026). The same models were used for handling scores. Pigs bullied in stable groups were less active in the weigh crate (*P*=0.021). Results suggest that social aggression is related to human-related behaviour, but more research is needed. This study is part of a larger study comparing video-recorded affiliative and aggressive behaviours, lesion scores, and genotypes (n=1,070 pigs) for further understanding of pig sociality.
**Effect of heat stress on piglet welfare – application of a non-invasive gut permeability marker**

Nicole Reisinger¹, Simone Schaumberger², Ilse Dohnal¹, Barbara Doupovec¹, Veronika Nagl¹ and Gerd Schatzmayr¹

¹BIOMIN Research Center, Austria, ²BIOMIN Holding GmbH, Austria; veronika.nagl@biomin.net

Climate change impacts the sustainability of livestock production. Due to increasing temperatures, animals are more frequently exposed to episodes of heat stress. Consequently, welfare of food-producing animals is impaired by disturbances in their energy metabolism, hormonal status, immune system or gut integrity. Here, we evaluate the influence of heat stress on gut permeability of piglets by employing a non-invasive dual sugar assay. At nine weeks of age, eight piglets were placed pairwise in metabolic cages. After an adaption period of four days, pigs were kept for 24 h under thermoneutral conditions (28 °C, day 1). On days 2-4, all piglets were exposed to periods of heat stress (35 °C for 6 h per day; 18 h at 32 °C). On day 1 and 3, agar containing lactulose (500 mg/kg b.w.) and rhamnose (100 mg/kg b.w.) was fed to the piglets. Urine was collected on day 1 as well as 2, 4 and 6 h after sugar application day 3, and analysed for lactulose and rhamnose by HPLC-MS/MS. All procedures were performed according to Austrian law (LF1-TVG-39/012-2014) and the European Guidelines for the Care and Use of Animals for Research Purpose. Obtained mean values were analysed with a nonparametric test. No significant differences between the cumulative lactulose and rhamnose excretions on day 1 and day 3 were observed. However, the urinary lactulose/rhamnose was significantly increased (P=0.0286) when piglets were exposed to heat stress. In contrast to previous studies, we demonstrated the impact of heat stress on gut integrity by using a non-invasive method. Although this assay is often used to assess human gut integrity, its application in animals is still limited. Thus, we highlighted the negative effects of elevated temperatures on gut health and, hence, animal welfare.
**Using sensors to monitor behaviour at the dairy farm**

Frank Van Eerdenburg¹, Peter Hut¹, Gerrit Hooijer¹, Arnold Harbers², Elsbeth Stassen³ and Jan Hulsen⁴

¹Fac Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Farm Animal Health, the Netherlands, ²Nedap, the Netherlands, ³Wageningen University, Animal Sciences, the Netherlands, ⁴Vetvice, the Netherlands; f.j.c.m.vaneerdenburg@uu.nl

Sensors can measure various types of behaviour automatically in a dairy herd. They can, therefore, be used to monitor a herd and the computer can detect deviations of normal behaviour and give an attention to the farmer. In order to do so, normal baseline values are needed. Since these may vary due to parity and housing conditions, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of parity and freestall bedding (cow matrass vs deep litter) on daily lying time, locomotion, standing and eating time from 42d a.p. – 28d p.p. Sixteen Dutch dairy farms (3,158 cows) were used in this study and the number of steps per day, time of standing and lying (in sec/2 h period) and time eating (in sec/2 h) were collected by means of Nedap smart tags (Groenlo, the Netherlands). Furthermore, in the first two weeks post-partum blood samples were collected to measure BHB levels. T-tests and timeseries were used for comparison. The results of locomotion revealed that primiparous cows made 833 (SD 132; P<0.001) more steps on daily basis in comparison with multiparous cows. Animals housed on cow matrasses made on daily basis on average 621 (SD 30; P<0.001) more steps vs animals in stalls with deep litter bedding. Primiparous cows spent daily on average 64 minutes (SD 4.8; P<0.001) less time lying down and animals on farms with cow matrasses lie on daily basis around 30 (SD 17.3; P<0.001) minutes less when compared with animals housed on farms with deep litter bedding. The number of lying bouts increased from 6 to 9 per day 1 day before calving and decreased to 7 per day after calving. The time lying per day decreased before calving. And the average lying time increases again in the first week post-partum. Cows that had a subclinical ketosis post-partum were eating half an hour less during the dry period. Already 42 days before calving this difference could be observed. It became clear that with sensors differences in behaviour during the dry period can be detected that could lead to managerial interventions to reduce the risk for diseases post-partum. This study is ongoing and more data will be obtained.
**Intratesticular alfaxalone and lidocaine for induction of anaesthesia during castration
in piglets**

Trina M. Hancock and Nigel A. Caulkett

University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Canada; thancock@ucalgary.ca

The objective was to determine whether intratesticular (IT) injection of an alfaxalone-lidocaine drug combination can induce anaesthesia and provide a rapid recovery in piglets undergoing surgical castration. Thirty piglets 2-10 days old were randomly divided into three alfaxalone + lidocaine dose groups: low [LD (4 mg/kg + 1.5 mg/kg)], medium [MD (6 mg/kg + 2 mg/kg)], and high [HD (8 mg/kg + 2.5 mg/kg)]. Induction times (i.e. time from IT injection to lateral recumbency) and recovery times (i.e. time from IT injection to standing recovery) were recorded, as well as movement and vocalization. Heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure, and end tidal carbon dioxide were recorded over time. Continuous data were analysed using a two-way ANOVA for repeated measures, induction and recovery times were compared using a one-way ANOVA, and categorical data were analysed using a Chi-squared test. Induction time did not differ between groups (P=0.19) with a mean time of 2:11 min, 3:17 min, and 3:44 min for HD, MD and LD, respectively. Recovery time was significantly faster in LD, compared to MD and HD (P=0.005) with a mean recovery time of 34:06 min, 31:37 min, 29:34 min for HD, MD, and LD, respectively. Incidence of movement and vocalization was decreased in MD and HD compared to the LD group, but did not show statistical significance. Physiologic data revealed no differences across the three groups. All parameters were stable over time except for heart rate, which decreased in all three groups (P<0.05) and respiratory rate, which increased in the LD and MD groups (P<0.05). The alfaxalone-lidocaine combinations investigated in this study induced a deep sedation in all piglets. Physiologic data remained within clinically acceptable ranges, suggesting that this drug combination works well for intratesticular injection prior to castration in neonatal piglets.
**Immune response of suckled beef calves to dam vaccination against bovine respiratory
disease**

Bernadette Earley¹, Katie Tiernan¹,², Amanda Dunn³, Steven Morrison³, Sinead Waters¹ and Mark McGee¹

¹Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (AGRIC), Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland, ²UCD, Veterinary Sciences Centre, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, UCD, Dublin, Ireland, ³AFBI, Sustainable Livestock, Agri-food and Bio-sciences Institute, Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom; bernadette.earley@teagasc.ie

Peak incidence of pneumonia occurs in young calves less than 3 months of age. The objectives
were: (1) characterise the development of immunocompetence in beef suckler calves from birth
to 3 months of age; and (2) trace glycoprotein E (gE)-negative bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-
1) antibodies from vaccinated dams to calf sera and investigate the calves' response to live
BoHV-1 at 2 weeks of age. The study consisted of thirty multiparous (MP) beef suckler, spring-
calving cows: Limousin × Friesian (LF; n=15)) and Charolais × Limousin (CL; n=15). Cows
were immunised against BoHV-1 at day(d) -84 and -56 pre-partum. Calves were immunized at
2 weeks of age against Parainfluenza type 3 virus (PI-3 virus), bovine respiratory Syncytial virus
(BRSV) and Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica. All calves were also immunized against
BoHV-1 at 6 weeks of age, using 1 dose of a live commercial vaccine; this was administered
intra-nasally at 6 weeks of age. Cows were blood sampled by jugular venipuncture at d -84, d
-56, d -28 (pre-calving), d 0 (calving), and at d 14 post-calving. Blood samples were collected
from the calves (n=30) via jugular venipuncture at birth, prior to colostrum feeding (0 h), at
12 h, 24 h, 72 h and 168 h after the initial feeding of colostrum, and at d 7, 14, 28, 42, 56 and
84 post birth. The mean concentration of gE negative antibodies circulating in the dam's blood
pre-partum proved negative to gE ab (S/N≥0.70). The CL and LF cows proved negative to gE-
antibodies. Total circulating BoHV-1 antibody levels peaked (85%) at 12 h post birth in calves
and declined thereafter, as the maternal antibodies decayed. There was no difference (P>0.05)
in BoHV-1 and BRSV antibody levels in calves post vaccination at 2 weeks of age or after the
booster BRSV vaccine. Further research is warranted to improve vaccine effectiveness against
pneumonia in calves with maternally derived antibodies.
# Illumina MiSeq 16S amplicon sequence analysis of bovine respiratory disease associated bacteria

Dayle Johnston, Paul Cormican, Matthew McCabe and Bernadette Earley

Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (AGRIC), Grange, Dunsany, Co.

Meath, Ireland; bernadette.earley@teagasc.ie

Currently used culture and molecular methods for identification of bacteria associated with fatal cases of the bovine respiratory disease (BRDC) will not identify unknown or unculturable pathogens. The study objective was to develop a single universal assay, based on high throughput phylogenetic (16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene) PCR amplicon sequencing, with potential to accurately identify and differentiate bacteria in post-mortem lung and lymph node tissue samples harvested from fatal BRDC cases. Thirty-eight lung (cranial lobe) and 32 corresponding mediastinal lymph node post-mortem tissue samples were collected from beef and dairy calves and confirmed as BRD cases by veterinary laboratory pathologists. To serve as a comparison, 20 lung (cranial lobe) and 20 corresponding mediastinal lymph node tissue samples were also sourced from healthy Holstein-Friesian calves. DNA extracted from the tissue samples was used to prepare 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries were sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq. Quantitative insights into microbial ecology (QIIME) was used to determine the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) which corresponded to the 16S rRNA gene sequences. Calves had unique lung and lymph node microbiomes. Bacterial OTUs were identified within the post-mortem tissue samples from both healthy calves and calves which died from the BRDC. *Leptotrichiaceae*, *Pasteurellaceae*, and *Fusobacterium* were the most abundant OTUs identified within the lungs and lymph nodes of the calves which died from BRD. *Leptotrichiaceae*, *Fusobacterium*, and *Mycoplasma* had greater relative abundances in post-mortem lung samples collected from dairy calves which died from BRD compared with healthy calves. *Leptotrichiaceae* and *Pasteurellaceae* showed higher relative abundances in post-mortem lymph node samples collected from fatal BRDC dairy calf cases, compared with healthy, lung lesion free, Holstein-Friesian calves. In conclusion, we have shown that a single universal bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing assay can detect the bacteria present in a BRDC tissue sample. Using this assay, we have identified a novel bacterial species which appears to be associated with BRD.
Commercialising an automated GPS-based virtual fencing system for livestock

Dana Campbell¹, Jim Lea¹, William Farrer², Sally Haynes² and Caroline Lee¹

¹CSIRO, Agriculture and Food, Australia, ²Agersens, Australia; dana.campbell@csiro.au

Managing grazing cattle, particularly in extensive pasture-based systems is challenging due to the limited farmer contact with animals and this may result in welfare issues. Vast farm areas can restrict construction of physical fences that enable better control over animal monitoring. Thus virtual fences (VF) – boundaries with no physical barrier – have the potential to enable remote monitoring of animal location and movement patterns, reduce handling during herding and keep animals away from hazardous environments. Consequently, VF represent a sustainable fencing solution in complex land areas for improved welfare. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has partnered with Agersens, Australia to commercialise patented VF collar technology for cattle. The VF algorithm tracks the animals’ location through GPS and emits an audio tone as the animal approaches the VF boundary. If the animal stops or turns away no electrical stimulus is applied, but if the animal continues forward an aversive electrical stimulus is applied. Animal location and collar activity can be monitored online. The automated collar prototypes were tested on a group of 6 Angus heifers located in a 6.2 ha experimental paddock. Cattle were first given access to 100% of the paddock for 4 days to acclimate and then a VF was set to restrict animals to 40% of the paddock. Excluding the first 24 h period of learning the VF boundary, across approximately 1 week, on average, animals spent 90.52% (SE 2.30%) of their time in the 40% inclusion zone. On average, 79.72% (SE 1.20%) of the signals emitted by the collar were audio cues, indicating animals were avoiding the VF based on audio signals alone. These initial tests show the automated collars represent a potential tool for remote control and monitoring of grazing cattle for improved welfare management. This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit programme.
# Management of cull dairy cows: consensus of an expert consultation in Canada

Jane Stojkov and David Fraser

The University of British Columbia, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Animal Welfare Program, Canada; j.stojkov@alumni.ubc.ca

Management of cull dairy cows is a significant animal welfare challenge that has received little systematic attention in practice, policy and research. Dairy cows are continually removed from dairy herds and many are culled because of health issues. Because the market for these animals is specialized, cows with compromised health may be transported significant distances to slaughter and loaded and unloaded several times. The objectives of this study were to describe the diverse management of cull dairy cows in Canada and develop consensus for future actions, policy and research. Lacking quantitative research, a qualitative methodology was used. A two-day expert consultation was convened, involving farmers, veterinarians, regulators, animal transport, livestock auction and slaughter sectors. Participants (n=15) were recruited through 'key informants', and discussed provincial management practices of cull cattle, related risk factors, animal welfare problems and recommendations. The meeting was audio-recorded and used to extract descriptive data on cull cattle management and identify points of agreement. The results indicated significant differences in management practices between provinces, long transport distances in some cases (Newfoundland to Ontario - roughly 3,000 km), multiple handling events at livestock auctions, and dealer networks involved in multiple sales which increased the time from farm to slaughter (7-10 days). Nine consensus points were reached: (1) to gather information on travel times from farm to slaughter; (2) to increase awareness among producers and herd veterinarians of potential travel distances and delays; (3) to promote pro-active culling; (4) to improve the ability of personnel to assess animals' condition and fitness for transport; (5) to identify local options for slaughter; (6) to investigate different management options such as on-farm slaughter; (7) to ensure that farms and auctions have personnel trained and equipped for euthanasia; (8) to promote cooperation among enforcement agencies; and (9) to eliminate certain forms of unnecessary handling.
**Long distance transport of unweaned calves in practice: welfare concerns**

Cecilia Pedernera¹, Iris Baumgärtner¹, Sabrina Gurtner¹ and Lesley Moffat²

¹Animal Welfare Foundation, Germany, ²Eyes on Animals, the Netherlands;
c.pedernera@animal-welfare-foundation.org

To be reared for veal or beef, thousands of calves born on dairy farms are collected at just several weeks of age to be transported on long-journeys to farms in countries such as the Netherlands, Italy or Spain from countries as far away as Lithuania, Poland and Ireland. It is not possible to give milk to unweaned calves on board the vehicle. As a consequence the unweaned calves suffer from hunger, stress and increasing weakness during long-distance journeys. Some of them cannot cope with transport and arrive dead at their final destination. Between 2014 and 2016 our teams documented ten consignments of unweaned calves and gathered evidence of poor enforcement of Council Regulation (EC) 1/2005. By inspecting the trucks during the stops or at arrival, the types of drinkers were identified and animals drinking as well as number of weak or dead animals were assessed. Behaviours related to hunger were registered as present or absent. Results: during our inspections, not one of the vehicles was equipped with drinking devices other than metal nipples which are not appropriate for calves and can only be used to offer water. None of the calves was supplied with liquid after 9 h. Calves showed indicators of hunger such as vocalizations, licking the walls of the truck and redirected suckling behaviours. We observed three dead animals at arrival to destination, one unfit animal was reloaded after the stop in a Control Post. Three years evidence, shows that the binding requirement of supplying animals with specie-and -age- appropriate feed on board during long-distance journeys of more than 8 h is not a common practice, no improvement was registered. Long distance transport of unweaned calves is not possible without exposing these animals to conditions that are causing undue suffering to them and the subsequent welfare problems.

http://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/book/10.3920/978-90-8686-862-9 - Monday, September 18, 2017 7:42:39 AM - IP Address:147.99.219.84
Restlessness of dairy cows before calving

Marisanna Speroni¹,², Gloria Dellavedova²,³, Rosanna Falconi³ and Andrea Summer¹

¹Università degli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Italy, ²Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, Centro di Ricerca per le Produzioni Foraggere e Lattiero-Casearie, Italy, ³Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologich e Ambiental, Italy; marisanna.speroni@crea.gov.it

Careful monitoring of cows helps to minimize pain and distress during calving, and knowledge of the time of birth is important to ensure timely and adequate uptake of colostrum.. However, direct visual observation is time consuming and continuous presence of an observer during stage two of calving can disturb cows; therefore, to predict precisely the calving time, various methods have been proposed to automatically and remotely measure physiological (body temperature; blood level of oestrone- sulphate, 17 beta oestradiol and progesterone; electrolytes in mammary secretion), physical (relaxion of pelvic ligaments; physical separation of the vulva lips) and behavioural indicators. Restlessness is one key behavioural change occurring when calving is approaching. Video cameras or accelerometers recording behaviour of cows can be integrated in systems using image analysis or locomotive activity to alert the farmer when calving is approaching; however, alerting systems require input of benchmark information about behaviours and changes in behaviours which can be predictive of the time of calving. Eight cows in a calving barn were continuously video-monitored. The recordings of the 24 h before calving were analysed to identify the routine behaviours associated with an imminent birth. In our conditions, the only behaviour that was significantly influenced by the distance from calving was frequency of lying bouts; the average number of lying bouts started to increase (P<0.0001) at 3 h before calving reaching the greatest (P<0.0001) value during the last two hours before calving. Increase in the frequency of lying bouts may be an indicator of restlessness useful to predict approaching calving, but further studies are needed to input benchmark values in automated alerting systems.
A farmer survey report on calf mortality rates Southern Brazil

Vilmar Fruscalso¹,², Gabriela Olmos¹,³ and Maria J. Hötzel¹

¹Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada e Bem-Estar Animal, Brazil, ²Associação Riograndense de Empreendimentos de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural, Brazil, ³Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Environment and Health, Sweden; gabriela.olmosantillon@gmail.com

Calf survival is a crucial indicator of welfare level in a herd, one with a direct impact on farm and dairy industry economy and sustainability. Recognition of calf mortality is the first step to understanding how husbandry strategies in a heterogeneous dairy farming community affect calf survival. Brazil, the world's fifth milk producer, has no updated data of calf mortality rates or husbandry and breeding practices that act as on farm risk factors. This study is the first within a larger project investigating calf mortality risk factors at herd level, and farmers' attitudes towards calf rearing in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, where 95% of the milk is produced in smallholding family farms. Trained technicians applied a closed question survey when farmers visited their local agriculture development office. Questions related to demographic information, general dairy herd description, estimated number of heifer calves born and dead in the previous 12 months, cause of death, calf husbandry, feeding and neonatal management practices. A total of 1,460 valid responses across 307 out of 497 state municipalities were obtained, representing all 7 state regions. Herds had ≤20 cows and average milk production of 6,000 l/month. Farmers' reported mortality rate was 8.5% (21% stillbirths and 79% live births) out of 10,721 calves born in the previous 12 months. Pre-weaning mortality was concentrated in 39.9% of the farms: up to 2 calves died in 32.6%, and ≥3 calves in 7.3% of the farms. The main reported causes of death were diarrhoea (44.3%), unknown causes (38.3%), and pneumonia (5.5%). The fact that farmers struggled to identify the cause of death highlights the lack of knowledge of signs that could aid them to tackle disease on time and apply preventive care measures. Our study provides the first report on dairy heifer calf mortality rates in smallholding dairy farms in Brazil.
Nasal wipes: a welfare refinement for sampling influenza virus in pigs

Charlotte James¹, Helen Everett², Vivien Coward², Ute Weyer³, Bryan Charleston⁴, Ian H. Brown² and Sharon M. Brookes²

¹University of Nottingham, Animal Science, United Kingdom, ²Animal Plant and Health Agency, Virology, United Kingdom, ³Animal Plant and Health Agency, Animal Sciences, United Kingdom, ⁴The Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom; charlotte.james@nottingham.ac.uk

Influenza infection is an important veterinary and public health issue. Nasal swabs are the current gold standard for sampling influenza virus in pigs. Taking nasal swabs is a regulated procedure in the UK requiring restraint. This causes stress to the pig and others nearby when they vocalise. Restraining large strong animals is time consuming, associated with health and safety concerns and requires at least three trained technicians when sampling. In comparison, nasal wipes are a non-invasive, unregulated procedure which can be performed quickly without restraining the animal, representing a valuable welfare refinement. The aim of the study was to assess the suitability of nasal wipes for sampling influenza virus in pigs. Nasal swabs were compared to cotton and nylon nasal wipes by obtaining viral shedding profiles of four pigs intra-nasally infected with swine influenza virus. The pigs used in this study were the unvaccinated control group from a larger influenza study, and were sampled daily for 7 days post infection (DPI). All samples were stored at -80 °C before the virus was re-suspended in medium and viral RNA extracted and quantified using Real Time RT-PCR. Both nylon and cotton nasal wipes were effective at detecting viral shedding and the profiles agreed well with swab data based on ANOVA performed in R statistical program. However, cotton wipes were less effective 3 DPI, with a relative equivalent unit (REU) titre of 2.05 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/ml (SD 0.95) compared to 2.89 REU (SD 0.53) for swabs (P=0.03). On 5 DPI swabs 2.09 (SD 0.34) REU were significantly better at detecting viral shedding than both cotton 0.23 (SD 0.22) REU P≤0.000 and nylon 0.03 (SD 0.06) REU P≤0.000 wipes. Nasal wipes were effective for sampling influenza virus in this study, but were less sensitive than swabs when virus shedding occurred at low levels. Wipe sampling could be applied on farms or at agricultural shows to provide samples for qualitative assessment of influenza virus infection while causing minimal distress to pigs.
Animal welfare in free-roaming Konik polski horses

Tadeusz Jezierski¹, Aleksandra Górecka-Bruzda¹, Joanna Marchewka¹ and Zbigniew Jaworski²

¹Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding PAS, Department of Animal Behaviour, Poland,
²Warmia and Mazury University, Faculty of Bioengineering, Poland; a.gorecka@ighz.pl

Konik horses are increasingly maintained in forest sanctuaries either as a native, primitive breed that contributes to conservation of genetic resources or as semi-feral populations maintained for landscape cultivation and/or for protection of biodiversity in wastelands. It is believed that free-roaming animals, living in habitats that enable the full repertoire of natural behaviours, have generally higher welfare than those kept in stables. Present overview, based on long term observations that were conducted on a basis of daily inspections of free-roaming Konik herds over 8 to 60 years in six forest sanctuaries in Poland, has more general than experimental character. Welfare of Koniks was assessed on the base of body condition, health status, injuries, reproduction performance and species-typical behaviour. The observations confirmed that Koniks are not exposed to malnutrition or suffering and their physiological and behavioural needs are fulfilled. At densities of 9-44 ha per 1 adult horse, as calculated on a basis of acreage available for horses and population sizes in particular sanctuaries, apart from insect harassment in summer, sporadic welfare issues are related to accidental drawings in marsh in winter due to falling through ice, immobilization in grooves during wallowing and skin lesions as results of combat between stallions. Our experience shows that appropriate welfare of free-roaming horses can be assured by the selecting areas with sufficient feeding resources and with natural shelter (trees and/or bushes). Human interventions can be limited to supplying hay during periods of thick snow cover whilst overstocking must be avoided by controlling the population growth.
**Effects of space allowance on the stepping responses of sheep to motions simulating sea transport**

Grisel Navarro and Clive Phillips

University of Queensland, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, Australia;

grisel.navarrootarola@uq.net.au

Adequate space is important to allow transported animals to spread their limbs in different directions during their attempts to maintain balance by stepping when the vessel or vehicle moves. We tested whether space allowance and type of motion impact on stepping behaviour. Nine sheep were exposed in a factorial design to combinations of two treatment sets: low (0.78 m²/sheep), medium (0.92 m²/sheep) and high (1.04 m²/sheep) space allowances, and Regular (programmed roll movements), Irregular (a random sequence of pitch and roll movements) or no floor movements. During each treatment application 3 sheep were exposed for 1 h to one of the 9 treatments in a cage of variable dimensions, using a Latin square design. The behaviours were recorded by video cameras and analysed using behaviour software. Values were converted to log₁₀ steps/hour to achieve normal residual distribution. The most common directions of the movements were foreleg and hindleg forward/backward and the least common movement was foot returning to the same place (4.17, 2.81, 1.09 steps/h, respectively, P<0.001). Sheep stepped more in the Low than Medium and High space allowances (1.57, 1.41, 1.45 steps/h, respectively, P<0.001), and more in the Regular than Irregular and Control (0.25, 0.12, 0.13 steps/h, P<0.001), which corresponded to increased aggression. There was evidence that sheep partially adapted to Regular but not Irregular movement over time (P<0.001). There was no evidence that space allowance affected the direction of stepping movements (P=0.40). However, regular movement increased frequency of feet returning to the same place, compared with the control (Regular 1.19, Control 1.07, P<0.001), suggesting that sheep were using predictable stepping movements in response to the rolling motion. We conclude that low space allowance and regular ship-like movement increased sheep stepping responses, which may reduce their welfare.
The effect of straw bales on foot pad dermatitis in broilers

Ida J. Pedersen¹, Fernanda M. Tahamtani², Anja B. Riber² and Björn Forkman¹

¹University of Copenhagen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Denmark, ²Aarhus University, Department of Animal Science, Denmark; idajp@sund.ku.dk

A major animal welfare issue in broiler production is leg and foot pad health. One of the proposed strategies for improving leg health in broilers is to increase their activity, and a way of doing this is providing straw bales. However, previous studies show that straw as bedding material is a risk factor for foot pad dermatitis. In the current study we investigate the effect of giving access to straw bales on foot pad dermatitis. Pens (9.5×3 m) with 500 broilers in each (Ross 308, mixed sex), corresponding to a stocking density of 40 kg/m² were used. The litter material was wood shavings, commercial feed was used and the birds were slaughtered at day 35. In three of the pens 3 bales of straw/pen were placed, evenly distributed in the pens. The bales were not replaced during the experiment. The fourth pen functioned as a control pen. Sixty randomly chosen birds, at 34 days of age, from each pen were scored for foot pad dermatitis using a 3-point scale. Left and right foot pad scores were merged to a combined score (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4). The distributions of scores 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 in percent were 41, 11, 39, 5, 4 (median:1, min: 0, max:4) and 55, 13, 8, 12, 12(median:0, min: 0, max:4) in the bale treatment and control, respectively. A significant difference was found between the treatment and control (P=0.00547, χ²), with a lower percentage of severe foot pad scores (score 3 and 4) in the straw bale treatment. The study is on-going and more replicates will be included to strengthen the statistical conclusion. The preliminary results indicate that, unlike straw bedding, straw bales are not a risk factor for foot pad dermatitis, possibly due to increased activity levels. This research was funded by the EU FP7 Prohealth project (no. 613574).
# BeTi - Berger Tierwohl: implementing animal health and welfare planning on commercial pig farms

Katharina Schodl¹, Roswitha Heigl², Christoph Winckler² and Christine Leeb²

¹Fleischwaren Berger GesmbH & Co KG, Austria, ²Division of Livestock Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Austria; katharina.schodl@boku.ac.at

To monitor and improve animal health and welfare (AHW) on its supplying pig fattening farms an Austrian abattoir and meat processing company approached university to launch a joint project on AHW planning (AHWP). For this purpose, AHW was assessed on 11 farms (270 – 1,408 fattening places, fully-slatted floor systems) in 2016 using a management questionnaire (farm characteristics, herd and disease management, hygiene, feeding; 16 questions), animal based measures (productivity, treatment records, slaughterhouse findings, clinical scoring, behavioural observation; 32 measures) and pen equipment (6 items). Subsequently, a written report was created for each farm including benchmarking of animal based measures. One to three goals and specific measures to achieve them were developed and added to the report during an individual advisory visit together with the farmer(s). The most common goals and measures (n) were: (a) reduction of tail and ear biting (6) by improving quality of environmental enrichment (6) and other management strategies (3) such as separating the biter from the group, docking tails equally long, regular maintenance of drinkers; (b) reduction of respiratory diseases and/or diarrhoea (5) by identification of relevant pathogens (5) and adaption of treatment strategies (1); (c) parasite control (5) by adapting deworming strategies (5) and improving pen hygiene (2); (d) increasing daily weight gain (3) by improving feeding ration (3); and (e) reducing fly pressure (2) in the pens by introducing slurry flies (2). The focus of farmers on environmental enrichment and diagnosis of disease reflects the most relevant findings (e.g. median prevalence of tail lesions 9.3% or pneumonia 31.9%) and the willingness to address behavioural needs of pigs. To evaluate the impact of agreed and implemented measures on AHW, all farms will be visited one year after the initial visit. AHWP may be a suitable tool for farm management as well as quality assurance for abattoirs and retailers.
Salivary HSP70 as a putative biomarker of heat stress in high yielding dairy cows

Viktor Jurkovich¹, Elsa Lamy², Lénia Rodrigues², Ana Geraldo², Fernando Capela E Silva², Cristina Pinheiro², Mikolt Bakony¹, Liliana Cachucho², Flávio Silva², Catarina Matos² and Alfredo Pereira²

¹University of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Hygiene, Hungary, ²University of Évora, ICAAM, Portugal; jurkovich.viktor@univet.hu

Molecular chaperones of the HSP70 family provide protection for cells against environmental stress. HSP70 levels in blood reportedly increase during heat stress in livestock. HSP70 has been reported to be present in saliva of humans but, to our knowledge, it has yet not been described in cattle. The aim of the present study was to determine whether HSP70 was detectable in saliva of dairy cows. Eight high-yielding (305 D milk production: 11,367±1,006 kg) and eight lower-yielding (305 D milk production 8,002±643 kg) Holstein Frisian cows (lactation: 2.3±0.5 and 2.1±0.4; DIM: 115.8±47.4 and 112.0±46.3, respectively) from a dairy farm in the Alentejo region, Portugal were involved in the study. Saliva samples were collected from the cows in summer and winter (average environmental temperatures in summer and winter: 32.8 and 11.5 °C, respectively). Salivette cotton rolls (Sarstedt GmbH, Germany) were used, and centrifuged samples were stored at -20 °C until quantification by ELISA (SEA873Mi, Cloud-Clone Corp, USA). Samples were run in duplicate. Data were analysed by One-way ANOVA and Tukey-Hsu test. Salivary HSP70 concentrations ranged from 0.524 to 12.174 ng/ml. For high producing cows, salivary HSP70 concentrations were higher in summer than in winter (7.34±2.03 vs 2.54±0.26, respectively; P=0.033). No differences among periods were observed for low producing cows (2.34±0.6 vs 2.27±0.2, respectively). To our knowledge, this is the first time that HSP70 is reported to be present in cattle saliva. This preliminary study highlights that salivary HSP70 as a non-invasive biomarker may be a potential tool in further studies on thermal adaptation in cows. Acknowledgements: Viktor Jurkovich: DairyCare COST STSM; Bolyai János Research Fellowship of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Elsa Lamy: National Funds through FCT, Project UID/AGR/00115/2013; Investigator FCT contract IF/01778/2013.
**Changes in tail posture, a possible early warning sign of tail biting**

Helle Pelant Lahrmann¹, Kellie Spooner², Rick D'Eath², Christian Fink Hansen¹, Marie Erika Busch¹ and Björn Forkman³

¹SEGES- Danish Pig Research Centre, Denmark, ²Scotland´s Rural College, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, United Kingdom, ³University of Copenhagen, Animal Welfare and Disease Control, Denmark; hla@seges.dk

Damaging tail biting behaviour is very difficult for farmers to predict, due to the many risk factors associated with the behaviour. A previous study finds that tail damages more often appear on hanging or tucked tails compared to curly tails. If such changes in tail posture can be spotted before tail damages occurs, then changes in tail posture could be an early warning sign of a tail biting outbreak. In the present study, we investigated if pre-injurious tail directed behaviour (TDB) affected tail posture and the response of receiving pigs at a commercial farm. The individual pig's response to TDB and the effect of TDB on tail posture were recorded in 24 pens (743 pigs with intact tails from 7-30 kg, 31 pigs per pen, +/- 1.25 s.d) using video recordings. TDB (tail interest, tail-in-mouth and tail bite), the response of the receiver (+/- reaction) and the immediate change in tail posture were recorded during a 2-hour period the day before a tail biting outbreak. In total, 1,544 incidences of TDB were logged (18.1% tail bites) leading to a response from the receiving pigs in 87.4% of the cases. The type of TDB affected the response, with more pigs reacting to tail bite compared to tail-in-mouth (χ²=41.6; DF=2; P<0.001) and tail-interest (P<0.001), while no difference was observed between tail-in-mouth and tail interest. TDB affected tail posture (χ²=323; DF=2), with fewer curly tails or tails on the floor of lying pigs (41.9 to 8.4%; P<0.001) and more tucked (13.0 to 38.4%; P<0.001) and hanging tails (45.1 to 53.2%; P<0.001) after TDB. In conclusion, supposed TDB is a predictor of injurious tail biting, then changes in tail posture and the high rate of responding to TDB, indicate that it might be possible to predict a tail biting outbreak.
**Platform use in lactating dairy goats relates to production and behavioural responses to novelty**

Gosia Zobel¹, Heather Neave² and Jim Webster¹

¹AgResearch Ltd., Animal Welfare Team, New Zealand, ²University of British Columbia, Animal Welfare Program, Canada; gosia.zobel@agresearch.co.nz

Goats are natural climbers but it is unknown whether lactating dairy goats naïve to climbing opportunities would express this behaviour. This study quantified platform use and related it to production and tests that evaluate how goats respond to novelty. A group of twelve multiparous Saanen cross goats was provided with a platform (4×1×0.7 m, 35° ramp/each end) on rubber mats adjacent to a bedded area (wood shavings). Goats had *ad libitum* water, fresh-cut pasture, silage (delivered twice daily), and a maize-based supplement at milking (600 g/d). Daily milk production was recorded. Two 48-h periods (excluding 2.7 h/d for milking) were video-recorded to determine platform use (lying/standing on and under platform) of each goat. Before and after observation, goats were weighed, and human approach and novel object tests (5-min each) were conducted. Eight behaviours (exploring, escape attempt, walking, tail raise, vocalizations, looking at human/object, touching human/object, latency to approach human/object) were recorded, and averaged across tests. All goats used the platform but interacted with it in different ways, spending 1.9±0.8 h/d on the platform, and 0.9±0.8 h/d under the platform. A principal components analysis found 4 Factors accounted for 88% of the variability in platform use: Factor1: exploring, touching human/object (highly positive), latency to touch human/object (highly negative); Factor2: vocalizations, walking (highly positive), Factor3: escape attempt, tail raising (highly positive), and Factor4: looking at human/object (highly positive), vocalizations (moderately negative). Regression analysis showed that goats with lower Factor1 loadings (P<0.05), higher milk production (P=0.01), and lower weight (P<0.05) spent more time on the platform. Goats with higher Factor3 loadings spent more time under the platform (P<0.001). In summary, lactating goats readily use platforms, but this behaviour relates in part to individual behavioural and production traits; further analysis is examining how platform usage is affected by the relationships between individual goats.
**Synchronisation of behaviour of bulls on pasture and in pens**

Jaakko Mononen, Leena Tuomisto and Arto Huuskonen

Natural Resources Institute Finland, Green Technology, Finland; jaakko.mononen@luke.fi

High synchronisation of behaviour in cattle has been proposed to indicate the animals' freedom to express their natural social behaviour. Hence, synchronisation is also a putative on-farm welfare measure in cattle. We compared behavioural synchrony of bulls on pasture and in pens. Fifteen Finnish Ayrshire and four Holstein-Friesian bulls (Year 1) and 29 Hereford bulls (Year 2) were allotted semi-randomly to two treatments. PAS treatment animals (n=5 groups of 4 or 5 animals) were housed in winter in group pens in an uninsulated barn but kept on pasture from early June to late August. PEN treatment animals (n=5 groups of 4 or 5 animals) were kept in group pens in the uninsulated barn in winter and summer. The groups of animals remained the same throughout the study. The behaviour of the bulls was recorded for 24 h with instantaneous sampling (6 min sampling interval) in June and July, i.e. when the animals were 14-15 and 15-16 months old, respectively. Three mutually exclusive categories of behaviour were used: grazing or eating, lying and standing. Kappa co-efficient was calculated as an index of behavioural synchrony for each group and day from the 240 (=1,440/6) sampling points per day. The data for the two years were pooled and the Kappa co-efficients were compared between the treatment groups with the Mann-Whitney Test separately for June and July. The PAS bulls showed markedly higher synchronisation of behaviour than the PEN bulls both in June (0.63±0.029 vs 0.29±0.050; mean ± SD; P=0.008, n=5 per treatment) and July (0.63±0.043 vs 0.32±0.042; P=0.008, n=5 per treatment). Our bull results are in accordance with earlier findings in dairy cows: larger space with more behavioural freedom increases behavioural synchrony in cattle.
## Natural extracts in weaned piglets nutrition

Grazia Pastorelli¹, Mario Pellacini² and Barbara Pizzi²

¹University of Milano, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Italy, ²Ferrero Mangimi spa, Italy; grazia.pastorelli@unimi.it

Weaning is a crucial period for piglets, during which they undergo severe stress that can affect feed intake, the development of gastrointestinal tract and absorption of nutrients. Meanwhile, the level of antioxidants declines, increasing morbidity and mortality. In the post-weaning period, to minimize complications the piglets' diet can be integrated with natural extracts with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover the response to oxidative stress is considered as an effective parameter for assessing pig's welfare. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of natural extracts on piglets performance and total antioxidant activity. KRL test evaluated the total antioxidant activity of whole blood and red blood cell (RBC) by measuring the time required to haemolyse 50% of the RBC exposed to a controlled free radical attack. A total of 160 piglets were assigned to 4 dietary treatments: Control diet (CTR) (Ferrero Mangimi, spa), and CTR diet supplemented with *Boswellia* (500) (BOS), *Uncaria* (200) and *Tanacetum* (50) (U+T) and antioxidant mixture (AM) (*Verbenaceae*, *Liliaceae*, *Labiatae*) (225) mg/kg of diet. Blood samples were collected on day 0, 18 and 28 to assess the KRL test, at the same time recording the pigs' body weight and feed consumption. The KRL value measured on d0 was used as covariate. No effect on growth performance was detected. The KRL test on whole blood did not show any significant difference among experimental groups and over time. The highest value (126.3 min) was found in BOS group on d 28. Red blood cell showed a treatment effect (P=0.05) and a time × treatment effect (P=0.005); least square means found were 67.51, 64.98, 64.11 and 74.41 minutes in AOX, BOS, CON and U+T group respectively. The current results suggest a positive effect of U+T and BOS extracts to be further investigated.
**Cross-sucking and intersucking in dairy buffaloes**

Giuseppe De Rosa¹, Fernando Grasso¹, Marialuisa Pisani², Mariarosa Salese¹, Maria Serrapica² and Fabio Napolitano²

¹Università di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Agraria, Italy, ²Università della Basilicata, SAFE, Italy; fabio.napolitano@unibas.it

We assessed the incidence and the potential risk factors for cross-sucking in calves and intersucking in lactating cows in 33 buffalo farms. Three female trained assessors collected the data through a questionnaire including resource and management measures, which were directly taken and asked to the farmer, respectively. The incidences of cross-sucking and intersucking were also asked to the farmer while mortality was collected from farm recordings. The farm was used as experimental unit. For each categorical risk factor an ANOVA was performed to assess the association with outcome variables, whereas for continuous risk factors the association was tested using Pearson correlation coefficients. Cross-sucking and intersucking were observed in 90% and 42% of the farms, respectively; their mean incidences were 20.4±25.7 and 1.8±1.2 (mean±SD), respectively. Surprisingly, cross-sucking tended to be positively correlated with the age of separation from the mother (n=20, r=0.39, P=0.08). It also tended to be negatively associated with space allowance (n=20, r=-0.38, P=0.11). In addition, a positive correlation between cross-sucking and calf mortality was observed (n=20, r=0.45, P=0.06). The incidence of intersucking was positively correlated with the number of buffalo cows on the farm (n=33, r=0.45, P=0.01) and the number of dry animals per pen (n=33, r=0.36, P=0.04). The presence of cross-sucking in the categories of weaned calves and heifers induced a higher incidence of intersucking (F<sub>1,31</sub>=3.3, P=0.08 and F<sub>1,31</sub>=12.2, P=0.01, respectively). We conclude that appropriate management strategies should be implemented in order to reduce the incidence of cross-sucking and intersucking. In addition, the onset of cross-sucking in young stock, such as weaned calves and heifers, may favour the development of intersucking in lactating buffaloes.
Rumen mucosa alterations in intensively finished fattening cattle

Marta Brscic¹, Flaviana Gottardo¹, Claudio Ceccato², Eliana Schiavon³, Marlene Kirchner⁴ and
Giulio Cozzi¹

¹University of Padova, Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, Italy, ²Azove
Organizzazione Produttori Carni Bovine, Italy, ³Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle
Venezie, Italy, ⁴University of Copenhagen, Department of Large Animal Sciences, Denmark;
mk@sund.ku.dk

In intensive fattening cattle production systems animals may not always be fed diets with
appropriate chemical and physical properties. This study aimed therefore at assessing post-
mortem the prevalence and histology of rumen mucosa alterations in intensively finished
fattening cattle in a wider perspective to investigate potential associations between specific
problems and characteristics of the fed diets. The study was carried out in two slaughterhouses
in North-Eastern Italy during spring and autumn 2016. One experienced assessor observed
15 rumens per batch after their emptying, without interfering with the regular procedures and
schedule of the slaughterhouses. Occurrence of signs of ruminitis (absent, rarified or immature
papillae with numerous whitish or reddish nodules of 2-3 mm), hyperkeratosis (hardened
rumen papillae), and star scars were recorded as binary. Results of this preliminary study
regard 1,465 rumens (944 bulls, 521 heifers) from 105 batches slaughtered in 21 days. Herd
level prevalence were calculated and submitted to descriptive statistics. Prevalence of rumens
with signs of ruminitis were 25.9±22.4% (average ± SD), with hyperkeratosis was 52.6±23.4%,
and with one or more star scars was 19.2±20.2%. Histological findings defined ruminitis as a
diffuse hypoplasia of the rumen papillae and multifocal squamous metaplasia with formation
of keratin cysts in the proper submucosa with diffuse infiltration of eosinophil granulocytes
and lymphoplasma cells; hyperkeratosis as formation of hyperparakeratotic rumen papillae
with epithelial squamous cells developing epithelium and infiltration of eosinophils and
lymphohistiocytes. Results of this study pointed out a need for further investigations on rumen
mucosa alterations and on the potential predisposing causes occurring on-farm with particular
attention towards the role of the intensive finishing diets on rumen health
**Salivary alfa-amylase in horses with simple colonic obstruction: a pilot study**

María Dolores Contreras-Aguilar<fnref n="1" />, Fernando Tecles<fnref n="1" />, Damián Escribano², María Martín-Cuervo<fnref n="3" /> and Jose Joaquín Cerón<fnref n="1" />

This study aimed to evaluate salivary alfa-amylase (sAA), a biomarker of the sympathetic activation, in horses with acute abdomen syndrome in order to assess the relationship of sAA with pain behaviour. For this purpose, a prospective observational study including 19 horses that showed acute abdomen syndrome was performed, where specific pain behaviour scale (Equine acute abdominal pain scale-version 1, EAAPS-1, 5 point score) was used and salivary samples were collected. All horses with acute abdomen syndrome were finally diagnosed as simple colonic obstructions (simple impaction of the pelvic flexure, simple left dorsal colon displacement, simple left colon displacement or simple right colon displacement) by rectal examination, nasogastric intubation, clinicopathology and ultrasonography. In addition, 11 healthy horses with no evidence of clinical signs at physical examination and no changes at complete blood count and basic biochemistry were employed as controls. An unpaired Student's t-test (2-tailed) was applied to compare sAA values between healthy and diseased horses. Spearman correlation among sAA (UI/l) and EAAPS-1 in diseased horses was also performed. sAA activity in diseased horses (median=61.3, max=706.7, min=3.3) was significantly higher (P<0.0001) than control cases (median=2.5, max=8.0, min=0.1). EAAPS-1 (median=4, max=5, min=1) was significantly correlated (r=0.78, P<0.001) with sAA activity. This preliminary study indicates that sAA activity could be an indicator of pain in horses with acute abdomen syndrome. Further studies should be undertaken to elucidate sAA possible use in the prognostic or monitoring of treatment of this disease.

<footnote n="1">¹Clinic Analysis Interdisciplinary Laboratory (Interlab-UMU), Murcia, Spain, ²Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Veterinary school, Department of Animal and Food Science, Spain,</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Universidad de Extremadura, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Department of Animal Medicine, Spain; mariadolores.contreras@hotmail.com</footnote>
# Abnormal behaviour and posture amongst horses transported long distances across the EU for slaughter

Hannah Westen

World Horse Welfare, United Kingdom; hannahwesten@worldhorsewelfare.org

Welfare problems in horses transported long distances across the EU for slaughter have been well documented by NGOs. Over the past decades evidence suggests that the incidence of severe injuries and disease has reduced considerably on the main route across Europe. However, field observations undertaken at rest stops have, for many years, recorded behavioural and postural abnormalities amongst these horses, posing significant challenges with regards to welfare assessment. Although the literature suggests that many of these behaviours or postures are indicative of pain, discomfort or stress (e.g. weight-shifting, pointing), there are others as yet unrecognised in the scientific literature, whose relevance or value as animal-based welfare measures are not known. Where behaviours or postures have been identified as being indicative of a problem, assessment is largely subjective. Development of tools such as the facial grimace scale for horses (HGS), have helped lend a degree of objectivity to assessments, allowing collection of quantitative data, but the reliability of such tools in different pain scenarios, particularly chronic pain, is still under investigation. Determination of aetiological factors and subsequent steps to mitigate is complicated not only by a lack of understanding of the behaviours and postures observed but also by the high degree of heterogeneity seen in the sample population and transport conditions. Furthermore, perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of personnel working in the trade are likely to be influenced by previous experiences, which may be particularly relevant when considering the relative subtlety of some behavioural or postural indicators when compared to more overt welfare problems, such as broken limbs, seen more commonly in the past. Further multi-disciplinary research is required to identify, describe and quantify relevant behavioural and postural indicators, ascertain potential causes or contributing factors and devise feasible solutions that will lead to widespread welfare improvements.
**Encouraging farmers to improve animal welfare – the possible role of behavioural economics**

Carolien De Lauwere, Marcel Van Asseldonk, Ron Bergevoet, Eva Van Den Broek and Nico Bondt
Wageningen Economic Research, Innovation Risk and Information management, the Netherlands;
carolien.delauwere@wur.nl

Farmers play an important role to raise the animal welfare standards on their farms. It is often assumed that they act purely on an economic basis. However, changing insights have shown that psychological and sociological drivers reported in literature should also be acknowledged. This is the field of behavioural economics. Is it possible to use behavioural economics to understand decision-making of farmers? This was tested in December 2016 in a study focussing on dairy farmers' decision making concerning participation in an imaginary programme for prevention of bovine virus diarrhoea (BVD). Such a programme is important to raise both animal welfare and health standards on dairy farms. Of the farmers participating in the study, 82 already had a BVD-free status on their farms and 48 had not. When comparing these two groups, farmers with a BVD-free status perceived less problems with BVD, had a more positive attitude to the BVD prevention programme and were more convinced that joining the programme should benefit their cows' health. The 48 famers who did not have a BVD free status yet were asked whether they would consider joining the BVD prevention programme if they were offered a reward of €3 per calf sold if their farm should appear to be free of BVD, or a fine of €30 per calf contaminated by BVD if their farm should appear not to be free of BVD. Of these farmers, 38 (79%) choose to join the programme. Comparing the testers and non-testers showed that testers had a more positive attitude to the prevention programme, were more convinced that it should benefit their cows' health and tended to be more ambiguity-averse. This shows that decision-making of farmers is not only affected by price incentives but that other factors such as attitude and ambiguity aversion play a role as well.
A novel use of rumination behaviour to monitor oestrus in dairy cows on pasture

Ana Carolina Strappini¹, Fernanda Araneda² and Gustavo Monti³

¹Universidad Austral de Chile, Animal Science Institute, OIE Collaborating Center in Animal Welfare and Livestock Production System, Chile, ²Universidad Mayor, Graduate School, Ethology and Animal Welfare Program, Chile, ³Universidad Austral de Chile, Preventive Medicine Institute, Chile; anastrappini@uach.cl

Behavioural expression of oestrus is a welfare characteristic, however its occurrence has declined in dairy cows increasing the need to identify alternate means for oestrus detection. Changes on rumination time (RT) has been linked to oestrous events for free-stalled cows but no studies have been reported in cows on pasture under Chilean conditions. Our aim was to investigate whether RT is related to oestrous events in dairy cows permanently kept on pasture. The study was conducted at Agricultural Research Station of Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia. Rumination data from 30 Holstein-Black Friesian dairy cows was automatically recorded using a microphone-based sensor (Heatime® SCR HR- Pro-LD) during 40 days. We observed oestrus behaviour (focal sampling) for 60 minutes two times a day (9:00-10:00 am and 7:00-8:00 pm). The day of oestrus (day 0) was defined by visual observation according the score of Van Eerdenburg *et al*. and confirmed with plasma progesterone concentration (≤1.5 ng/ml). Thirty seven oestrus episodes were confirmed for 24 cows (average 1.5 episodes/ animal). We estimated a reference period for RT (mean of RT 3 days before and 3 days after day 0) of 604.29±64.01 min. Mean RT on day 0 was 535.84±64.57 min/day. We observed a drop of 68.45 min, 11.33% lower than the reference period. We used a generalized nested linear mixed model (GLMM) to model the association between RT and cow's factors (parity, age, body condition score, mean milk yield (l/day), oestrus score, and days in milk at the moment of oestrus, confirmed ovulation after oestrus episode, plasma progesterone levels and size of the follicle. We performed multifactorial GLM procedures including a forward stepwise method to build a model of best fit for variables affecting RT. In conclusion, RT is affected by the day of oestrus in dairy cows on pasture. Ethical Committee for the use of Experimental Animals, UACH (99/2013S9-2014).
**Systematic review on animal welfare indicators in dairy cattle to identify those of highest validity**

Maiken Mondon¹,², Merle Roswitha¹ and Christa Thöne-Reineke²

¹Inst for Veterinary Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Dept of Vet Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, ²Inst of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior & Laboratory Animal Science, Dept of Vet Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany; maiken.mondon@fu-berlin.de

The rising interest of society in animal protection and animal welfare regarding livestock, broaden the discussion on how to define and assess animal welfare. The interpretation range of this term as well as the involvement of different stakeholders, result in a variety of indicators that are mainly resource- and management-based. Until now, little systematic investigations regarding the evidence of scientific studies and the validity of animal welfare indicators in dairy cattle exist. Therefore, it is the objective of the project to review literature on animal welfare indicators systematically, to assess its quality and to identify especially animal-based welfare indicators of highest validity. First, we outlined the complexity of the terms ‘animal welfare’ and ‘Tierwohl’ by wide search, focusing on the different meanings in political, societal and scientific background, to better understand and classify existing animal welfare indicators. In a first glance on European and German animal welfare assessment protocols regarding dairy cattle and their indicators, we hardly found animal-based indicators that are not only health- oriented but include aspects beyond that. For the Systematic Review we searched within five databases (CAB Direct, Google Scholar, Livivo, PubMed, Scopus) for peer-reviewed and non-indexed literature, using a strict protocol with English and German search terms. The outcome was limited to publications of the last five years, to dairy cattle as the species of interest and geographically to Europe, regarding the content of the studies. After the removal of all duplicates, we are now confronted with the abstract-screening and categorizing of 1,727 publications, separating peer-reviewed publications from Guidelines, Recommendations, Reviews and others. The following full-text-screening and discussion of original scientific studies (increased list of search terms) shall list empiric verified animal welfare indicators and identify those of highest validity.
**Communicating animal welfare in agriculture: public and private information and dialogue**

Diane Ryland

University of Lincoln, Law School, United Kingdom; dryland@lincoln.ac.uk

Increasingly, the ethical consumer is interested in animal welfare enhanced agri-produce, but is not informed adequately as to the welfare needs of farm animals, nor of the standards of animal welfare practised in the food supply chain. Public farm animal welfare standards are not comprehensive and can be said to be minimum, consensus standards which are based on science. A requirement to signal the animal welfare credentials of meat does not exist in law beyond that applicable to quality produce meeting good agricultural practice promoted as organic in a 'niche' market. Purportedly higher private animal welfare farm assurance standards and certification schemes have evolved, with the tendency for a business to business certificate of conformity to operate in a business context, from which the consumer is distanced. This paper will examine the potential for the public and private sectors to communicate indicators and standards of animal welfare promoted for food producing animals. Its methodology is desk-based doctrinal research. It will, for example, extract information from the website of GLOBALG.A.P. It will suggest soft law tools of governance to increase the sources and flow of private, prima facie voluntary, credible, transparent and verifiable information on animal welfare. It will propose an industry-led business to consumer animal welfare label and private animal welfare platform with which to educate and inform on the level of animal welfare practised in agricultural produce certified for supply in the global food chain. It will also explore the significance of opening up animal welfare dialogue between the public and private spheres. It will, further, evaluate the roles for market standardisation to act as a communicative tool and to incentivise added value animal welfare practices, strengthened by public and private collaboration.
**Development of a sampling scheme to measure ammonia, temperature and humidity
in sheep export by sea**

Yu Zhang¹, Allan Lisle² and Clive Phillips¹

¹Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Australia, ²School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Australia; yu.zhang2014@gmail.com

Ammonia, high temperature and high humidity have adverse effects on animals during long
distance livestock export from Australia to the Middle East, but none of these is effectively
measured currently. On the basis of data maps obtained on two voyages of live sheep export, this
study determined sampling strategies for ammonia, temperature and humidity measurement on
the vessel. The difference between predicted high and low ammonia sites on the shipment could
be detected with approximately 5 measurement sites of each. Margins of error were determined,
which suggested that dry bulb temperature could be measured with 6-8 measurement sites,
but even 20 measurement sites were not sufficient to measure relative humidity. For the vessel
recorded, considerably more ammonia measurement sites are required on closed decks than on
open decks, with less variation for temperature measurement. The number of pens measured
contributed more to the variance of ammonia and temperature measurement than the number
of sampling locations within each pen on open decks. This study highlights the importance
of a suitable sampling strategy to measure ammonia, temperature and relative humidity on
board ship during live export.
**Positive reinforcement training in pigs; methodology and cost effectiveness analysis**

Kate Mala Ellen¹, Amanda Nevel¹ and Ute Weyer²

¹The Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom, ²The Animal Plant and Health Agency, United Kingdom; kellen4@rvc.ac.uk

Positive reinforcement training (PRT) is a tool used to refine and facilitate animal handling. Pigs demonstrate cognitive capacity and can be trained. The purpose of the study was to establish PRT within a herd of pigs at a research institute in the United Kingdom. Training was carried out to ultimately reduce the stress of the animals and stockmen during weighing. A total of thirteen piglets were recruited. A standard method was followed to teach the piglets to associate a ball with a treat. Training occurred three times a week for eight weeks. The piglets followed the ball and entered the weigh crate, without the need for restraint or force. All thirteen piglets were trained within the eight weeks; assessed by entering the crate and allowing the doors to be closed. Cost-effectiveness analysis of weighing trained piglets, against untrained pigs, demonstrated PRT to be advisable when weighing four or more pigs. Weighing eight trained piglets compared to eight untrained, resulted in a net staff-time of 1.75 h. The impact of PRT on the animals and staff were considered greater than monetary effects. Training was reduced once the piglets were trained; the piglets still voluntarily entered the weigh crate four weeks, after having had no further training. A record of training was kept and alterations were made to the standard method. It is possible that the results are biased as stockmen were informed of the study and may have inadvertently elongated or shortened weighing times. However with allowance for the bias, the benefits of PRT are still apparent. This study elicits the scope of using PRT in research. Further study should focus on measuring the reduction in stress levels of the pigs, the effects of altering training frequency, and the long term job satisfaction of staff, when PRT is used.
**Abstracts Innovation Day**

(these abstracts have not been reviewed)
**Innovation in animal welfare science**

*Daniel M. Weary*

University of British Columbia, Animal Welfare Program, Canada; dan.weary@ubc.ca

Animal Welfare Science is a new field, rich in innovation. In this presentation I will review three main areas of innovation: conceptual, methodological and technological. Our field has required conceptual innovation, in part because the science is mandated by the underlying societal concerns, requiring not just good science, but also science that responds to these concerns. Initial conceptions of welfare were often focused on health and production, but more modern work has focused on affective states that are often key to public concerns. More work is now required to integrate concerns about natural living and animal care into animal welfare science, and more generally, how to integrate research on what is important to human stakeholders with what is important to the animal. Methodological innovation has also been required, especially to address the special demand of assessing affective states in animals. Innovations have included the development of motivational tests, cognitive bias tests and qualitative behavioural assessments, to name a few. New work is required to assess particularly relevant affective states, for example, to distinguish between pain and suffering in animals. Recent and future progress will also rely heavily on technological innovations, taking advantage of the rapid development of on-farm data collection and control technologies. Some of these technologies specifically address welfare-relevant issues (such as automated methods to detect lame cows); in other cases existing technologies (such as robotic calf feeders) will need to be creatively co-opted (e.g. by measuring non-nutritive visits, indicative of hunger) to provide real-time welfare assessments. A special area of promise is in the harvesting of such data from many farms, allowing for the development of routine benchmarking as well as machine-learning algorithms designed to detect welfare problems at both the farm and individual animal levels. I conclude by calling for the development of a culture that celebrates such innovations, ensuring that our field remains scientifically and societally relevant in the years to come.
Keep cow and calf health and stress-free with cowsignals cuddle box

Joep Driessen, Jan Hulsen and Wiebe Veenstra

CowSignals Training Company, the Netherlands; hulsen@vetvice.nl

The aim of the cuddle box is to keep cow and calf healthy and stress-free, and let the farmer work safely. Start by letting the cow give birth quietly in the calving pen. Move the calf immediately after birth into the Cuddle Box: a bed of good quality hay (or silage) just outside the calving pen, clean and hygienic. Here the mother can lick her calf dry. Put a half open box around the calf so it can't walk away and is protected from cold winds. Give 20 litres of lukewarm water to the mother, to re-hydrate her and to stimulate feed intake. The cow will easily go to her calf. Now you can move the swing gate against the mother and lock her in with a chain, to work safe under the udder. Milk the cow out completely, on the spot, while she is licking her calf. Feed immediately at least two litres of fresh & warm colostrum to the calf. The more colostrum the baby calf takes in now, the better! Store the rest of the colostrum in the fridge after putting the number of the calf on it, to feed it to the same calf 6-12 h later. Number the calf and register her. Move the calf to an individual pen after she is dry. When the calf is gone, the cow will start looking around. She will start sniffling for her baby and will end up eating the hay or silage where the calf was lying. We recommend one to two hours of contact between calf and cow. Much longer likely has more disadvantages than advantages. The cow will not eat quick enough after calving, resulting to more ketosis and other diseases. Research shows that cows experienced the least parting stress when the calf is taken away immediately.
**Phenolab: ultra-wide band tracking of individual group housed laying hens**

Elske N De Haas¹,², Jerine A.J. Van Der Eijk¹,², Lydia E. Nieuwe Weme², Bram Van Mil¹,³ and T. Bas Rodenburg¹,²

¹Wageningen University & Research, Adaptation Physiology Group, the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University & Research, Behavioural Ecology Group, the Netherlands, ³Noldus Information Technology B.V., the Netherlands; elske.dehaas@wur.nl

Farm animals are generally kept in groups of varying sizes. It is challenging to monitor the behaviour of individual animals when they are housed in a group. To aid to this need, we have tested an innovative new automatic sensor technology which can track individuals in a group. With the use of this ultra-wide band tracking device and recording beacons, we were able to track individual laying hens in an equipped arena (project PhenoLab). Hens had an active sending tag in a backpack. Every 30 s location of each tag was recorded. TrackLab software provided distance moved and movement patterns based on location data. With this set-up, we tested if we could detect differences between birds who feather peck and victims of the behaviour. We used a White Leghorn line selected on high feather pecking for 11 generations. Prior to tracking, home pen observations were made to record who was the feather pecker and who was the victim based on giving or receiving more than 2 severe FP per 0.5 h summed over observation times. FP data was obtained weekly from a 15 min video-recording from at 28 and 29 weeks of age. Independent t-test was performed for comparison. At 37 weeks of age hens were tested inside a 8×7 m empty test-room with their pen-mates for 15 minutes. Feather peckers tended to walk a greater distance (t₁₅=1.89, P=0.07; 9,286±1,660 vs 5,251±1,361 cm) and had a higher average speed when moving (t₁₅=2.62, P=0.02; 9.5±1 vs 5.5±1.1 m/s²) than victims. These results indicate that with automatic locomotor data differences in behavioural traits of individual birds can be detected, which affect welfare on a group level. Moreover, the system could be used to predict changes in activity patterns and detect individuals that have or will perform damaging behaviour.
**Full-scale implementation of WelFur-Mink in Europe – only certified pelts will be sold from 2020**

Steen H. Møller, Britt I.F. Henriksen and Anna F. Marsbøll

Aarhus University, Department of Animal Science, Denmark; steenh.moller@anis.au.dk

Since 2009, researchers from Aarhus and 5 other European universities have been working on the development of a welfare assessment protocol for mink and foxes after the concept developed in Welfare Quality®. The WelFur-Mink protocol is based on a critical evaluation of validity, reliability and feasibility at measure level. The protocol has been repeatedly tested in 12 European countries and developed to handle all conditions found in each of the three seasons that covers the strict annual cycle of mink production. The assessment results from the 22 welfare indicators are aggregated across the 3 seasons into 12 welfare criteria and 4 welfare principles, from which each farm is classified as either 'best', 'good', 'acceptable' or 'unacceptable' current practice. The European Fur Breeders Associations have decided to implement WelFur in Europe on a voluntary basis. As all fur auctions have decided only to sell European pelts that are classified 'Acceptable' or better from 2020, all 4,000 European fur farms are expected to join WelFur. A private audit company started the assessments in January 2017, after all assessors completed a WelFur training course. A tool for taking unbiased and representative samples on a mink farm, and an application for on-farm registration of the assessment and exporting the results have been developed. In order to secure that farmers can react and improve the welfare of the animals, all assessment results are reported back to the farmer after each assessment and advisors from each country are taught how to interpret the WelFur results and how to help farmers improve housing or management when needed. Despite all potential stumbling blocks and obstacles, WelFur seems to be the first example of a full scale implementation of a science based welfare assessment in an entire animal sector.
Creating Resilience in Pigs Through Artificial Intelligence (CuRly Pig TAIL)

Maikel Timmerman¹, Marion Kluivers-Poodt¹, Inonge Reimert², Herman Vermeer¹, Ruud Barth³, Gert Kootstra⁴, Johan Van Riel¹ and Kees Lokhorst¹

¹Wageningen Livestock Research, the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University & Research, Adaptation Physiology Group, the Netherlands, ³Wageningen Plant Research, the Netherlands, ⁴Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, the Netherlands; herman.vermeer@wur.nl

The pig provides a huge amount of health and welfare information by its behaviour and appearance (e.g. lying, eating, skin colour, eye colour, hair coat and tail-posture). By careful observation of this body language we believe it is possible to identify (early) signals of discomfort, upcoming disease and undesired behaviour. By early detection of these signals interventions can be carried out in an earlier stage than currently is done to restore health and welfare of the pig herd. Good health and welfare is the foundation of high resilience in animals, which makes them less vulnerable for disturbances (e.g. infections). For a farmer it is, however, impossible to continuously monitor the body language and behaviour of every pig on his or her farm. By using a combination of non-invasive techniques to collect signals from the pigs and their housing environment (e.g. a camera and a water meter) the pigs can be observed 24/7. By combining computer vision and pig knowledge using machine and deep learning techniques, a non-invasive monitoring system can be designed. Deep learning is the current state-of-the-art machine learning approach for computer vision that is especially powerful in recognising and localising image content, e.g. the location of the body parts or visible abnormalities thereof. Deep learning is based on large convolutional neural networks and require a large amount of manually annotated training (image) data. Ultimately with this approach the robustness of pig husbandry systems is increased due to better health and welfare conditions for the animals. Additionally, our approach could even lead to a new design of pig housing systems. Furthermore, it increases the job satisfaction of the farmer. Our ambition is to develop advanced monitoring systems that allow to stop tail docking all together, so the curly pig tail becomes once again a common phenomenon on pig farms. To achieve this ambition, we will explore, co-develop and test non-invasive monitoring technologies for pig husbandry.
Measuring tail length and tail bites on pig carcasses

Margit Dall Aaslyng, Helle Daugaard Larsen, Glenn Brink Nielsen and Per Black
Danish Meat Research Institute, Technological Institute, Denmark; hdln@dti.dk

Tail biting can be a problem in the pig production, and tail docking is therefore widely used. However, this is also a painful and time-consuming extra handling of the piglets. However, a ban on tail docking will demand extra focus from the farmers in order to avoid tail bites, as longer tails are more attractive for biting. Feedback to the farmers from the slaughterhouses concerning tail bites can be a way to ensure a continuous focus on the problem. The aim of the project is therefore to develop a vision-based system for on-line measuring of tail length and tail bites on the pig carcasses. Furthermore, the project aims to evaluate the effect of the feedback to the farmer on the level of tail bites in the herd. A vision-based system at the slaughter line can collect information about tail length and tail bites. The system takes two pictures of the tail – one with 3D information and one with colour information. From these pictures, the tail length and width are measured, and the area with tale bites is calculated. The tail length and width can estimate the frequency of older tail bites while the colour differences represent bites that are more recent. The frequency of tail bites observed in a given herd can be determined and given as feedback to the farmer. The vision system is under development at the Danish Meat Research Institute and will be tested ultimo 2017.
Q-perch helps fight poultry red mite

Anne Van Den Oever¹,²,³, Liebregts Bas³ and van de Ven Lotte³

¹Wageningen University & Research, Behavioural Ecology Group, the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University & Research, Adaptation Physiology Group, the Netherlands, ³Vencomatic Group, the Netherlands; anne.vandenoever@vencomaticgroup.com

Poultry red mite is a parasite that is present on an average of 83% European poultry farms. Poultry red mite causes anaemia, weight loss and agitation in chickens and also facilitates the spread of bacterial and viral pathogens. This leads to additional mortality, a higher feed conversion, decreased egg quality and production. Thus, the economic importance of fighting this parasite is vital for poultry farmers. Traditionally red mite was controlled by pesticides, which aim to minimise population size on short term basis. Vencomatic Group launches a mechanic solution to control red mite in poultry houses by continuously keeping the population size in an acceptable range. Based on the knowledge that red mite predominantly parasitize on its host during the dark, the focus is on the perches that chickens roost on. The revolutionary Q-perch is a patented perch containing two isolators, that kill the red mite on their journey towards the chicken. A small electrical current running through the isolators is harmless for the chickens, but lethal for the red mite. The mushroom shape of the Q-perch is studied to be the most comfortable shape for the chickens, as it offers stability and grip. Therefore the Q-perch is beneficial for animal health and welfare, which in turn benefits the farmer as the chickens perform better.
**The automated mite monitoring tool for advancing integrated pest management for**
*Dermanyssus gallinae*

M.F. Mul¹, J.W. Van Riel¹, P.G.W. Groot Koerkamp¹,², M. Dicke³, G. Schoeber⁴ and D. Fetter⁴

¹Wageningen Livestock Research, the Netherlands, ²Wageningen University and Research, Farm Technology Group, the Netherlands, ³Wageningen University and Research, Laboratory of Entomology, the Netherlands, ⁴Hotraco Group, the Netherlands; monique.mul@wur.nl

The poultry red mite (PRM), *Dermanyssus gallinae*, is the most common ectoparasite of egg laying hens in many parts of the world, though this haematophagous mite may feed upon a range of other hosts, including humans. High infestation rates of PRM in egg-laying facilities may cause anaemia in hens, and in extreme cases even hen mortality. Other negative effects of infestations include reduced animal welfare, reduced egg production and egg quality, increased feed and water intake and lower bird weight. Control of PRM is difficult. The mites' reclusive and nocturnal lifestyle makes this pest hard to target using available conventional acaricides. Increasingly stringent pesticide legislation in many parts of the world, as well as the tendency of PRM to rapidly develop resistance, further exacerbate this issue. Consequently, there is an urgent need for alternative control strategies. integrated pest management (IPM) is a multi-disciplinary approach that aims to control pests and diseases whilst minimising any negative environmental and economic effects associated with pest management. Monitoring of pest populations is a critical component of IPM programmes that can be used to inform treatment timings and evaluate applied treatments according to the eight general principles of IPM laid down in Directive 2009/128/EC. To contribute to more advanced IPM programmes, Wageningen Livestock Research developed and validated (1) an automated mite counter; (2) a population dynamics model; (3) an economic model; and (4) an advise algorithm to forecast and advise on timing of treatments when economic or welfare thresholds are exceeded. This so called automated mite monitoring tool is tested on one egg producing farm and will be made available for egg laying hen producers in the near future. Hotraco, a globally operating supplier of innovative computerized systems for use in the pig and poultry houses will commercialise this automated mite monitoring tool. A prototype will be presented during the innovation day.
**Innovative concept building design using passive technology to improve resource efficiency**

Paul Jackson

Newcastle University, AFRD, United Kingdom; p.jackson4@newcastle.ac.uk

In conventional finishing pig buildings, extreme hot and cold weather conditions have a direct negative effect on feed conversion efficiency and animal welfare. The design of typical UK fan ventilated finishing pig buildings has remained largely unaltered since their first introduction in the 1930s and is generally based on minimum external temperature to ensure the internal environment does not fall below the specified lowest temperature required for the pigs. This approach can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the internal air, due to the overriding factor for the ventilation system controller being the minimum temperature set point. The SPATHE (Solar, PAssive, Thermal, Heat Exchange) concept building takes account of historic, current and future building technology to provide an optimum enclosed environment for pigs to thrive. The building is designed in such a way as to reduce the solar heat gains entering the space in summer, whilst capturing solar rays in winter to take advantage of free heating. Further passive design elements include the integration of thermal labyrinths to deliver heat exchange to the incoming fresh air, thus providing free cooling in summer and free heating in winter, as well as promoting better winter air quality and reducing the peak summer and winter internal temperatures. The SPATHE is a modular building designed to house 250 pigs in each room. The building has the option for easy integration of sustainable technologies such as Solar PV & thermal and rainwater harvesting to further reduce utility bills. The SPATHE concept specification was used to create a dynamic thermal model which was directly compared to the previous model of a standard fully slatted finisher building, to explore how this innovate approach to building design can improve resource efficiency and welfare of pigs.
**OPTIFarm broiler management**

*David Speller*

Applied Group, United Kingdom; david.speller@appliedgroup.org.uk

As an intensive broiler farming business it has been very clear that improvements in animal welfare and improvements in farm profitability can go together provided the welfare improvement is of genuine benefit to the birds housed. The ever complicating world of computer programmes and sensor technology is not one that sits comfortably with most stockman for whom the personal interaction with the animals is key. It's not about what the data is telling them it is more about what they see, hear, smell and ultimately feel when in a broiler house with the birds. This is where OPTIFarm was born. Initially for our own farming needs and now offered globally as a remote optimisation and monitoring service. Using specialist trained individuals (mainly ex broiler farm managers) OPTIFarm monitors the birds and their environment 365 days per year, 24 h a day. From the monitoring and data captured OPTIFarm can translate findings into the farmer's language through either a phone call, sending him a text or an e mail. The data gathered can suggest what feed, lighting, environment, water, etc. the birds are desiring at that moment allowing for rapid decision making and improved welfare. As well as advising, OPTIFarm is also able to actively remote manage the shed controls systems to optimise the environment remotely whilst the farmer is sleeping. It is very often noticed that farm environments are stable in the daylight hours with stable external climate conditions but can go wrong overnight as temperatures drop outside and cooler air enters the building. Likewise managing heat stress requires accurate controls settings and an understanding of temperature, humidity and wind chill factors felt by the birds. OPTIFarm can do it all 24 h a day 7 days a week globally.
Adding social network information to automated dairy cow management

Paul Koene

Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen Livestock Research, the Netherlands;

paul.koene@wur.nl

Dairy cow management systems are based on traditional and sensor information concerning individual parameters. Future management should include also social information, because Social Network Analysis adds crucial information and precision and consequently increases welfare and reduces costs. In dairy cow management focus lies mainly on individual performance and measurements despite the fact that social information is shown to be important in managing introductions and removals, oestrus, lameness, cow traffic with respect to feeding (fence) and milking (robot). Social influence can be both positive and negative. Relevant behavioural information are interactions, rank order, nearest neighbours, furthest neighbours, friends, approaches, avoidances, time spend together and many social behavioural elements, such as vocalizations. Many of the interactions and associations can be automatically measured using sensor technology. Using the social information in the pasture or barn will improve actual management by more precise interpretation of performance measurements and the opportunity to guide the behaviour in cows, bulls and calves. Furthermore, assessments of individual and group welfare are possible, facilitating benchmarking. The integration of individual and social information is based on analysis of cow positions allowing for on social network assessment. During further development of the management system new monitoring and sensing parameters can be added and used after or during the needed validation and standardization.
Improving animal health and welfare by on-line SCC monitoring instrument ‘LUCI’

*Elnaz Khatami*

Mastiline, the Netherlands; e.khatami@mastiline.com

Healthy cows are essential for a dairy farm. A healthy cow produces more and better quality
milk and uses less medicine, like antibiotics. One of the most obvious health indicators for
dairy cows is the somatic cell count (SCC) in milk. High numbers will lead to mastitis, which
is an inflammation of the udder and negatively affects the health of the cow and consequently
the production of milk. Mastiline has developed a detection system for early stage monitoring
of cell count for each individual cow. With a detection limit of 50K cells/ml it has outstanding
performance compared to other technology in the market. The aim is to improve animal health
to reduce the overall cell count of a herd, to increase milk production and to reduce costs.
Research has shown that cows with lower SCC produce more and better milk. Estimation of
WUR research indicates a revenue potential of 82 – 220 (€/cow/year). Mastiline has developed
an analytical instrument (sensor) named LUCI for automated on-line monitoring of somatic
cell count (SCC) which can be easily integrated in the automatic milking system (AMS). The
measuring instrument consists a sampling unit, reaction chamber and detection module.
The method is based on ATP analysis. The ATP method is scientifically proven to have good
correlation with the gold standard. Milk samples are tested with LUCI and compared with
the Fossomatic results, which currently remains the gold standard in somatic cell counting.
**Feeding live black soldier fly larvae and effects on health, welfare and production of
laying hens**

M.A.W. Ruis¹, A. Mens², R. Zanders² and J. Katoele³

¹VHL University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, ²Aeres University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, ³Wadudu Insect Centre, the Netherlands; info@wadudu.eu

Insects are proposed as a high quality and efficient protein source in animal feed, e.g. for poultry and pigs. Protein from insects can replace soybean products from Latin America, making it a more sustainable feed ingredient as it can be produced locally. The inclusion of insects in animal feed seems feasible in the near future. Current legislation allows feeding insects alive or as fat or hydrolysed protein extracts. In poultry, first experiences are obtained with feeding live larvae of the black soldier fly (BSF, *Hermetica illucens*). Small-scale experiments with laying hens indicate that production can be guaranteed when 20% of the pelleted ration is replaced by BSF larvae of the BSF. However, continued trials have to show what the real potential is of live insects as feed for poultry, in relation to health, welfare and production. The aim of Wadudu Insect Centre is to contribute to welfare and production of laying hens, by introducing BSF larvae in innovative housing and chain concepts, thereby looking for and finding separate niche sales channels for the eggs. In cooperation with two universities of applied sciences, applied research has started (April 2017 – December 2018) in a research facility in Dronten to investigate the potential of BSF larvae in laying hen feed. The main question to be answered is what will be an (cost)effective and practical way to introduce the larvae: how to provide them, and could they utilize litter/manure in the hen house for development, thereby decreasing environmental impact of hen farming? Besides studying the effects on health and production, ways to optimize feeding BSF larvae as foraging enrichment are evaluated. It is expected that prolonged searching and pecking for larvae reduces redirected foraging behaviour that could lead to undesirable behaviour such as feather pecking. This is interesting in view of the upcoming ban on beak trimming from September 1st, 2018.
**HatchCare, the poultry incubator with feed, light, and water**

Carla Van Der Pol

HatchTech B.V., Veenendaal, the Netherlands; cvdpol@hatchtech.nl

Traditionally, commercially kept chicks hatch from their eggs in a dark incubator without feed and water. Once all chicks in a batch have hatched, they are removed from the incubator, processed, and transported to the poultry farm. Because of biological variation in the moment of hatch between chicks, and because of the length of processing and transportation times, chicks may spend between 24 and 72 h off feed and water before they receive their first meal at the farm. While chicks can survive this fasting period because they still have a residual yolk, they become increasingly hungry and thirsty, and their health and welfare are compromised. HatchTech has developed a hatcher, called HatchCare, that provides feed, water, and light immediately after hatch, allowing each chick to start feed and water intake whenever they so desire. What's more, the fact that the climate and conditions inside HatchCare can be controlled closely allows implementation of new ideas and innovations, such as cooler incubation in the hatching phase, lower CO₂ levels, and lighting schedules to stimulate chicken health before and after hatching.
Author index

A

<table><tr><td>Aagaard Schild, Sarah-Lina</td><td>58</td></tr><tr><td>Aarts, Noelle</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td>Abu-Ahmad, Weissam</td><td>69</td></tr><tr><td>Acevedo, Oscar</td><td>202</td></tr><tr><td>Adams Progar, Amber</td><td>201</td></tr><tr><td>Adam, Steve</td><td>47</td></tr><tr><td>Ahring, Anna Lena</td><td>200</td></tr><tr><td>Albers, Marie</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Alvåsen, Karin</td><td>150</td></tr><tr><td>Ammer, Stefanie</td><td>134</td></tr><tr><td>Amon, Barbara</td><td>42</td></tr><tr><td>Ampe, Bart</td><td>101, 109</td></tr><tr><td>Andersen, Heidi Mai-Lis</td><td>58</td></tr><tr><td>Andersson, Robby</td><td>161</td></tr><tr><td>Anneberg, Inger</td><td>78, 83</td></tr><tr><td>Araneda, Fernanda</td><td>252</td></tr><tr><td>Arch-Tirado, Emilio</td><td>154</td></tr><tr><td>Arndt, Saskia S.</td><td>128</td></tr><tr><td>Aubert, Christophe</td><td>159</td></tr></table>

B

<table><tr><td>Bagnicka, Emilia</td><td>167</td></tr><tr><td>Bakony, Mikolt</td><td>242</td></tr><tr><td>Bareille, Nathalie</td><td>145</td></tr><tr><td>Barłowska, Katarzyna</td><td>167</td></tr><tr><td>Barnes, Andrew P.</td><td>39</td></tr><tr><td>Barnes, Anne</td><td>181</td></tr><tr><td>Barrière, Philippe</td><td>189</td></tr><tr><td>Barrow, Paul</td><td>213</td></tr><tr><td>Barry, John</td><td>158</td></tr><tr><td>Barth, Ruud</td><td>262</td></tr><tr><td>Bas. Liebregts</td><td>264</td></tr><tr><td>Bates, Ronald O.</td><td>148, 217, 226</td></tr><tr><td>Baumgärtner, Iris</td><td>234</td></tr><tr><td>Baxter, Emma M.</td><td>90, 143</td></tr><tr><td>Beard, Andrew</td><td>160</td></tr><tr><td>Beisecker, Richard</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>Bennett, Peter</td><td>222</td></tr><tr><td>Berckmans, Daniel</td><td>114</td></tr><tr><td>Berg, Charlotte</td><td>108</td></tr><tr><td>Berger, Christine</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>Berger, Marlene</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>Bergeron, Renée</td><td>47</td></tr><tr><td>Bergevoet, Ron</td><td>251</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>Bergmann, Shana</td><td>137</td></tr><tr><td>Bergschmidt, Angela</td><td>168, 178</td></tr><tr><td>Biagini, Davide</td><td>153</td></tr><tr><td>Biasato, Ilaria</td><td>153</td></tr><tr><td>Biasibetti, Elena</td><td>153</td></tr><tr><td>Bignon, Laure</td><td>145, 157, 163, 164, 196</td></tr><tr><td>Birolo, Marco</td><td>224</td></tr><tr><td>Blaabjerg, Lars Ole</td><td>131, 204</td></tr><tr><td>Black, Per</td><td>263</td></tr><tr><td>Bobadilla, Pablo</td><td>56</td></tr><tr><td>Bochicchio, Davide</td><td>113</td></tr><tr><td>Boissy, Alain</td><td>159</td></tr><tr><td>Boivin, X.</td><td>219</td></tr><tr><td>Bokkers, Eddie</td><td>40, 51, 130, 155, 158</td></tr><tr><td>Bolhuis, Liesbeth</td><td>132</td></tr><tr><td>Bonato, Maud</td><td>48, 118</td></tr><tr><td>Bondt, Nico</td><td>251</td></tr><tr><td>Bonnaud, Virginie</td><td>157, 163, 164</td></tr><tr><td>Booth, Francesca</td><td>116, 146</td></tr><tr><td>Bos, Emilie-Julie</td><td>109</td></tr><tr><td>Bouffard, Véronique</td><td>121</td></tr><tr><td>Boumans, Iris J.M.M.</td><td>155</td></tr><tr><td>Bouvarel, Isabelle</td><td>157, 163, 164, 196</td></tr><tr><td>Bouvier, F.</td><td>219</td></tr><tr><td>Bovolenta, Stefano</td><td>82</td></tr><tr><td>Boyle, Laura</td><td>81, 89, 102, 143, 221</td></tr><tr><td>Brame, Coline</td><td>157</td></tr><tr><td>Brandborg Nielsen, Dennis</td><td>204</td></tr><tr><td>Brass, David</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>Briant, Christine</td><td>189</td></tr><tr><td>Bright, Ashleigh</td><td>59, 190</td></tr><tr><td>Brinkmann, Jan</td><td>61, 144, 168, 177, 178, 199</td></tr><tr><td>Brink Nielsen, Glenn</td><td>263</td></tr><tr><td>Brookes, Sharon M.</td><td>237</td></tr><tr><td>Brouwer, Henriëtte</td><td>141</td></tr><tr><td>Brown, Ashleigh</td><td>66</td></tr><tr><td>Brown, Ian H.</td><td>237</td></tr><tr><td>Brščić, Marta</td><td>169, 248</td></tr><tr><td>Brügemann, Kerstin</td><td>107</td></tr><tr><td>Bueno, Hernán</td><td>56</td></tr><tr><td>Buijs, Stephanie</td><td>116, 146</td></tr><tr><td>Büscher, Wolfgang</td><td>200</td></tr><tr><td>Busch, Gesa</td><td>72</td></tr><tr><td>Busch, Marie Erika</td><td>243</td></tr><tr><td>Büttner, Kathrin</td><td>93, 120, 194, 205</td></tr></table>
C

<table><tr><td>Cachocho, Liliana</td><td>242</td></tr><tr><td>Cady, Roger</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td>Calderón Díaz, Julia A.</td><td>102</td></tr><tr><td>Callanan, Jennifer</td><td>201</td></tr><tr><td>Cameron, Marguerite</td><td>174</td></tr><tr><td>Campbell, Angus J.D.</td><td>38</td></tr><tr><td>Campbell, Dana</td><td>232</td></tr><tr><td>Campos-Luna, Ivone</td><td>160</td></tr><tr><td>Cantet, Rodolfo J.C.</td><td>215</td></tr><tr><td>Capra, Pierluigi</td><td>153</td></tr><tr><td>Capucchio, MariaTeresa</td><td>153</td></tr><tr><td>Caruana, Patrick</td><td>142</td></tr><tr><td>Casal, N.</td><td>127</td></tr><tr><td>Cassidy, Terence</td><td>142</td></tr><tr><td>Caulkett, Nigel A.</td><td>229</td></tr><tr><td>Ceccato, Claudio</td><td>248</td></tr><tr><td>Cerón, Jose Joaquín</td><td>127, 249</td></tr><tr><td>César, Déborah</td><td>56</td></tr><tr><td>Charleston, Bryan</td><td>237</td></tr><tr><td>Chaussé, Anne-Marie</td><td>213</td></tr><tr><td>Chou, Jen-Yun</td><td>90</td></tr><tr><td>Clark, Cameron</td><td>180</td></tr><tr><td>Cloete, Schalk W.P.</td><td>48, 62, 118</td></tr><tr><td>Cockram, Michael</td><td>174</td></tr><tr><td>Collin, Antoine</td><td>196</td></tr><tr><td>Collins, Sophie</td><td>192</td></tr><tr><td>Collins, Teresa</td><td>181, 198</td></tr><tr><td>Conte, Sabine</td><td>218</td></tr><tr><td>Contreras-Aguilar, María Dolores</td><td>127, 249</td></tr><tr><td>Cormican, Paul</td><td>231</td></tr><tr><td>Coton, Jenna</td><td>159</td></tr><tr><td>Courboulay, Valérie</td><td>45, 125, 129, 145</td></tr><tr><td>Coward, Vivien</td><td>237</td></tr><tr><td>Cozzi, Giulio</td><td>248</td></tr><tr><td>Crown, Gerald</td><td>76</td></tr><tr><td>Cubides, Jaime</td><td>156</td></tr><tr><td>Cziszter, Ludovic Toma</td><td>53</td></tr><tr><td>Czopowicz, Michał</td><td>167</td></tr><tr><td>Czycholl, Irena</td><td>97, 120, 175, 205</td></tr></table>

D

<table><tr><td>Dahlhoff, Katharina</td><td>200</td></tr><tr><td>Dai, Francesca</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>Dall Aaslyng, Margit</td><td>131, 263</td></tr><tr><td>Dalla Costa, Emanuela</td><td>120, 189</td></tr><tr><td>Dam Otten, Nina</td><td>96, 139, 193, 206</td></tr></table>

<table><tr><td>Dany, Pauline</td><td>189</td></tr><tr><td>Dawson, Lauren C.</td><td>117</td></tr><tr><td>D'Eath, Rick</td><td>243</td></tr><tr><td>De Boer, Imke</td><td>37, 40, 51, 54, 155, 158</td></tr><tr><td>De Freslon, Inès</td><td>92</td></tr><tr><td>De Haas, Elske N</td><td>260</td></tr><tr><td>De Jong, Ingrid</td><td>176</td></tr><tr><td>De Lauwere, Carolien</td><td>251</td></tr><tr><td>Del Campo, Marcia</td><td>209</td></tr><tr><td>Delezie, Evelyne</td><td>101</td></tr><tr><td>Dellavedova, Gloria</td><td>235</td></tr><tr><td>Delval, Eric</td><td>159</td></tr><tr><td>Deml, Aaron</td><td>201</td></tr><tr><td>Dennery, Gaelle</td><td>157</td></tr><tr><td>Denwood, Matthew James</td><td>103, 136, 139, 193, 206</td></tr><tr><td>De Olde, Evelien</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>De Passillé, Anne Marie</td><td>44, 47, 106, 121, 223</td></tr><tr><td>Derek, Haley</td><td>121</td></tr><tr><td>De Rosa, Giuseppe</td><td>247</td></tr><tr><td>Devleesschauwer, Brecht</td><td>222</td></tr><tr><td>Devries, Trevor</td><td>47, 135, 223</td></tr><tr><td>Dewey, Cate E.</td><td>117</td></tr><tr><td>Dhand, Navneet</td><td>222</td></tr><tr><td>Dicke, M.</td><td>265</td></tr><tr><td>Dierkes, Lisa</td><td>172</td></tr><tr><td>Di Giacinto, Alice Mercedes</td><td>133</td></tr><tr><td>Dijkstra, Thomas</td><td>141</td></tr><tr><td>Dippel, Sabine</td><td>100, 113</td></tr><tr><td>Dodd, Andrew</td><td>211</td></tr><tr><td>Doeschl-Wilson, Andrea</td><td>89</td></tr><tr><td>Dohnal, Ilse</td><td>227</td></tr><tr><td>Doron, Ofer</td><td>69</td></tr><tr><td>Doublet, Tristan</td><td>145</td></tr><tr><td>Doupovec, Barbara</td><td>227</td></tr><tr><td>Doyle, Bernadette</td><td>102</td></tr><tr><td>Doyle, Rebecca E.</td><td>38</td></tr><tr><td>Driessen, Bert</td><td>55</td></tr><tr><td>Driessen, Joep</td><td>259</td></tr><tr><td>Dubois, Cordelie</td><td>135</td></tr><tr><td>Dubois, Elodie</td><td>159</td></tr><tr><td>Duchateau, Luc</td><td>101</td></tr><tr><td>Dunn, Amanda</td><td>230</td></tr><tr><td>Du Toit, Elizabet</td><td>62</td></tr></table>

E

<table><tr><td>Earley, Bernadette</td><td>230, 231</td></tr></table>