F Tuyttens

Survey of egg producers on the introduction of alternative housing systems for laying hens in Flanders, Belgium

In the context of the European Union ban on battery cages by 2012, a survey was conducted among Flemish egg producers (60% response rate, 140 completed questionnaires) about the introduction and opinion of alternative housing systems. Belgium appears to be among the countries in the European Union that are slower to adopt alternative housing. Belgiums egg industry is thus likely to undergo drastic changes to comply with the 2012 deadline. As of 2010, the battery cage was the dominant housing system (56% housing units, 67% hens), followed by floor housing (33% housing units, 15% hens) and aviary (10% housing units, 15% hens), whereas colony cages and furnished cages were extremely rare. Future- and market-oriented production was the most important reason for choosing a certain type of alternative system, although the importance of hen performance and amount of labor seemed to increase. A quarter of the producers with battery cages had detailed plans to convert to an alternative system (most planned to install aviaries, followed by colony cages, furnished cages, and floor housing) by 2012. Many older farmers indicated that they would stop farming, whereas others found it more profitable to delay the conversion as long as possible. Apart from hen welfare, producers expressed a negative opinion (relative to battery cages) about noncage systems and, to a lesser extent, furnished cages. However, users of alternative systems reported being quite satisfied, except for the amount of labor and hen health. The housing system had several effects on user satisfaction: positive effect of flock size, negative effect of experience with battery cages, and negative effect of outdoor area on hen health. Although not all opinions were supported by evidence, such surveys provide feedback about the success of alternative systems in practice. This information is valuable to further improve these systems and to producers who have yet to convert. Moreover, producer attitude may determine the extent to which legally imposed changes in husbandry environment result in the desired improvement of hen welfare in practice.

Repeatability of lameness, fear and slipping scores to assess animal welfare upon arrival in pig slaughterhouses

The EU project Welfare Quality® proposes an overall assessment system for animal welfare based on animal outcomes. The objective of this study was to test inter-observer reliability (IOR) when assessing lameness, fear and slipping and falling scores as parameters for monitoring the welfare of killing pigs during arrival at the slaughterhouse. Two Belgian and two Spanish slaughterhouses were visited by six to seven observers. Lameness, slipping and falling were assessed twice; during unloading and in the passageway to the lairage zone (lairage). Fear, which was assessed in the unloading area, was based on four indicators: reluctance to move, retreat attempts, turning back and vocalisations. Lameness had low-to-moderate IOR when observed in the passageway to lairage (r = 0.46), but the IOR was low during unloading (r = 0.25). IOR for slipping and falling was moderate to high (r = 0.71 and r = 0.50, respectively), when assessed in the unloading area, but low for observations in the passageway (r = 0.13). Fear indicators had only moderate or low IOR. Turning back was the measure with the highest IOR (r = 0.43) and retreat attempts had the lowest IOR (r = 0.25). Based on these results, we concluded that scoring lameness could be reliable when assessed from the unloading bay to lairage, whereas slipping and falling should be scored in the unloading area of the slaughterhouse. We suggest scoring a maximum of two measures of fear on the same animals at the unloading area, with the most reliable parameters being turning back and reluctance to move. The three indicators of animal welfare (lameness, fear and slipping and falling) should be measured in a way to reduce overtax of the observers in order to achieve accurate results.

Survey among Belgian pig producers about the introduction of group housing systems for gestating sows

There is a global move from individual to group housing of gestating sows. In the European Union, individual gestating stalls will be banned by 2013. Just like in other industrialized regions, these stalls have been the standard housing system for intensively kept sows from the 1960s onward in the Flemish region of Belgium. Because the socioeconomic consequences for the pig industry may be far-reaching and because farmer attitude may influence the realization of the hoped-for improvement in animal welfare in practice, we conducted a survey from 2003 until 2009 among representative samples of Flemish pig producers every 2 yr. The share of farms with group housing increased from 10.5% in 2003 to 29.8% in 2007, but then dropped to 24.6% in 2009. It appears that after 2005 users of old group housing systems in particular stopped farming. Because sow herd size increased more on farms with vs. without group housing and because the proportion of the herd that was group-housed also tended to increase between 2003 to 2009, the change to group housing took place faster when expressed at the level of the sow (from 9.1% in 2003 to 34.1% in 2009) instead of farm. The percentage of farmers planning to convert to group housing within 2 yr was 4.1% in 2003, and 6 to 7% thereafter. These were typically young farmers (P = 0.006) with a large sow herd (P < 0.001) and with a likely successor (P = 0.03). Free access stalls were the most common group housing system (31% of farms, 37% of sows). Their popularity is expected to increase further at the expense of electronic feeding stations, ad libitum feeding, and stalls/troughs with manual feed delivery. User satisfaction was generally high but depended on whether or not all gestating sows were kept in group (P < 0.001), the provisioning of environmental enrichment (P = 0.057), and the age (P = 0.012) and type (P = 0.016) of system. The main criteria for choosing a certain group housing system were the investment costs and sow health and welfare. The importance of economic reasons (P = 0.007) and type of labor (P = 0.043) decreased with the age of the system. In 2003 and 2005 the main reason for not having converted to group housing was that farmers would stop keeping sows by 2013. In 2007 and 2009 the reasons mainly concerned uncertainty about the future and maximally delaying the conversion. Belgium is one of the European Union countries where the pig industry is expected to undergo drastic changes during the few years remaining before the ban on individual housing.

Effects of semi-group housing and floor type on pododermatitis, spinal deformation and bone quality in rabbit does

The most common housing system for reproduction rabbits, individual cage housing on a wire floor, is increasingly scrutinized because of its potential detrimental impact on animal welfare. We compared three types of housing: (1) individual cage housing on a wire floor (3952 cm2/doe, maximum roof height 63 cm, one 1000 cm2 plastic footrest/doe), (2) semi-group housing on a wire floor (5000 cm2/doe, roofless, one 1000 cm2 plastic footrest/doe) and (3) the same semi-group housing, but with a fully plastic slatted floor. In all housing systems, does had free access to an elevated platform. In the semi-group housing pens, four does were housed communally during 21 days of the reproduction cycle (to allow more space for locomotion and to increase opportunities for social contact), and individually during the other 21 days of the cycle (to minimize doe-doe and doe-kit aggression that peaks around kindling). In all, 24 Hycole does were included per system. The does entered the experiment at 203 days of age (after their first parity). The experiment consisted of four reproductive cycles, ending at 369 days of age. Pododermatitis was scored in cycles 1, 2 and 4. At the end of the 4th cycle the does were euthanized and X-rays were taken to assess spinal deformation. Tibia and femur length, width and cortical thickness were determined and bone strength was assessed using a shear test, as a measure of bone quality. Although severe pododermatitis was absent, the prevalence of plantar hyperkeratosis (hair loss and callus formation) at the end of the 4th cycle was much greater on the wire floor (65% and 68% for semi-group housing and individual cages, respectively) than on the plastic floor (5%, P<0.0001), even though the wire floors were equipped with a plastic footrest known to decrease hyperkeratosis. In contrast to our expectations, semi-group housing did not affect the prevalence of spinal deformations (P>0.10), but in line with our expectations bone quality was affected favourably by semi-group housing. The tibial cortex (and to a lesser extent the femoral cortex) was thicker in semi-group housing than in individual cages (1.45, 1.46 and 1.38 mm for semi-group housing on wire, semi-group housing on plastic and individual housing on wire, respectively, P=0.045). What this increase in cortical thickness means in terms of doe welfare requires further study, as it may reflect an increase in activity resulting either from increased space for locomotion, or from fleeing aggressive pen mates.

Performance of an animal-based test of thirst in commercial broiler chicken farms

Animal-based measures of thirst are currently absent from animal welfare monitoring schemes due to the lack of a well-validated indicator applicable for on-farm use. In the present study, an on-farm test based on voluntary water consumption from an unfamiliar open drinker was validated in a (semi-)commercial setting. To investigate the effect of thirst on water consumption, we subjected 4 flocks of 1,500 broilers to either 0 or 12 h of water deprivation and subsequently measured the amount of water that small subgroups consumed after the deprivation period (first experiment). Broilers that were water deprived before the test drank more than control broilers (P < 0.001). In a second experiment, a similar test was performed using 20 commercial broiler flocks in Belgium and Brazil. After a pretreatment water consumption test, the birds were subjected to 0 or 6 h of water deprivation, and a posttreatment water consumption test was conducted. Only in Brazil, deprived birds drank significantly more than controls in the posttreatment water consumption test (P < 0.001). A tendency for a difference was found in Belgium (P = 0.083). Pre- and posttreatment water consumption was higher in Brazil than in Belgium (P < 0.001). Stocking density and temperature influenced, respectively, the pretreatment and the controls posttreatment water consumption in Brazil, but not in Belgium. These results indicate that the water consumption test is sufficiently sensitive to discriminate between control and 12 h deprived flocks, and in Brazil even between control and 6 h deprived birds. The location of the test within the house did not affect the amount of water consumed in either experiment, suggesting that this variable does not have to be standardized. However, the amount of water consumed by broilers able to drink freely for a long period depended on indoor climatic variables (in Brazil only) and possibly genotype. This suggests that these variables need to be considered when interpreting the test outcome in terms of the thirst level experienced by the broilers.

Assessing keel bone damage in laying hens by palpation: effects of assessor experience on accuracy, inter-rater agreement and intra-rater consistency

ABSTRACT Accurate assessment is essential when evaluating keel bone damage. Palpation is commonly used to assess keel bone damage in living hens. However, there is little information on the accuracy of assessment of deviations and fractures on different parts of the keel, and on the consistency within, and agreement between, assessors. Crucially, although the importance of experience is commonly emphasized, knowledge on its effect is scarce. Ten assessors with or without prior experience palpated the same 50 75‐wk‐old hens for deviations, medial fractures, and caudal fractures (scored as present/absent). Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and negative predictive value were determined by comparing palpation scores to post‐dissection assessment, and then compared between experienced and inexperienced assessors. To determine the effect of the experience gained during the experiment, hens were subsequently re‐assessed. Consistency within, and agreement between, assessors were also determined. Assessors with prior experience were more accurate (proportion of accurately assessed deviations: experienced 0.83 vs. inexperienced 0.79±0.01, P = 0.04; medial fractures: 0.82 vs. 0.68±0.03 in session 1 only, P = 0.04; caudal fractures: 0.41 vs. 0.29±0.03, P = 0.03), and inexperienced assessors classified medial fractures more accurately in session 2 (session 1: 0.68 vs. session 2: 0.77±0.04, P = 0.04). However, effect sizes were small for deviations and even experienced assessors lacked accuracy when assessing caudal fractures. Unexpectedly, deviations tended to be assessed more accurately in session 1 than in session 2, regardless of assessor status (1: 0.83 vs. 2: 0.79±0.01, P = 0.06), suggesting that prolonged assessment contributes to errors. Prior experience decreased specificity and precision of fracture assessment (more unfractured keels were classified as fractured) even though overall accuracy was greater. Intra‐rater consistency was fair to good (0.55 to 0.67) for deviations and medial fractures, but poor to fair (0.36 to 0.44) for caudal fractures, and unaffected by prior experience (P = 0.49 to 0.89). In conclusion, experience improves accuracy to a limited extent but does not guarantee high accuracy for all types of damage. Future research should determine if other training methods (e.g., comparison to post‐dissection scores or to radiographs) improve accuracy.