Poultry Welfare Flashcards
why is animal welfare important
- public perception of animals is changing
- social media is becoming fore relivant and swaying opinions
what initiated welfare concerns
- ruth harrison with animal machines
- ## wanted to bring light to veal crates, sow gestation crates and conventional cages for laying hens
what is animal welfare
- putting animals emotional and physical needs before production needs
- it depends on your point of view
- based on brambellsreport on the 5 freedoms
what are brambells 5 freedoms
- freedom from hunger and thirst
- freedom from discomfort
- freedom from pain, injury and disease
- free to express (most normal behaviours
- freedom from fear and disstress
what are the three circles of animal welfare according to david fraser
- basic health and functioning
- affective states
- natural living
what are the 5 physical and functional domains
- nutrition : water deprivation, food deprivation and malnutrition
- environment : physical and atmospheric challenge
- health : disease, injury and functional impairement
- behaviour : behavioural and/or interactive movement restrictions
- mental domain: thirst hunger anxiety fear pain and distress
what is the canadian codes of practice
- required of anyone who has 1 or whole commercial practice is required
- objective is to imporve animal welfare in canadian fars (commercial and backyard farms)
who is involved in making the codes of practice
- farmers/ producers
- vets
- welfare society
- consumers
- scientists
-city officials
are the codes of practice legal documents
- no its minimum standards that can hold up in court
- there is requirements
- and recommended practices
why is welfare difficult to measure?
- doesnt have a difinitive answer
- you have to look at muliple stressors to determine if the behaviour is positive of negative
how do you measure physical stressors? what can be an issue
- blood cortisol
- but blood taking could be stressful and bring up blood cortisol levels
how can you measure physiology impacts
- lameness
- mortality
- morbidity
- blood parameterslevels
- growth rate and productivity
how do you perform audits for poultry welfare
- it ensures complience with laws and regulations = identifies incomplience and helps to improve overall welfare
- eg farmers of canada are required to get an audit once a year
- some food companies have their own
there is videos or in person types - most cases are 4-8 hours
- should have input and outcome measures
what is an input measure
- engeneering standards - doesnt focus on animal welfare
- measured with a tape measure, and compared to the requirements in the codes of practice
what is an output measure
- based on how the bird respondes
- steriotypies,
what are common welfare issues in broilers
- lamness : caused by high growth rates, high body weights, and low levels of activity
- contact dermatitis: hock pads and foot dermatitis from humid litter
- lack of stimulation to perform natural behaviours
- fear reactions from : panick fleeing and piling up, unjuries pain and suffication
what are the basic needs of broilers
- moving freely
- pecking
- scratching
- dust bathing
- wing flapping
- resting
- sleeping
- perching
what 4 critirias must environmental enrichment meet
- increase natural behaviour
- maintain or improve health
- improve economics of the production system
- practical to employ
what is a enrichment with point source objects
- limited in size
- ## restricted to a single or a few locations
what is enrichment through complex enriched environments
- addressed to meet behavioural needs,
- multiple types and placements of enrichment
- straw bale, platform and laser pointer
what are perches and platforms for
- rested elevation
- for perching and resting undisturbed
- lower perches are generally used so they don’t fall
what do you need to consider when making perches
- low and wide for better support
- material (metal, wood or plastic)
- shape (oval, round, rounded upper edges)
- providing ramps
- height
what is the usage of perches influenced by
- genotype
- age
- management
- flock size
- stocking density
what do bales do for behaviour
- promote more then one behaviour
- resting undisturbed
- lie against with reduced disturbance
- when partly open = foraging behaviour
what do panels do for behaviour
- promote distribution
- reduce distrubance
what do barriers do for behaviour
- add structure to the barn
- reduce disturbance
what are some pecking and novel objects used
- plastic, metal and pecking stones and chains
- coloured plastic balls
- plastic bottles
- toys and mirrors
