Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T23:15:12.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Implementing Welfare Quality® in UK assurance schemes: evaluating the challenges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

CAE Heath ,
Y Lin ,
S Mullan ,
WJ Browne  and
DCJ Main
CAE Heath*
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK
Y Lin
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK
S Mullan
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK
WJ Browne
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK
DCJ Main
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, Langford BS40 5DU, UK
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper presents an account of a Welfare Quality® assessment of 92 dairy farms carried out by seven experienced assessors. The aim was to evaluate the potential of the Welfare Quality® assessment protocol with respect to its uptake by UK farm assurance schemes. Data collection, and measure aggregation were performed according to the Welfare Quality® protocol for dairy cows. This study examined the data itself, by the testing of how hypothetical interventions might be reflected in changes in the aggregated scores, and also investigated human-related aspects, through inter-assessor standardisation sessions to evaluate reliability, and an assessor focus group to collect feedback. Overall, three main ‘challenges’ were identified. The first challenge related to the large amount of missing data. Unexpectedly, this was such that it was only possible to calculate an overall classification for 7% of farms. The second challenge concerned the way in which aggregated scores did not always reflect hypothetical interventions. The final challenge was inter-assessor reliability, where not all assessors were found to achieve acceptable levels of agreement on a number of outcome measures by the third training session. Suggestions for managing these challenges included, follow-up to assessor training, the use of multiple imputation methods to fill in missing data, and, where applicable, not aggregating the scores. The conclusion of the study was that the protocol provided useful information from which to make an informed selection of measures, but that the challenges, combined with the lengthy assessment time, were too great for its use as a certification tool.

Keywords

animal welfaredairy cowfocus groupon-farm assessmentscore aggregationWelfare Quality®
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 95 - 107
Copyright
© 2014 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Anneberg, I, Vaarst, M, and SØrensen, JT 2012 The experience of animal welfare inspections as perceived by Danish livestock farmers: a qualitative research approach. Livestock Science 147(1-3): 49–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2012.03.018CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, R, Christiansen, K, Clifton-Hadley, R and Barker, CE 1999 Preliminary estimates of the direct costs associated with endemic diseases of livestock in Great Britain. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 39: 155–171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0167-5877(99)00003-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blokhuis, HJ, Veissier, I, Miele, M and Jones, B 2010 The Welfare Quality® project and beyond: safeguarding farm animal well-being. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science 60: 129–140Google Scholar
Botreau, R, Bracke, MBM, Perny, P, Butterworth, A and Capdeville, J 2007 Aggregation of measures to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare. Part 2: analysis of constraints. Animal 1: 1188–119710.1017/S1751731107000547CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botreau, R, Veissier, I and Perny, P 2009 Overall assessment of animal welfare: strategy adopted in Welfare Quality®. Animal Welfare 18: 363–370CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenninkmeyer, C, Dippel, S, March, S, Brinkmann, J, Winckler, C and Knierim, U 2007 Reliability of a subjective lameness scoring system for dairy cows. Animal Welfare 16: 127–129CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, MS 2003 Behaviour as a tool in the assessment of animal welfare. Zoology 106: 383–387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1078/0944-2006-00122CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D’Eath, RB 2012 Repeated locomotion scoring of a sow herd to measure lameness: consistency over time, the effect of sow characteristics and inter-observer reliability. Animal Welfare 21: 219–231. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.21.2.219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Jong, IC, Moya, TP, Gunnink, H, van den Heuvel, H, Hindle, VA, Mul, M and van Reenen, K 2011 Simplifying the Welfare Quality assessment protocol for broilers Report 533. Wageningen UR Livestock Research: Lelystad, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
DeSantis, and Ugarriza, DN 2000 The concept of theme as used in qualitative nursing research. Western Journal of Nursing Research 22(3): 351–372CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Vries, M, Engel, B, den Uijl, I, van Schaik, G, Dijkstra, T, de Boer, IJM and Bokkers, EAM 2013 Assessment time of the Welfare Quality® protocol for dairy cattle. Animal Welfare 22: 85–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.22.1085CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, B, Bruin, G, Andre, G and Buist, W 2003 Assessment of observer performance in a subjective scoring system: visual classification of the gait of cows. The Journal of Agricultural Science 140: 317–333. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021859603002983CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council 1997 Report on the Welfare of Dairy Cattle. FAWC: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D 1995 Science, values and animal welfare: exploring the inextricable connection. Animal Welfare 5: 103–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbons, J, Vasseur, E, Rushen, J and de Passillé, AM 2012 A training programme to ensure high repeatability of injury scoring of dairy cows. Animal Welfare 21: 379–388. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.21.3.379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haskell, MJ, Bell, DJ and Gibbons, JM 2012 Is the response to humans consistent over productive life in dairy cows? Animal Welfare 21: 319–324. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.213.319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knierim, U and Winckler, C 2009 On-farm welfare assessment in cattle: validity, reliability and feasibility issues and future perspectives with special regard to the Welfare Quality® approach. Animal Welfare 18: 451–458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristensen, E, Dueholm, L, Vink, D, Andersen, JE, Jakobsen, EB, Illum-Nielsen, S, Petersen, FA and Enevoldsen, C 2006 Within- and across-person uniformity of body condition scoring in Danish Holstein cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 89: 3721–3728. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(06)72413-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
March, S, Brinkmann, J and Winkler, C 2007 Effect of training on the inter-observer reliability of lameness scoring in dairy cattle. Animal Welfare 16: 131–133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, DCJ, Kent, JP, Wemelsfelder, F, Ofner, E and Tuyttens, FAM 2003 Applications for methods of on-farm welfare assessment. Animal Welfare 12: 523–528CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, DCJ, Rogerson, I, Crawley, MC, Avizenius, J, Fraser, A and Mullan, S 2012 Welfare outcomes assessment in dairy farm assurance schemes. Cattle Practice 20(2): 142–145Google Scholar
Miele, M, Veissier, I, Evans, A and Botreau, R 2011 Animal welfare: establishing a dialogue between science and society. Animal Welfare 20: 103–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullan, S, Edwards, SA, Butterworth, A, Whay, HR and Main, DCJ 2011 Inter-observer reliability testing of pig welfare outcome measures proposed for inclusion within farm assurance schemes. The Veterinary Journal 190: e100–e109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.01.012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roe, E, Buller, H and Bull, J 2011 The performance of farm animal assessment. Animal Welfare 20(1): 69–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafer, JL and Graham, JW 2002 Missing data: our view of the State of the Art. Psychological Methods 7(2): 147–177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.2.147CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Špinka, M, Dembele, I, Panamá, J and Stěhulová, I 2005 Lame dairy cows have shorter avoidance distances. Proceedings of the 39th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. 20-24 August 2005, Sagamihara, JapanGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, PT, Munksgaard, L and TØgersen, FA 2008 Evaluation of a lameness scoring system for dairy cows 91(1): 119–126Google ScholarPubMed
Webster, AJF, Main, DCJ and Whay, HR 2004 Welfare assessment: indices from clinical observation. Animal Welfare 13: S93–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welfare Quality® 2009a Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for cattle. Welfare Quality® Consortium: Lelystad, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Welfare Quality® 2009b Training in the Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocols. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CD0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.welfarequality.net%2Fdownloadattachment%2F43148%2F20260%2F2009-Nov_adapted_leaflet%2520WQ%2520Training%2520Assessment%2520Protocols.pdf&ei=3SQuUbKfGo2V0QXbnoHoDg&usg=AFQjCNGwrRlKVrcpdOOHcV5mlUIwc0thvA&bvm=bv.42965579,d.d2kGoogle Scholar
Welfare Quality® 2012 Dairy cow on farm parameters. http://www1.clermont.inra.fr/wq/pdf/WQ_Dairy%20cows%20on_%20farm_parameters.pdfGoogle Scholar
Whitaker, DA, Macrae, AI and Burrough, E 2004 Disposal and disease rates in British dairy herds between April 1998 and March 2002. Veterinary Record 155: 43–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vr.155.2.43CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed