If we are to bring about improvements in animal welfare, animal welfare assessment is the first step towards sustainable improvements, followed by the identification of risk factors and subsequent interventions. Largely driven by an increased public interest, which is accompanied by political strategies such as the Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2006-2010 (Commission of the EC 2006), the science of animal welfare assessment has developed considerably since the 1st International Workshop on Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group level held in 1999 in Copenhagen (Sørensen & Sandøe 2001). This is reflected in major research initiatives at national and international level and in the continuously increasing number of participants at the workshops.

It is generally agreed that farm animal welfare is at a high level when the animals can behave naturally. Most of today's housing systems, however, differ considerably from the natural environment in which the behavioural organisation of the ancestors of our farm animal species evolved. Consequently, normal behaviour may be impaired in several ways. Frequency, duration or sequence of behavioural elements may be affected. Some normal behaviour patterns may not occur at all. The animals may also possibly behave in unnatural ways – in patterns that would never occur in nature. Furthermore, it is usual for farm animals to exhibit behaviour which is normal in form, but which is elicited by artificial structures within their housing system.

In view of these possible changes in normal behaviour, it is necessary to assess, for each farm animal species and each housing system, whether animal welfare is at risk in any way if the behaviour observed differs from the behaviour that would occur in a natural environment. In some cases the question can be answered by taking a theoretical evolutionary approach. In most cases, however, detailed knowledge about the behavioural organisation of the animals is necessary. Such knowledge is built up from animal motivation studies and investigations into the effect of environmental structures on animal behaviour.

A specific problem of on-farm animal welfare assessment is that there is often not enough time to collect sufficient data to make a judgement about the occurrence of normal behaviour. Resource-based assessment methods are appropriate as an alternative, provided that the resource standards used are based on evidence stemming from research into animal behaviour and motivation.

The assessment of animal welfare is a complex subject which gives rise to divergent views and debate. It is generally accepted that scientific welfare assessment must involve multidisciplinary approaches, and that to interpret results unambiguously, a high level of control over the experimental conditions is required. Such considerations would appear to militate against attempts to measure welfare in a practical farm situation, where systems are relatively uncontrolled and contain many confounding factors to complicate interpretation. In consequence, fundamental welfare scientists sometimes consider that on-farm welfare assessment is of limited value. However, adherents emphasise that on-farm application is the final objective of all livestock welfare science endeavours, and also gives unique options for large-scale population studies and access to a diversity of environmental circumstances. On-farm welfare assessment not only provides an opportunity for extending knowledge on animal requirements, but is also a necessary tool in the growing requirement to assess and certify animal welfare status for legislators and consumers. However, the economic and time limitations, combined with difficulty of close access to individual animals, restrict the range and detail of possible measures. It is also essential that a consensus exists that the measurements taken are objective and meaningful to stakeholders. These constraints have tended to drive the techniques used in Farm Assurance schemes towards assessment of resource provision and management records. However, animal-based measures of health and behaviour are now being more widely explored, and the validation and standardisation of simple integrative measures for such approaches is an important future development.

The process of driving improvement in animal welfare has three stages: 1) assessment of animal welfare, 2) identification of the risk factors potentially leading to a compromise in animal welfare, and 3) interventions, in response to the risk factors, to bring about improvement in animal welfare. This process is applicable to animals farmed in commercial situations and for individual animals kept or worked in isolated environments. An impressive weight of knowledge has accumulated in the science of animal welfare assessment and this needs to be counterbalanced by development of mechanisms to actively improve welfare. In the case of animal welfare, interventions have to motivate the animal owner or carer to make changes to their own behaviour on behalf of a third party; the animal. This is a different situation from that described in the human health literature where interventions encourage people to take steps to improve their own well-being, thus benefiting themselves directly. The development of strategies to improve animal welfare require a multi-disciplinary approach including social scientists, psychologists and economists, however, the skills of animal welfare scientists are essential to ensure that interventions truly achieve improvements in animal welfare.

The inflammatory response evokes changes in behaviour including increased thermoregulatory activities and sleep, reduced social exploration and appetite, and altered food preferences. This sickness response also includes feelings of lethargy, depression, and pain, collectively referred to as ‘malaise’. Recent experiments involving laboratory rodents reveal information about proximate mechanisms of sickness behaviour, but scant information exists about how sickness behaviour is expressed by farmed species or within social environments. The behavioural needs of ill individuals differ from those of conspecifics, and failure to accommodate the needs of ill individuals may exacerbate suffering. Policy makers, industry and animal welfare certification programs recommend hospital pens to address the housing and handling needs of ill livestock and to reduce risks of disease transmission. However, a survey of swine farms in Ontario, Canada revealed deficiencies in the use of hospital pens and gaps in knowledge about best management practices for this vulnerable population. There is considerable scope to improve the welfare and husbandry of ill and at risk animals through effective use of hospital pens and supportive therapies.

Four observers were trained in lameness assessment using a subjective scoring system with five categories, and observer agreement was investigated four times at different stages of training and experience. Inter-observer reliability increased with time and reached acceptable levels in the last session. Retrospectively simplified versions of the scoring system were satisfactorily reliable already at a fairly low training level. For experienced raters, the original scoring system with five categories is suitable in terms of reliability for on-farm welfare assessment.

In the present study, the effect of training on inter-observer reliability was studied for a 5-category lameness scoring system used for routine on-farm surveys of welfare in dairy cattle. The inter-observer agreement between an experienced and an initially inexperienced observer was determined during an initial training phase and at specific time points in the course of data collection in 46 herds. During the training phase on three farms, inter-observer reliability increased to an acceptable level for both the 5-category gait scoring system and the distinction between lame and non-lame cows.

The 4th testing after 17 on-farm visits revealed a considerable increase in inter-observer reliability which was further improved in the course of the on-farm visits.

In conclusion, acceptable inter-observer agreement for differentiating between non-lame and lame cows was achieved after only a brief introduction. In order to obtain high inter-observer repeatability with the 5-category gait scoring system used in this study, (more) intensive training procedures are required.

Lameness is an indicator of pain and suffering, which has substantial animal welfare and economic impact on the dairy industry. Subjective locomotion scoring is unreliable for detecting mild cases of lameness in dairy herds. Undetected lameness can progress to a more serious and painful state with unfavourable prognosis. The aim of this study was to conduct an investigation on the use of a pressure plate for early detection of lameness in dairy heifers compared to a subjective visual scoring system. Seven heifers deemed sound, on the basis of a visual scoring system, were walked through a chute where a pressure plate was disguised on the floor. Claws were then inspected during trimming and revealed no lesions (n = 3) and hairy heel warts on at least one hind claw (n = 4). Peak vertical force (PVF) and right-left hind limb PVF symmetry were calculated. Sound heifers demonstrated significantly higher PVF and better right-left hind limb symmetry than those with hairy heel warts. Using a pressure plate, gait abnormalities from foot lesions that were undiagnosed using a subjective lameness scoring system, were detected. Early detection of lameness is vital to reduce dairy industry losses and to improve animal welfare.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between human behaviour, buffalo behaviour and prevalence of oxytocin injection at milking. The research was carried out on 17 buffalo farms. On each farm the stockperson's behaviour toward the buffaloes and the buffaloes' behaviour were observed during one afternoon's milking. Stockperson's behaviour was observed from collection of the animals in the waiting area to exit from the milking parlour. The following variables were recorded: number of positive, neutral and negative interactions. The number of steps and kicks were recorded from the entrance to the milking parlour to the removal of cups whenever the stockperson was less than 0.5 m from the animal. The prevalence of oxytocin injection at milking was recorded on two separate occasions with a 5-month interval to obtain a measure of the long-term consistency of this variable. Significant correlations were found between stepping and kicking, stepping and prevalence of oxytocin injection, kicking and prevalence of oxytocin injection and stockperson positive interactions and kicking. These results indicate that stockperson behaviour is related to buffalo behaviour at milking and the latter to the use of oxytocin injections. In addition, prevalence of oxytocin injection proved to be highly reliable when re-tested five months later.

Tests for assessing the animal-human relationship in tied dairy cows have been used in experimental research, but the reliability and feasibility of the measures in the on-farm context has not been studied yet. Therefore we investigated the between-experimenter repeatability of avoidance reactions in dairy cows housed in tie-stall systems. Nine farms in Austria with 15-60 tethered dairy cows were visited. Two to three out of four experimenters were testing the avoidance reaction of the individual cows in a balanced order. Cows were approached slowly from the front and the reactions recorded on an 11-point score. The avoidance reaction of each cow was assessed twice by each experimenter and averaged. Also, a farm value per experimenter was calculated (median). Repeatability between experimenters was assessed within farms and at farm level by calculating Spearman rank correlation coefficients. The average between-experimenter correlations within farms ranged from 0.37 to 0.88. At farm level, median of scores ranged from 2.5 to 6.75 and correlated moderately to highly between experimenters from 0.65 to 0.80. Testing the animals on all farms was relatively simple.

The between-experimenter repeatability within farms differed substantially and reasons for this merit further investigation. At farm level repeatability was moderate to sufficiently high. Due to the high feasibility, this measure seems to be promising and should be developed further.

Farmers' behaviour towards their animals could be improved by developing training programmes designed to decrease handling stress and improve animal welfare. This requires key preliminary work to collate farmers' beliefs concerning beef cattle and their knowledge of how to handle them easily. This paper reports the preliminary results of a survey conducted in 2004 among Limousin farmers. Fifty-five percent of the 300 French beef cattle farmers surveyed returned a questionnaire covering ease of handling, husbandry conditions, attitudes towards cattle, and behaviour during handling and husbandry practices. The results revealed that farmers' attitudes were generally positive. However, variability within each item indicated the potential for improvement. Temperament of heifers or cows is the first trait considered in decisions on culling an animal. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed a relationship between positive attitudes towards animals and towards contact with the animals. Attitudes towards negative behaviour (hitting, shouting) during handling are independent of attitudes towards animals. Most farmers underline human contact followed by quality of the facilities for improving ease of handling. Surprisingly, 28% of the farmers surveyed did not recognise the genetic traits as an important factor in ease of handling. Farmers seem open to improving handling, in particular through positive human contact. These results combined with existing scientific knowledge and additional observations of handling will be useful in defining future training programmes for improving the welfare of beef cattle.

Animal-related parameters best fulfil the requirements of a valid welfare assessment, but often they are less feasible than other parameters. Therefore, this paper examines whether animal-based parameters are connected with each other and with environmental factors in order to find out if some can be discarded without loss of information.

Eighty Austrian dairy herds (21-55 Simmental cows) housed in loose-housing cubicles were visited. Housing, management and the human-animal relationship were assessed. Animal-based parameters such as lameness, skin lesions and social behaviour were recorded. For the statistical analysis, Spearman correlation coefficients and regression trees with additional cross-validations for the assessment of the predictive performance of models were calculated.

The animal-based parameters could be explained by environmental variables only around 2/3 (goodness of fit). The calculated regression trees explained 62% of the percentage of lame animals, 58% of leg injuries on the carpal joints and 69% of the agonistic interactions. Leg injuries on the tarsal joints could be explained to quite a high degree (77%). Cross-validated regression trees, however, which are more significant for prediction on farms in excess of this study, accounted for 31% of the total variance of lameness, 44% of the leg injuries on the tarsal joints, 33% on the carpal joints and 25% of the agonistic interactions.

Only a few correlations between animal-related parameters were found: lameness was correlated with leg injuries on the tarsal joints and on the carpal joints. Leg injuries were correlated with each other.

Due to the lack of interrelations between animal-related parameters and the moderate prediction by environmental factors, we do not suggest replacing the investigated animal-related parameters for on-farm welfare assessment in dairy cattle.

Health is an important aspect of animal welfare, which is difficult to assess at herd level. Clinical examination of individual animals is time-consuming, and most measures of clinical herd health depend significantly on the examiner. Acute phase proteins are produced during inflammatory processes, and could therefore be used as general markers of infection and injury. Our objective was to evaluate whether haptoglobin could be used to monitor the health status of herds at slaughter.

107 groups of 20 slaughter pigs each were examined at two large abattoirs. Clinical signs of tail biting, lameness, injuries, abscesses, pneumonia, pleurisy, hepatitis and gastritis were recorded. The association between elevated haptoglobin concentration in meat juice samples and clinical signs was assessed via multiple logistic regression.

Pigs from groups in which tail biting, lameness, othaematomas, abscesses, pneumonia, pleurisy, pericarditis or condemnations of livers, lungs or carcasses occurred, showed higher levels of haptoglobin than pigs from slaughter groups without any of these clinical signs. In the multiple regression model, only the variables of lameness and tail biting were statistically significant. The haptoglobin test classified 66% of all slaughter groups correctly according to the presence of these clinical signs. These results demonstrate the potential for haptoglobin to be used as a screening test to identify problem herds at slaughter.

This paper presents five tests based on behavioural and other animal-centred observations concerning dairy goat welfare. An emotional reactivity test (n = 40) classified the animals into different groups according to their behaviour in response to fear-eliciting stimuli, and identified anxious animals. Movement parameters and behaviour, as well as quantitative (number of cries) and qualitative (pitch, intensity, length) sound parameters were recorded. A dominance test (n = 35) based on antagonistic reactions resulted in three hierarchical groups (subordinate, n = 9; intermediate, n = 6; and dominant, n = 20). A test performed in the milking parlour (n = 108) showed that the order of passage was strongly preserved and linked to limb pathology and dominance index. Finally, a lameness test (12.5% were lame) and a standing up test (8.5% had problems getting up) showed that these two parameters were highly correlated. After some simplifications, these tests could form a goat welfare evaluation method.

Skin lesions of pigs can be used as an indicator of their ability to adapt to the social and physical environment. A total of 315 weaner pigs were assigned to one of three treatments: groups of nine piglets from one litter (9s), mixed groups of nine piglets from three litters (9m) or mixed groups of 36 piglets from four litters (36m). The ear, neck/shoulder, rump, back, hindquarter, tail and belly of piglets were inspected for scratches, abrasions and signs of inflammation on days 0, 5 and 28 post mixing. Due to the large number of body regions, different types of injuries and data from three inspections, the results of explorative data analysis were very heterogeneous. Data preparation focusing on scratches and combination of corresponding regions using factor analysis resulted in a data set which was useful for further statistical procedure. Factor analysis identified corpus, ear and tail as factors. Using the Wilcoxon test different inspections within a treatment were compared. Differences between treatments were analysed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Mixed groups (9m, 36m) showed an increase of ‘many scratches’ on ear and corpus from day 0 to day 5 and a decrease on ear from day 5 to day 28. ‘Many scratches’ on corpus were more frequent in mixed groups than in single litter groups. This study suggests that skin lesion score can be used to analyse treatment effects on the aggression of pigs. However, it has to be focused on a precise hypothesis and should be based on behavioural observations.

To evaluate agreement between flock-based fear tests used in welfare assessments of laying hens in commercial organic farms, three tests were applied in 27 flocks of layers. Tests were performed at 35 and 55 weeks of age and were based on the concepts of ‘novel object’, ‘sudden sound’ and two different measures of ‘approaching human’. In general, agreements between tests were poor. The two measures based on ‘approaching human’ had the highest agreement, while the agreement between all other flock-based tests were lower. There was low agreement between testing at age 35 and 55 weeks.

In order to evaluate the degree to which the flock-based fear tests reflect individual hens' underlying fearfulness; tonic immobility (TI) tests were also applied on individual hens in eight flocks. There was large individual variation in the duration of tonic immobility, but also significant difference between flocks regarding mean duration of immobilisation. However there was no statistically significant association between TI-tests and flock-based tests. These results emphasise the need for careful consideration of choice of test stimuli for flock-based fear tests, and indicate that the investigated flock-based fear tests do not reflect the individual hens' underlying fearfulness.

The aim of this study was to develop a set of tests to assess the reaction of laying hens towards humans in non-cage systems and to investigate the repeatability within and between days.

Based on a literature survey six tests were developed or modified, which were examined for practicability and adapted in a first phase. Reactions of hens were recorded directly or with a video camera. These included the reaction towards a stationary person: stockperson (SPs); experimenter: (SPe); a moving person: (moving through flock [MP]; approaching individual hens measuring avoidance distance [AD]) and a complex test including stationary and moving elements: (arm moving to touch hens [touch test] in the litter [Tl] and on the slatted area [Ts]). Six flocks of five farms were visited twice, one week apart. At each visit the six tests were performed during morning and afternoon hours. The order of the tests differed between farms.

Repeatability of flock reactions within as well as between days was high for SPs, AD and Tl. SPe and especially MP showed slightly reduced correlations. Touching hens at the droppings pit (Ts) was less repeatable than in the litter area (Tl).

To sum up, first experiences show that most tests can be practically used in groups of hens in non-cage systems and seem to have good repeatability.

Broiler chickens are the most numerous terrestrial farmed animals on earth. These birds can suffer a range of pathologies which result in lameness, and one technique for assessing the impact of lameness on the individual bird, and on the flock has been gait scoring. This paper describes a study where the results of the same training programme for validated gait scoring are compared for groups of assessors in Thailand, Brazil and New Zealand. A uniform course of training carried out in the classroom, through video assessment and through on-farm training was carried out in the countries named; a total of 95 persons being trained overall. A measure of agreement with the reference scale for the assessors' numerical responses was carried out using a Cohen's Kappa test, and the results indicated significant differences in the ‘origin position’ ie the view taken by the assessors of the impact of lameness on the bird before training had taken place, but a high degree of consistency in the response to training. The study demonstrated that gait scoring can be learned by assessors from different geographical and social backgrounds, and that the ‘rate of learning’ – the improvement in performance in relation to a standard, was similar between the countries studied. The ‘origin’ and ‘final’ position of the assessors pre- and post-training, from the different countries in relation to the reference standard is discussed.

Dehydration is a serious welfare issue for equines working in developing countries. Risk factors such as high ambient temperature, heavy workload and poor water availability are exacerbated by the traditional belief that provision of water to working animals will reduce their strength or cause colic and muscle cramps.

As part of the welfare assessment of 4889 working horses and donkeys during 2002/3, eight observers were trained to perform a standardised skin tent test. The prevalence of a prolonged duration of skin tenting was 50% in horses and 37% in donkeys. Two studies investigated inter-observer repeatability of skin tent test techniques, using a total of 220 horses and donkeys in India and then Egypt: measures of agreement with a ‘gold standard’ observer varied from 40 to 99%. Simplifying the test by reducing the number of possible scores for skin tent from three (immediate return of skin to normal position; delayed return up to three seconds; delayed return more than three seconds) to two (immediate return of skin to normal position; delayed return of any duration) did not improve overall repeatability of the skin tent test. Potential reasons for not achieving high levels of agreement include variations in assessment method, assessors' previous experience, subjective demarcation between score categories and biological variability.

We assessed the value of sleep behaviour as a novel measure of stress in group-housed animals. We observed, non-invasively, sleep behaviour in 144 group-housed rats, and related it to other physiological and physical indicators of stress and welfare. Sleep frequency and duration correlated negatively with adrenal weight, and positively with bodyweight gain, and final bodyweight. Thus, low frequencies of sleep behaviour and low sleep duration correlate with some indicators of elevated physiological and physical stress, raising the possibility that sleep behaviour may provide an under-utilised, but potentially important, non-invasive indicator of stress and welfare for animals in groups.