On-farm monitoring of animal welfare is an important, present-day objective in animal welfare science. Scientists tend to focus exclusively on animal-based parameters, possibly because using environment-based parameters could be begging the question why welfare has been affected and because animal-based parameters would be better indicators of welfare. However, selection of even the best animal-based parameters that have conventionally been used in experiments could have unacceptable consequences. Systems that are generally considered to be poor welfare systems may generate unacceptably high welfare scores. The monitoring systems could fail to match basic intuitions in society and the scientific community. In order to avoid this problem, available knowledge, eg about animal motivation derived from consumer demand studies and knowledge about the natural behaviour of the animals, should be used explicitly in welfare assessment. This requires making welfare inferences from knowledge about the relationships between environment-based and animal-based parameters using standard operating procedures. The on-farm measurement of animal-based parameters may be regarded as the measurement of critical control points, which must be compared and reconciled with predictions based on available scientific knowledge. For this purpose the formalisation of welfare assessment should be developed further.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the intra-observer repeatability of some animal-related variables which could be used in welfare-assessment protocols at farm level. Recordings were performed on seven dairy farms (four for cattle and three for buffaloes). The animals were observed on three occasions at three-week intervals. The variables collected for each animal were behaviour during milking (stepping and kicking), avoidance distance, lameness, and cleanliness. For each farm and each variable, intra-observer repeatability was computed using the Kendall coefficient of concordance (W). A ratio between the variance of the animal and the sum of the latter with the error variance was also calculated using a model of analysis of variance with one factor (animal), to give a further measure of repeatability. These two methods yielded similar results. In particular, in dairy cattle, a high repeatability for avoidance distance, stepping, lameness and cleanliness was observed, whereas for buffaloes avoidance distance and stepping were the repeatable variables.

La formation des cellules (FC) de production se traduit par le groupement des produits en familles et le partage des machines en sous-groupes. Le traitement de ce problème devient plus complexe en présence de gammes alternatives. Dans ce contexte, nous proposons une nouvelle approche qui traite ce problème en deux niveaux. Le premier niveau porte sur l'application de la méthode des plans d'expériences, l'objectif étant de choisir, pour chaque produit, la gamme préférentielle permettant l'optimisation des indicateurs de performance de FC. En plus, ce niveau de traitement permet une analyse de la sensibilité de la solution finale ignorée par les techniques antérieures de la FC. Nous avons proposé et justifié un nouvel indice de la FC défini par le pourcentage de conservation des données de la matrice d'incidence initiale. Le second niveau de traitement consiste à appliquer la méthode de la FC basée sur l'analyse des corrélations statistiques entre les différents produits et machines. Pour expliquer l'approche proposée, nous avons détaillé deux exemples numériques. Les résultats d'une analyse comparative appliquée à des problèmes reconnus en littérature, ont permis de valider l'approche proposée.

European duck meat production is based on the use of Pekin, Muscovy and Mule duck genotypes that vary in their behavioural and physiological characteristics. Furthermore, large differences exist in their housing and management conditions. The aim of this review is to discuss the welfare of these different genotypes in typical husbandry systems, focusing on ducks kept for meat production. Firstly, factors that can affect duck welfare, such as stocking density and group size, access to straw, an outdoor run, or open water, are described. Secondly, welfare problems such as feather pecking, fear and stress, and health problems are assessed. Thirdly, the various systems used in Europe are described for these aspects. Giving ducks access to straw, an outdoor run, or open water increases the behavioural opportunities of the ducks (foraging, preening, bathing, and swimming), but can also lead to poor hygiene and increased health- and food safety risks. Therefore, practical solutions that allow expression of natural behaviour, but do not lead to hygiene or health problems have to be found and some practical suggestions are provided.