In-farm livestock production vaccinations are commonly delivered intramuscularly using needles. While there are alternative strategies these have been subject to little attention and limited commercialisation. One such alternative is needle-free vaccines and studies have focused on the immune response few have addressed the welfare implications. This study aims to compare the impact of intradermal needle-free vaccination and intramuscular injection in terms of the welfare of the piglets. A total of 179 piglets were divided into two treatments: intradermal needle-free delivery and intramuscular delivery of a vaccine. Measures of health and welfare included, vocalisations, behavioural observations, papule formation, and weight. Piglets vaccinated via the needle-free intradermal route vocalised less and displayed no significant behavioural differences but showed increased weight compared to piglets vaccinated intramuscularly. The use of a needle-free device to deliver a vaccine through an intradermal route revealed no adverse effects on piglet welfare and supports the use of alternative strategies to vaccinate livestock.

When thwarted in a behaviour, laying hens show an increase in stereotyped pacing, displacement preening and a specific vocalisation known as the ‘gakel-call’. How these behaviours, which might serve as indicators of welfare, are influenced by social factors is not yet known. In this study, we investigated the effect of an audience (another bird or a human) on the expression of the gakel-call and other behaviours indicating frustration. Twenty-four Lohman Brown hens were trained to gain free access to food in a test cage. Sixteen hens were used as test birds and eight as non-test audience birds. The food-deprived test hens were tested for 15 min in a non-thwarting situation (food freely available) and for 15 min in a thwarting situation (food covered but visible). For both situations we investigated four different treatments: no audience in the adjacent cage; a non-thwarted audience bird in the adjacent cage; a thwarted audience bird in the adjacent cage; and finally a human audience. The durations of stereotyped pacing and displacement preening were significantly higher in test birds during thwarting than during non-thwarting; thwarted birds also gave significantly more gakel-calls compared to non-thwarted birds. The test birds, and also the audience birds, gave more gakel-calls when thwarted in the presence of a thwarted conspecific than when in the presence of a non-thwarted bird, but there were no significant differences in stereotyped pacing or displacement preening, which are usually associated with frustration. In conclusion, this study supports the view that the gakel-call signals frustration in laying hens. Furthermore, the state of the audience influences the occurrence of gakel-calls in thwarted hens. Thus, when using the gakel-call as a welfare-indicator, the social aspects of the vocal expression of frustration in laying hens should not be overlooked.

Verbally agitated behaviours are among the behavioural symptoms of dementia most commonly encountered in long-term care facilities. These behaviours may be related to unmet needs that cannot be expressed adequately because of cognitive impairment. The objective of this preliminary study is to assess an intervention, based on the needs of social attention, sensory stimulation, and comfort, for managing verbally agitated behaviours in long-term care demented patients. A multiple baseline case study design was used, with two participants.