-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
T. J. DeVries, ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND WELL-BEING SYMPOSIUM: Metrics for on-farm animal welfare assessment–Current state and future needs, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 95, Issue 3, March 2017, Pages 1363–1364, https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2017.1399
- Share Icon Share
Extract
The Animal Behavior and Well-Being Symposium titled “Metrics for On-Farm Animal Welfare Assessment—Current State and Future Needs” was held at the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting, July 19–23, 2016, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Across all production animal species, there are a number of existing animal welfare assessment and assurance programs. This symposium was developed to bring attention to the metrics used in those programs, with specific focus on identifying where further science is needed to help refine the metrics and approaches for assessment in various production systems. The symposium comprised 4 invited presentations, each of which is briefly discussed below.
The symposium began with an invited presentation by Dr. R. A. Blatchford (University of California, Davis) titled “Poultry welfare assessments: Current use and limitations.” Dr. Blatchford gave an overview of how assessment of commercial poultry welfare is increasingly playing a greater role in assuring consumers that birds are treated in a humane manner (Blatchford, 2017). Additionally, Dr. Blatchford discussed how little research has been performed on the commercial scale to evaluate the welfare of poultry in North America, but researchers are beginning to adopt the use of many measures developed in Europe. He suggested that with more benchmarking of these measures on commercial farms, researchers will begin to better identify causes of welfare issues and provide support for recommendations in housing design and management.