1. The aim was to assess eggshell contamination in various laying hen-housing systems and to identify factors influencing this contamination. …
The production system using cages is a highly polemical issue in Europe, because of the space restriction imposed to laying …
This paper reviews the existing body of scientific literature relevant to organic poultry production, in order to assess, and where possible quantify, the key issues affecting welfare. The review consists of three parts, covering healthrelated welfare issues in organic poultry production systems (breed suitability; nutrition; feed contribution from the range, range use and group size), …
Organic farming in Europe has increased during the last decade but the market share is still relatively low with less than 3% of farmed arable land and an even smaller proportion of farm animal species raised in organic livestock production systems. In many aspects, the biological and ethological needs of animals in organic farming systems …
Well being of animals had been historically a public concern, since the beginning of human kind history. As world’s population grows there is a need for food including meat. In the last decades there has been a great improvement in poultry production based on the careful control of several aspects, among which nutrition and management …
A questionnaire study was performed among Swedish organic livestock farmers to determine their view of animal welfare and other ethical issues in animal production. The questionnaire was sent to 56.5% of the target group and the response rate was 75.6%. A principal components analysis (exploratory factor analysis) was performed to get a more manageable data …
Existing data on animal health and welfare in organic livestock production systems in the European Community countries are reviewed in the light of the demands and challenges of the recently implemented EU regulation on organic livestock production. The main conclusions and recommendations of a 3-year networking project on organic livestock production are summarised and the …
A computer model for welfare assessment in laying hens was constructed. This model, named FOWEL (fowl welfare), uses a description of the production system as input and produces a welfare score as output. To assess the welfare status a formalized procedure based on scientific knowledge is applied. In FOWEL the production system is described using …
Citizen petitions and legislative bills in seven states in the US have established space and movement limitations for selected species of farm animals. These actions show Americans becoming concerned about the humane treatment of confined farm animals, and willing to use governmental intervention to preclude existing confinement practices. The individual state provisions vary, including the …
Continued concern for animal welfare may be alleviated when welfare would be monitored on farms. Monitoring can be characterized as an information system where various stakeholders periodically exchange relevant information. Stakeholders include producers, consumers, retailers, the government, scientists, and others. Valuating animal welfare in the animal-product market chain is regarded as a key challenge to …
An ‘‘Animal Needs Index’’ ANI (German: ‘‘Tiergerechtheitsindex’’ TGI) was developed to be used primarily at farm level as an instrument for assessing and grading livestock housing with respect to the well-being of the animals. Today, several different systems exist. The approach pursued in Austria (ANI 35 L) considers five husbandry conditions: (1) possibility of mobility, …
The development in organic livestock production can be attributed to an increased consumer interest in organic products while, at the same time, increased farmers’ interest in converting to organic production methods—often stimulated by governmental support or subsidies. It is important that organic production systems can fulfil the expectations of each of these stakeholders if organic …
1. To evaluate the effect of climate, flock size, age and artificial cover on the use of range area, a study was conducted in 1994 to 1998, involving 5 farms with a total of 37 flocks of layers kept in commercial, free-range, organic systems. Flocks were visited regularly during the production period to record the …
Three experiments were carrie out to evaluate the influence of cage density on the performance of 25- to 84-week-old laying hens. Forty hundred Lohmann-LSL layers were distributed in cages (100x40x 45x50cm) according to a completely randomized experimental design with split plot in time.Three treatments (10, 12, or 14 hens per cage, corresponding, to 450, 375, …
The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effects of cage floor and cage density on stress parameters of …
The improvement in production technology was the major factor that lead Brazil to become the third largest poultry producer. The improvement was world´s based on the careful control of several aspects, including which nutrition and management (environment, health and rearing systems). Nowadays, the search for good welfare conditions is a global tendency in animal production. …
1. The aim in this study was to evaluate cleaning and disinfection programmes in battery cage and on-floor layer houses …
The relationship of laying hens towards humans is an important aspect of animal welfare. Tests for assessing the hen–human relationship on farm should be validated prior to their use. In this paper, we investigated the validity of three recently developed tests assumed to measure the hen–human relationship in non-caged hens. The study was conducted in …