• Introduction
• Scientific Measures of Wellbeing
• Adaptation and Adaptedness
• Social Behavior and Spacing
• Evaluate Practices and Systems to Improve WellBeing
• Bioenergetic Criteria for Environmental Management

Introduction

Animal wellbeing is increasingly an important issue concerning animal production, and a popular theme of press articles and scientific conferences.  These concerns cover issues relating to farm animal handling and management, establishing scientific measures of wellbeing, and a perceived lack of attention to the wellbeing of production animals.  Animal care and feeding practices are issues being debated as extended practices in Codex Alimentarios as part of the World Trade Organization.

The Encyclopedia of Farm Animal Behavior (EFAB) is online and continually updated through the efforts of scientists in this National Program (www.liru.asft.ttu.edu/efab/index.htm).

Scientists in National Program (NP) 105 participated in the annual meetings of research projects nationally coordinated by the Cooperative State Research Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).  Participating in these meetings strengthens this NP by interacting with the land grant research community.

Scientists in this NP have been involved nationally and internationally representing their scientific expertise in collaborations, committees, consultations, professional and commodity organizations, and technology transfer over the past year.  Some of these activities include working with the National Pork Board’s Animal Welfare Committee and the National Pork Board’s Swine Welfare Indexing Advisory Group; serving on Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS) sponsored activities addressing farm animal care and handling training and communication issues and providing assistance on farm animal specialty for the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists’ committee for certification of animal workers. Several scientists received invitations to speak at international and national meetings on animal wellbeing, and contributed articles to popular farm and agricultural press.

Three projects will be peer reviewed in 2002.

Significant Accomplishments by Component

Scientific Measures of Wellbeing

Measures of wellbeing of food producing animals are needed to make scientific assessments. These measures must be scientifically sound and relevant.  The measurements will integrate behavioral, physiological, and productivity parameters of economic importance.

Betaglucan and ascorbic acid enhances immune systems.  Betaglucan plus ascorbic acid was fed to neonatal pigs in cooperative research between ARS scientists at the Animal Physiology Research Unit, Columbia, Missouri, and the Livestock Behavior Research Unit (LBRU), West Lafayette, Indiana, to reduce weaning stress.  Both betaglucan and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) play individual roles through early response hormones and proteins in some tissues.  This dietary supplement has been licensed pending patenting, and will be useful to enhance wellbeing and productivity of piglets kept in housing systems used by small "family" farms that are likely more stressful.

Adaptation and Adaptedness

Most food animals have been domesticated for thousands of years.  Selection under intensive management conditions has occurred only recently and is oriented primarily toward the improvement of production traits.  Research in this area will determine the roles that genetics  and environment play in wellbeing.  Research information on adaptedness will serve as the basis for modifying management practices.  Genetic research will be evaluated to improve animal fitness and determine the basis of adaptation to environmental stressors such as heat and cold.  Marker assisted selection techniques will be explored.  (Research is conducted in this component under NP101.)

Physiological differences identified with behaviors in layerchickens.  Cannibalism is an important problem in layerchickens.  A multidiscipline team of scientists at the LBRU and at Purdue University identified a set of blood constituents that differed for layerchickens selected for level of group performance and survivability.  This knowledge will be useful for evaluating animal welfare and may lead to a method to overcome cannibalism in layer chickens without beak trimming.

Social Behavior and Spacing

With the intensification of animal agriculture and the greater number of animals at each location or in production units, a major question is whether intensive management adversely affects an animal's wellbeing.  Research will be conducted to provide a scientific basis for understanding the social behavior of food animals and how the quality and quantity of space influences behavior.  Research to show consequences, such as changes in patterns of social interaction and space utilization will require an integrated research approach.

Ensuring plentiful water supply for broilers.  Broiler chickens are provided water with a nipple watering system.  Previous research by ARS scientists at Mississippi State University showed the importance of proper height of the nipple watering system in preventing drowning of chickens in periods of high humidity and temperature.  Drinking from a nipple drinker is an unnatural act of birds, and the greater the neck extension, especially during a panting situation, the less a bird will drink water.  Water consumption was shown to be directly related to feed consumption, feed conversion, and body weight gain.  To reduce labor, a system was developed that automatically raises the nipple watering system as broilers grow larger.                                                           

Evaluate Practices and Systems to Improve Wellbeing

Management practices, such as transportation and slaughter, and special agricultural practices, such as beak trimming, dehorning, branding, tail docking, and castration, are important and necessary elements of animal management in current production systems.  These practices affect the wellbeing of animals.  Research will address evaluation of the current and alternative practices concerning potential pain, stress or discomfort, and production efficiency.  Alternative environment systems and current management practices will be evaluated for their effect on farm animal wellbeing and overall goals to improve animal comfort, wellbeing, and production efficiency.  Research to improve both production efficiency and animal wellbeing will be conducted.

Antiinflammatory helps piglets.  Birth has been shown as an optimal time to regulate postnatal physiological functions associated with growth and stress in the piglet.  ARS scientists and University of Missouri cooperators at Columbia, Missouri, found that growth of neonatal pigs was enhanced 12 percent during the first 18 days of life by administering an antiinflammatory agent.  This discovery has the potential of major reduction in feed costs and time to get pigs to market size.

Bioenergetic Criteria for Environmental Management

Adverse environmental conditions cause livestock and poultry losses, decreased production efficiency, and decreased animal wellbeing.  Available technology needs to be adapted for proactively managing environmental stressors.  Research to develop decision support tools is needed to help producers deal with environmental stressors, provide protective measures, recognize livestock and poultry in distress, and take appropriate management actions.

Respiration rate monitoring system.  A respiration rate monitoring system for cattle was developed (hardware and software) by ARS engineers at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Nebraska, and field tested by collaborators at Columbia, Missouri.  The respiration rate equipment is commercially available.  Several "tools" have been developed to aid producers in management decisions dealing with the thermal environment.