Welfare Assessment

Operational details of the five domains model and its key applications to the assessment and management of animal welfare

In accord with contemporary animal welfare science understanding, the Five Domains Model has a significant focus on subjective experiences, known as affects, which collectively contribute to an animal's overall welfare state. Operationally, the focus of the Model is on the...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Mellor, D. Operational details of the five domains model and its key applications to the assessment and management of animal welfare. Animals 7(8), 60.

Research tools for the measurement of pain and nociception

There are many ways in which pain in animals can be measured and these are based on a variety of phenomena that are related to either the perception of pain or alterations in physical or behavioural features of the animal...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Johnson, C. 2016. Research tools for the measurement of pain and nociception. Animals 6(11), 71.

Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” by updating the “Five Provisions” and introducing aligned “Animal Welfare Aims”

Although the Five Freedoms paradigm has been very influential in shaping animal welfare thinking for the last two decades, it has two key disadvantages. First, the focus on “freedom” from a range of negative experiences and states has been misunderstood...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Mellor, D. 2016. Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” by updating the “Five Provisions” and introducing aligned “Animal Welfare Aims”. Animals 6(10), 59.

Animal-based measures to assess the welfare of extensively managed ewes

The reliability and feasibility of 10 animal-based measures of ewe welfare were examined for use in extensive sheep production systems. Measures were: Body condition score (BCS), rumen fill, fleece cleanliness, fleece condition, skin lesions, tail length, dag score, foot-wall integrity,...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Sheep

Citation: Munoz, C., Campbell, A., Hemsworth, P. et al. 2018. Animal-based measures to assess the welfare of extensively managed ewes. Animals 8(1), 2.

Assessment of plumage and integument condition in dual-purpose breeds and conventional layers

The assessment of plumage and integument condition in laying hens provides useful information about the occurrence of feather pecking and cannibalism. Although feather loss and skin injuries can result from mechanical abrasion or clinical diseases, they are valid animal-based indicators...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Giersberg, M., Spindler, B., Kemper, N. 2017. Assessment of plumage and integument condition in dual-purpose breeds and conventional layers. Animals 7(12), 97.

Objective measures for the assessment of post-operative pain in Bos indicus bull calves following castration

The aim of the study was to assess pain in Bos indicus bull calves following surgical castration. Forty-two animals were randomised to four groups: no castration (NC, n = 6); castration with pre-operative lidocaine (CL, n = 12); castration with...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Reproduction, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Musk, G., Jacobsen, S., Hyndman, T. et al. 2017. Objective measures for the assessment of post-operative pain in Bos indicus bull calves following castration. Animals 7(10), 76.

The use of qualitative behaviour assessment for the on-farm welfare assessment of dairy goats

This research investigated whether using qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) with a fixed list of descriptors may be related to quantitative animal- (ABM) and resource-based (RBM) measures included in the AWIN (Animal Welfare Indicators) welfare assessment prototype protocol for goats, tested...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Goat

Citation: Battini, M., Barbieri, S., Vieira, A. et al. 2018. The use of qualitative behaviour assessment for the on-farm welfare assessment of dairy goats. Animals 8(7), 123.

Toward a choice-based judgment bias task for horses

Judgment bias tasks for nonhuman animals are promising tools to assess emotional valence as a measure of animal welfare. In view of establishing a valid judgment bias task for horses, the present study aimed to evaluate 2 versions (go/no-go and...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Hintze, S., Roth, E., Bachmann, I. et al. 2017. Toward a choice-based judgment bias task for horses. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 20(2), 123-136.

A deep neural network to assess spontaneous pain from mouse facial expressions

Grimace scales quantify characteristic facial expressions associated with spontaneous pain in rodents and other mammals. However, these scales have not been widely adopted largely because of the time and effort required for highly trained humans to manually score the images....

Year Published: 2018Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Tuttle, A. H., Molinaro, M. J., Jethwa, J. F. et al. 2018. A deep neural network to assess spontaneous pain from mouse facial expressions. Molecular Pain 14, 1-9.

What the literature tells us about score sheet design

Score sheets are an essential tool of animal welfare. They allow transparent assessments to be made of animal health and behavior during animal experiments and they define interventions when deviations from normal status are detected. As such, score sheets help...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Bugnon, P., Heimann, M., Thallmair, M. 2016. What the literature tells us about score sheet design. Laboratory Animals 50(6), 414-417.