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Assessing Farm Animal Welfare from a Nutritional Perspective

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Nutrition and the Welfare of Farm Animals

Part of the book series: Animal Welfare ((AWNS,volume 16))

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Abstract

In many countries around the world genetic selection strategies have produced farm animals with a high productive (meat, milk, and eggs) potential. These high-producing animals need to be fed and housed under optimum conditions to ensure that the expression of their genetic potential does not compromise welfare. To strive for the highest level of welfare for food-producing animals, one must consider the animal’s health and biological functioning and its affective state as well as ensure provision of environments where the animals can engage in behaviours they are highly motivated to perform. Animal-based models, including growth rate, body condition score, lameness, morbidity, and mortality, and environment-based indexes such as temperature, stocking density, and bedding quality are useful metrics to ensure a minimum level of welfare. However, their use on a particular farm can only be as good as the records kept on the farm. This chapter reviews the main nutritional challenges to welfare in farm animals and provides an overview of possible welfare indicators for cattle, swine, and poultry, with a special emphasis on those aspects related to nutrition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICREA, Barcelona, Spain

    Alex Bach

  2. Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk

  3. Department of Animal Biosciences and Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Tina M. Widowski

  4. Department of Population Medicine and Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Derek Haley

Authors
  1. Alex Bach
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  2. Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk
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  3. Tina M. Widowski
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  4. Derek Haley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex Bach .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia

    Clive J. C. Phillips

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Bach, A., von Keyserlingk, M.A.G., Widowski, T.M., Haley, D. (2016). Assessing Farm Animal Welfare from a Nutritional Perspective. In: Phillips, C. (eds) Nutrition and the Welfare of Farm Animals. Animal Welfare, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27356-3_6

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