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Thermography as an indicator of goat welfare in an intensive production system

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Abstract

This study evaluated the welfare of Saanen, Moxoto, and Anglo-Nubian goats kept in collective or individual pens for a feedlot system, evaluated with infrared thermography. A total of twenty-four goats were used, eight for each breed. Animals were distributed in a completely randomized design, with a 2 × 3 factorial with two fixed effects: housing type (collective or individual pens) and breed (Moxoto, Saanen, and Anglo-Nubian). The surface temperature was evaluated using an infrared thermographic camera, and behavioral analysis was based on the qualitative behavior assessment using a fixed list of descriptors. The breed was not different for all behavior evaluations and surface temperature (p>0.05). There was a difference between the housing types, where the collective pens showed goats more agitated, frustrated, and sociable (p<0.05). There was an influence of agitated, apathetic, frustrated, attentive, and curious behaviors on surface temperatures, in which feet and body temperatures decreased in these goats. (p<0.05). Moxoto, Anglo-Nubian, and Saanen goats showed similar behavior even when kept in collective or individual pens. Individual pens can restrict the goats’ social relationships but reduce negative behaviors such as irritation and frustration. The lower foot temperatures of feedlot goats are related to the attention behavior in 86.75% of the observations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (“Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior” (CAPES-Brazil) for the first author’s scholarship.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (“Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior” -CAPES-Brazil); grant number: 88882.453812/2019-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil

    Eduardo de O. Costa, Layse A. Gordiano, Fernanda G. Ferreira, Stefanie A. Santos, Gleidson Giordano P. de Carvalho, Maria Leonor G. M. L. de Araújo & Manuela S. L. Tosto

  2. Department of Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science/Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, 40.170-110, Brazil

    Manuela S. L. Tosto

Authors
  1. Eduardo de O. Costa
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  2. Layse A. Gordiano
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  3. Fernanda G. Ferreira
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  4. Stefanie A. Santos
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  5. Gleidson Giordano P. de Carvalho
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  6. Maria Leonor G. M. L. de Araújo
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  7. Manuela S. L. Tosto
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Contributions

Conceptualization: SAS, GGPdeC; methodology: MSLT, GGPdeC; formal analysis and investigation: EdeOC, FGF, LAG, SAS, MSLT, GGPdeC; writing—original draft preparation: EdeOC, MSLT, GGPdeC; writing—review and editing: MLGMLdeA, MSLT; funding acquisition: GGPdeC; supervision: SAS, MSLT, GGPdeC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuela S. L. Tosto.

Ethics declarations

Statement of animal rights

Experimental procedures used in this study were conducted under the approval of the Ethics Committee on Animal Use of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil (protocol number: 53/2019).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Costa, E.d.O., Gordiano, L.A., Ferreira, F.G. et al. Thermography as an indicator of goat welfare in an intensive production system. Trop Anim Health Prod 55, 373 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03791-1

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