Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed

Current animal welfare protocols focus on demonstrating the absence (or at least low levels) of indicators of poor welfare, potentially creating a mismatch between what is expected by society (an assurance of good animal welfare) and what is actually being delivered (an assurance of the absence of w...

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Autores principales:	Linda J. Keeling, Christoph Winckler, Sara Hintze, Björn Forkman
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	animal welfare welfare assessment dairy (cows) positive emotion animal-based measures affective states Veterinary medicine SF600-1100
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8bb4fb82367346b38729549516b87c06
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8bb4fb82367346b38729549516b87c062021-11-15T06:30:32ZTowards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed2673-622510.3389/fanim.2021.753080https://doaj.org/article/8bb4fb82367346b38729549516b87c062021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2021.753080/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2673-6225Current animal welfare protocols focus on demonstrating the absence (or at least low levels) of indicators of poor welfare, potentially creating a mismatch between what is expected by society (an assurance of good animal welfare) and what is actually being delivered (an assurance of the absence of welfare problems). This paper explores how far we have come, and what work still needs to be done, if we are to develop a protocol for use on commercial dairy farms where the aim is to demonstrate the presence of positive welfare. Following conceptual considerations around a perceived “ideal” protocol, we propose that a future protocol should be constructed (i) of animal-based measures, (ii) of indicators of affective state, and (iii) be structured according to indicators of short-term emotion, medium-term moods and long-term cumulative assessment of negative and positive experiences of an animal's life until now (in contrast to the current focus on indicators that represent different domains/criteria of welfare). These three conditions imposed the overall structure within which we selected our indicators. The paper includes a critical review of the literature on potential indicators of positive affective states in cattle. Based on evidence about the validity and reliability of the different indicators, we select ear position, play, allogrooming, brush use and QBA as candidate indicators that we suggest could form a prototype positive welfare protocol. We emphasise that this prototype protocol has not been tested in practice and so it is perhaps not the protocol itself that is the main outcome of this paper, but the process of trying to develop it. In a final section of this paper, we reflect on some of the lessons learnt from this exercise and speculate on future perspectives. For example, while we consider we have moved towards a prototype positive welfare protocol for short-term affective states, future research energy should be directed towards valid indicators for the medium and long-term.Linda J. KeelingChristoph WincklerSara HintzeBjörn ForkmanFrontiers Media S.A.articleanimal welfarewelfare assessmentdairy (cows)positive emotionanimal-based measuresaffective statesVeterinary medicineSF600-1100ENFrontiers in Animal Science, Vol 2 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	animal welfare welfare assessment dairy (cows) positive emotion animal-based measures affective states Veterinary medicine SF600-1100
spellingShingle	animal welfare welfare assessment dairy (cows) positive emotion animal-based measures affective states Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Linda J. Keeling Christoph Winckler Sara Hintze Björn Forkman Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
description	Current animal welfare protocols focus on demonstrating the absence (or at least low levels) of indicators of poor welfare, potentially creating a mismatch between what is expected by society (an assurance of good animal welfare) and what is actually being delivered (an assurance of the absence of welfare problems). This paper explores how far we have come, and what work still needs to be done, if we are to develop a protocol for use on commercial dairy farms where the aim is to demonstrate the presence of positive welfare. Following conceptual considerations around a perceived “ideal” protocol, we propose that a future protocol should be constructed (i) of animal-based measures, (ii) of indicators of affective state, and (iii) be structured according to indicators of short-term emotion, medium-term moods and long-term cumulative assessment of negative and positive experiences of an animal's life until now (in contrast to the current focus on indicators that represent different domains/criteria of welfare). These three conditions imposed the overall structure within which we selected our indicators. The paper includes a critical review of the literature on potential indicators of positive affective states in cattle. Based on evidence about the validity and reliability of the different indicators, we select ear position, play, allogrooming, brush use and QBA as candidate indicators that we suggest could form a prototype positive welfare protocol. We emphasise that this prototype protocol has not been tested in practice and so it is perhaps not the protocol itself that is the main outcome of this paper, but the process of trying to develop it. In a final section of this paper, we reflect on some of the lessons learnt from this exercise and speculate on future perspectives. For example, while we consider we have moved towards a prototype positive welfare protocol for short-term affective states, future research energy should be directed towards valid indicators for the medium and long-term.
format	article
author	Linda J. Keeling Christoph Winckler Sara Hintze Björn Forkman
author_facet	Linda J. Keeling Christoph Winckler Sara Hintze Björn Forkman
author_sort	Linda J. Keeling
title	Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
title_short	Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
title_full	Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
title_fullStr	Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
title_full_unstemmed	Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed
title_sort	towards a positive welfare protocol for cattle: a critical review of indicators and suggestion of how we might proceed
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8bb4fb82367346b38729549516b87c06
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Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed

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