'One animal is no animal' - Consequences of measuring animal welfare at herd level

Abstract

Animal welfare is by definition a characteristic of an individual animal. The aim of animal welfare legislation in Europe is usually to promote animal welfare and protect individual animals from suffering. However, several approaches have been made to create systems for measuring animal welfare at herd level. The aim of this study was to discuss how animals may be affected if a herd approach is used and how this relates to the current animal welfare legislation. Proportions of animals affected, sampling, thresholds and benchmarking are discussed. We conclude that systems based exclusively on group assessment would, if defined narrowly, not be in line with the intentions of a legislation that requires acceptable conditions and outcomes for every individual animal. However, the non-individual approach can be a valuable complement. As some standards use group measures it is important that both producers and consumers are aware of the limitations.

Keywords

Animal welfare assessment; Group level; Individuals; Intentions; Legislation

Published in

Title: Know your food : Food ethics and innovation
Publisher: Wageningen Academic Publishers

SLU Authors

• Berg, Lotta

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Röcklinsberg, Helena

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_3
• ISBN: 978-90-8686-264-1
• eISBN: 978-90-8686-813-1

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/132057