Choice of scan-sampling intervals—An example with quantifying neighbours in dairy cows

Ruff Morning? The Use of Environmental Enrichment during an Acute Stressor in Kenneled Shelter Dogs

The length of stay for some animals has increased with the recent reduction of animals euthanized in US shelters and animal control facilities. Research examining the effectiveness of different types of enrichment on buffering the effects of acute daily stressors in the shelter environment, such as kennel cleaning, is lacking. In addition, daily known stressors can result in undesirable behaviors that could lead to a need for euthanasia. Ways to effectively reduce the effects of daily stressors while optimizing strained resources is currently a high priority. In this study, we presented shelter dogs with food, tactile, and scent enrichment items to increase (arousing) or decrease (calming) activity during the daily stressor of morning kennel cleaning. We found that calming, rather than arousing, enrichment items were associated with body position scores indicative of lower stress in dogs, with calming scent enrichment (lavender) producing the most significant benefit. In contrast, items that showed the greatest reduction in vocalization were arousing (ball) compared to other arousing conditions. Our findings suggest that different unwanted behaviors in the kennel environment often associated with stress can be reduced using specific types of enrichment during a daily stressful event. Further, the results illustrate that enrichment items other than food might be more effective at decreasing certain undesirable behaviors. Overall, this study provides insight into how shelter workers might effectively use enrichment items during an unavoidable acute stressor. With many shelters keeping dogs longer, addressing events that might cause repeated stress in this population may indirectly help with adopting and lowering euthanasia rates due to unwanted behavior that develops due to repeated exposure to this necessary but acute stressor of morning cleaning.

Nearest-neighbour clusters as a novel technique for assessing group associations

When all the individuals in a social group can be easily identified, one of the simplest measures of social interaction that can be recorded is nearest-neighbour identity. Many field studies use sequential scan samples of groups to build up association metrics using these nearest-neighbour identities. Here, I describe a simple technique for identifying clusters of associated individuals within groups that uses nearest-neighbour identity data. Using computer-generated datasets with known associations, I demonstrate that this clustering technique can be used to build data suitable for association metrics, and that it can generate comparable metrics to raw nearest-neighbour data, but with much less initial data. This technique could therefore be of use where it is difficult to generate large datasets. Other situations where the technique would be useful are discussed.

Social Networks and Welfare in Future Animal Management

Simple Summary

Living in a stable social environment is important to animals. Animal species have developed social behaviors and rules of approach and avoidance of conspecifics in order to co-exist. Animal species are kept or domesticated without explicit regard for their inherent social behavior and rules. Examples of social structures are provided for four species kept and managed by humans. This information is important for the welfare management of these species. In the near future, automatic measurement of social structures will provide a tool for daily welfare management together with nearest neighbor information.

Abstract

It may become advantageous to keep human-managed animals in the social network groups to which they have adapted. Data concerning the social networks of farm animal species and their ancestors are scarce but essential to establishing the importance of a natural social network for farmed animal species. Social Network Analysis (SNA) facilitates the characterization of social networking at group, subgroup and individual levels. SNA is currently used for modeling the social behavior and management of wild animals and social welfare of zoo animals. It has been recognized for use with farm animals but has yet to be applied for management purposes. Currently, the main focus is on cattle, because in large groups (poultry), recording of individuals is expensive and the existence of social networks is uncertain due to on-farm restrictions. However, in many cases, a stable social network might be important to individual animal fitness, survival and welfare. For instance, when laying hens are not too densely housed, simple networks may be established. We describe here small social networks in horses, brown bears, laying hens and veal calves to illustrate the importance of measuring social networks among animals managed by humans. Emphasis is placed on the automatic measurement of identity, location, nearest neighbors and nearest neighbor distance for management purposes. It is concluded that social networks are important to the welfare of human-managed animal species and that welfare management based on automatic recordings will become available in the near future.

Invited review: associations between variables of routine herd data and dairy cattle welfare indicators

As farm animal welfare is high on the political and societal agendas of many countries, considerable pressure exists to establish audit programs in which farm animal welfare is routinely monitored. On-farm assessment of animal welfare, however, is time-consuming and costly. A promising strategy to monitor animal welfare more efficiently is to first estimate the level of animal welfare on a farm based on routine herd data that are available in national databases. It is not currently known which variables of routine herd data (VRHD) are associated with dairy cattle welfare indicators (WI). Our aim was to identify VRHD that are associated with WI in a literature review. The 27 VRHD used in this review included the main types of data that are currently collected in national herd databases of developed countries, and related to identification and registration, management, milk production, and reproduction of dairy herds. The 34 WI used in this review were based on the Welfare Quality Assessment Protocol for Cattle. The search yielded associations in 146 studies. Twenty-three VRHD were associated with 16 WI. The VRHD that related to milk yield, culling, and reproduction were associated with the largest number of WI. Few associations were found for WI that referred to behavioral aspects of animal welfare, nonspecific disease symptoms, or resources-based indicators. For 18 WI, associations with VRHD were not significant (n=5 WI) or no studies were found that investigated associations with VRHD (n=13 WI). It was concluded that many VRHD have potential to estimate the level of animal welfare on dairy farms. As strengths of associations were not considered in this review, however, the true value of these VRHD should be further explored. Moreover, associations found at the animal level and in an experimental setting might not appear at the farm level and in common practice and should be investigated. Cross-sectional studies using integrated welfare scores at the farm level are needed to more accurately determine the potential of VRHD to estimate levels of animal welfare on dairy farms.