SAC Research

Animal Welfare Projects

Identification and mitigation of the environmental impacts of out-wintering beef and dairy cattle on sacrifice areas

The aim of this research is to investigate the impacts of out-wintering cattle on grass sacrifice fields. This broadly consists of three main objectives, namely:- a) to identify parameters that quantify the impacts of out-wintering cattle in social, economic and environmental terms; b) to establish the sensitivities of impacts from out-wintering, which emerge from various bio-physical and management strategies; and c) to evaluate the barriers and potential for adoption of strategies to mitigate against these negative impacts.

Early environment effects on animal health, welfare and productivity

1. ‘EARLY LIFE’ HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND SPECIFICATION a. Form steering group composed of research and industry expertise across the target species. b. Review literature on early life effects in the target species to identify treatments/situations/events already established as hazards. c. Review literature on studies that have assessed general stress/welfare hazards for gestating animals in their own right – but without looking at ‘downstream’ effects on their offspring. d. Canvass expert opinion to ensure all possible potential hazards (in a UK commercial context) have been identified. e. Compile full list of potential hazards for each species and identify possible commercially relevant sources of variation in early life management. f. Publish reviews on early life effects on health, welfare and productivity as appropriate across the species groups. 2. HAZARD CHARACTERISATION a. From literature and biological first principles identify likelihood, type and severity of offspring outcomes. b. Identify factors influencing susceptibility or resistance to early life hazards (basic biology, sex, social status, breed, age/parity etc). c. Identify knowledge gaps. d. Compile list of severity estimates for previously identified hazards. 3. EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT a. Gather information from farms (breeding units, hatcheries etc) to assess real life variation in management practices. b. Estimate national prevalence of exposure to individual early life hazards. 4. RISK CHARACTERISATION a. For each species combine information from HI, HC and EA (Objectives 1-3) to rank likely welfare risk of early life hazards. b. Identifying relative risk ranking across species. 5. RISK COMMUNICATION a. Define best-practice management for animals during early development. b. Implement KT activities based on prioritisation of risk. c. Provide suggestions for future research priorities.

The effect of selection for lean tissue growth on muscle fibre characteristics in lambs, and the implications for welfare Studentship

This 4-year PhD studentship is in collaboration with Professor Charlotte Maltin at QMS. The main aim of this project is to understand how genetic selection of different sheep genotypes for production characteristics may have functional consequences for the animal that impact on its welfare and survival. In particular, it will address whether selection for rapid growth in sheep has altered muscle development, e.g. by affecting the proportion of different muscle fibre types, and whether this has functional consequences for the ability of the animal to perform certain behaviours, such as neonatal progression to standing and sucking.

Innovative and practical breeding tools for improved dairy products from more robust dairy cattle

The objective of ROBUSTMILK is to develop new practical technologies to allow breeders to refocus their selection to include milk quality and dairy cow robustness and to evaluate the consequences of selection for these traits taking cognisance of various milk production systems.

A study to assess how to promote a duty of care to animals in young people

1: A comprehensive review of research on (a) the development of children’s relationships with, and attitudes towards, animals and (b) approaches to facilitate positive behaviour towards animals in children and young people. 2: Construction of a database of relevant research groups and interventions/educational programmes in the UK and abroad. 3: Recommendations for future research (with the aim of providing guidance on appropriate intervention work or educational programmes (both within and outwith the school setting) and partnership working amongst key stakeholders 4: Development of techniques for revealing (a) children’s perspectives on animals and their welfare and (b) teachers’ attitudes to potential interventions aimed at promoting a DOC to animals within the school environment. 5: A study applying techniques from Phase 2 within the school environment to reveal (a) children’s perspectives on animal welfare and (b) teachers’ attitudes to potential interventions aimed at promoting a DOC to animals within the school environment. This objective will also cover a revisiting and potential revision of recommendations on interventions from Phase 1.

Epidemiological study to identify acceptable maximum journey lengths for pigs whilst maintaining welfare

1. Gain an overview of journey characteristics of long-distance pig transports throughout Europe (phase 1). 2. Collect data on journey and vehicle characteristics on a statistically viable range of long-distance pig transports throughout Europe (phase 2). 3. Collect animal-based measures of cohorts of pigs on a statistically viable range of long distance pig transports throughout Europe (phase 2). 4. Analysis and modelling of data collected in phase 2 (phase 3) 5. Presentation of results via workshop to defra, industry representatives and participating hauliers

Genetic regulation and genomic selection of energy balance traits in dairy cattle

This SGRERAD Development-funded project supports a collaboration with Iowa State university, USA, which is funded from a USDA grant. The project aims to develop genetic selection strategies to improve the lifetime productivity, efficiency and welfare of dairy cows. Declining performance in production traits, for example reproduction, health and longevity, has become a major concern of the dairy industry worldwide. Energy balance (the difference between energy intake and energy expenditure) is of prime importance as it links production and non-production traits, through a common pool of available energy. Energy balance is not included in current breeding programmes as it is difficult to meaure. The overall aim of this project is to define the genetic regulation of energy balance at quanitative and molecular levels, and to incorporate energy balance into selection programmes. The way this will be done will be first to estimate genetic parameters for energy balance and define relationships among energy balance, production and fertility traits. We will then identify quantitative trait loci influening energy balance and related traits. Finally we will apply genomic selection methods to estimate energy balnce breeding values from marker genotypes. The results from this project should have application to the dairy industry, as they will enable selection for non-production traits.

Re-designing the farrowing environment from first principles to optimise animal welfare and economic performance

Currently the majority of sows housed indoors give birth to their piglets in farrowing crates (60% of the UK herd). This housing is designed to protect the piglets but raises serious welfare concerns for the sow, being restrictive both physically and behaviourally. Defra and other groups have previously funded projects to develop alternative farrowing accommodation, yet there has been no large scale commercial uptake of a system. Preventing uptake are the valid concerns by farmers about piglet survival, ease of management and cost. Consequently Defra are funding this “PIGSAFE” project (Piglet and Sow Alternative Farrowing Environment) which is run by SAC and Newcastle University, in close collaboration with stakeholder groups from the industry and animal protection societies. It will use economic modelling techniques to synthesise all the current scientific and practical literature on this subject to assist with designing a prototype system that can be developed, refined and tested at experimental and commercial level. The project aims to design a system based on the combination of pig biology and commercial practicality to develop alternative farrowing accommodation that optimises both pig welfare and economics.

Genetic selection for health and welfare traits in lambs Studentship

This studentship is a collaboration SAC and the Suffolk Sheep Society which provides animals and pedigree information to develop scoring systems for two welfare traits in lambs. The main aim of this project is to provide practical solutions to two welfare problems in sheep: 1) poor lamb vigour leading to excessive human intervention at lambing time and/or increased lamb mortality; and 2) breech soiling leading to an increased risk of flystrike. The research will build on current knowledge of lamb behaviour and parasitism at SAC, and an existing collaboration with the Suffolk Sheep Society, to develop scoring systems for these traits that can be reliably measured on farm. The project will investigate the underlying biological principles behind the scoring systems, and use quantitative genetic analyses to explore the possibility of selection on the basis of the scoring systems.

Animal welfare research training scholarship: choices for hungry broiler breeders: do they prefer qualitative food restriction to quantitative food restriction?

Broiler breeders are fed a restricted quantity of high quality food (quantitative restriction) and show signs of hunger (high food motivation, activity and abnormal foraging behaviour). An alternative is to provide larger quantities of lower quality food (e.g. high in fibre; qualitative restriction), although the welfare benefits of this remain controversial. Preference testing enables us to ‘ask the animal’ whether its welfare is improved: we will offer broilers choices between large portions of low quality food and small portions of high quality food (portions designed to achieve equal growth), and furthermore explore the basis and strength of any preference. This project is PhD studentship awarded to Louise Buckley and funded by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW).