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Biological Basis Of Animal Welfare
Work in this area is aimed at understanding animal welfare from the animals’ perspective in order to better provide for the animals’ needs.
We can partly gain understanding of our farm animals’ needs by looking at the behaviour of their wild ancestors and relatives. However it is also important to test the assumptions that arise from this through experimental work. At SAC we explore animals’ needs through observing behaviour and physiology under different conditions (e.g. during transport), and through the use of motivational tests (e.g. offering dairy cows different types of area in which to rest). We are also interested in using our understanding of animals’ needs in our economic research.
Policy Relevance
This research makes a clear contribution to addressing societal concerns over animal welfare by providing objective and practical information on how to provide for animals’ needs.