Definition of criteria for overall assessment of animal welfare

R. Botreau, I. Veissier, A. Butterworth, M.B.M. Bracke, L.J. Keeling

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

262 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Welfare is multidimensional, comprising good health, comfort, expression of behaviour, and so on. Its overall assessment therefore requires a multicriteria evaluation. The set of criteria shall be exhaustive (no missing item), minimal (only necessary items), agreed by stakeholders, and legible (a limited number of criteria). Furthermore, the interpretation from one criterion shall not depend on that from another. We propose a set of 12 subcriteria grouped into four criteria: feeding, housing, health and optimised emotional states. This work will assist in developing measures to be used on-farm to form a European standard for overall assessment of animal welfare.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)225-228
JournalAnimal Welfare
Volume16
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • science
  • calves

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