Improving Animal Welfare A Practical Approach

About this book

New legislation on animal welfare standards has created the need for welfare programmes to be implemented on farms, during transportation and in slaughter plants, but while there is a wealth of information on animal behaviour, ethics and factors affecting welfare, there is little to guide veterinarians and managers in evaluating and improving animal welfare.

Drawing on the author's extensive experience in teaching and auditing, and contributions from expert guest authors, Improving Animal Welfare bridges the gap between scientific research and practical application. It provides a guide to evaluating and auditing welfare problems, and emphasizes the importance of measuring conditions that compromise welfare. It is an essential text for welfare auditing or welfare officer training, and broader animal welfare topics, helping students to apply their knowledge in the field.

Contents

1. Why is animal welfare important?
2. The importance of using measurement to improve animal welfare
3. Writing effective standards and scoring systems for accessing welfare
4. The power of economic factors to improve animal welfare
5. How to improve handling, reduce stress, and lower death losses
6. How to access welfare on the farm
7. Improving welfare in slaughter plants
8. Genetic factors that are detrimental to animal welfare
9. Painful management procedures
10. Why are an animal's behavioural needs important?
11. How are behavioural needs measured?
12. On-farm euthanasia and prevention of non ambulatory animals
13. Improving the welfare of draft and work animals
14. Animals really do feel fear and pain
15. Successful technology transfer of behavioural research

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Biography

Temple Grandin is Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Dr. Grandin's work includes design of animal handling systems, research on livestock behaviour, and auditing animal welfare. She has visited 26 countries and has served on the OIE animal welfare ad hoc committee for slaughter. Her previous livestock books are: Livestock Handling and Transport, Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals and Humane Livestock Handling. Her popular press books on animal behaviour have been both U.S. and international bestsellers. Throughout her career, Dr. Grandin has worked to combine scientific research results with practical application in the field. In the North America half, the cattle are handled in equipment she designed for meat plants. She has received awards for her work on animal welfare from both the livestock industry and animal welfare NGO's. She has swards from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The American Meat Institute, American Society for Animal Science and the Humane Society of the U.S.