Measuring how farm animals ‘feel’
We are researching ways to improve the welfare of livestock by developing scientific methods to assess how animals ‘feel’ in response to common management practices.
The challenge
With increased public concern about the welfare of animals and consumers looking for animal-welfare-friendly products, Australia’s livestock industries are focussing on improving farming practices to reduce stress and pain in animals and improve their wellbeing. This requires objective methods to measure the welfare of animals in their on-farm environment.
The science of objective measurement of animal welfare is relatively new. Current methods largely focus on quantifying biological indicators of stress – for example, via blood tests that show changes in animals’ physiology or immune systems. Studies of animal behaviour have also been used to indicate obvious emotional states such as pain or discomfort, or preferences for different foods. Together, these studies provide some insight on animal welfare but do not give us the whole picture.
Our response
To address this challenge, our team have explored the application of human psychological theories in livestock to understand the emotional states of animals in different farming situations.
Our work in this area has included the development of novel emotional reactivity tests and collaborating with institutions such as the National Agronomy Research Institute in France to pioneer a new field of livestock research on cognitive biases.
The results
We have developed a range of cognitive methods that have shown promise as measures of emotional states for livestock. The cognitive methods developed by our team have been adopted and adapted by welfare scientists around the globe for use in a range of livestock species.
We are continuing to undertake research to refine the methods and expand our understanding of the emotional and cognitive functions of livestock. Understanding how our production systems impact the way animals ‘feel’ will allow us to alter farming practices to improve animal welfare.
Judgement bias
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0211363
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159114003116
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938411000060
Attention bias
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0977
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159117303179
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47691-7
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00246/full
https://peerj.com/articles/8122/
Emotional reactivity
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159120300794