Special Issue "Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems and at Slaughter"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 March 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Shana Bergmann
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chair of Animal Welfare, Ethology, Animal Hygiene and Husbandry, LMU Munich, 80539 Munich, Germany
Interests: animal welfare; well-being of farm animals; husbandry systems; species-specific behavior; slaughter process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current legislation for animal welfare often defines only minimum requirements and does not yet prevent animal welfare-related problems from being widespread in all production stages. Problems are regularly experienced with cattle, pigs, and poultry, and examples range from lameness in dairy cows to tail biting in fattening pigs and feather pecking in laying hens. As prophylaxis and to minimize some of these problems, interventions are carried out on animals associated with pain, such as dehorning calves, shortening the tail of piglets, and beak-trimming of chicks. Inappropriate and rough treatment of animals at the slaughterhouse and insufficient assessment of adequate stunning at the slaughterhouse also impair the animals’ well-being. Different approaches are being made to improve housing systems and slaughter processes for livestock. Improvements have become part of retail communication, not least because consumers increasingly demand ethically correct livestock handling. To date, however, not all questions and relationships of the known problems and their occurrence have been conclusively clarified.

Original research papers that address aspects to further improve animal welfare in livestock husbandry and at slaughter are invited to this Special Issue. Topics on the development and evaluation of new housing systems, environmental enrichment, alternatives to zootechnical measures, humane handling and humane slaughter, and other research on the support of health and animal well-being are of particular interest.

Dr. Shana Bergmann
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • animal welfare
  • farm animal
  • environmental enrichment
  • husbandry system
  • behavior
  • zootechnical measures
  • climate
  • handling
  • slaughter

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Welfare and Performance of Three Turkey Breeds—Comparison between Infrared Beak Treatment and Natural Beak Abrasion by Pecking on a Screed Grinding Wheel
Animals 2021, 11(8), 2395; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082395 - 13 Aug 2021
Viewed by 410
Abstract
Feather pecking and cannibalism are behavioral disorders that cause animal-welfare-relevant and economic problems. To mitigate these problems, the beaks of conventionally reared turkeys are usually already trimmed in the hatcheries. To find an alternative to beak trimming, we conducted this study with male [...] Read more.
Feather pecking and cannibalism are behavioral disorders that cause animal-welfare-relevant and economic problems. To mitigate these problems, the beaks of conventionally reared turkeys are usually already trimmed in the hatcheries. To find an alternative to beak trimming, we conducted this study with male turkeys of three breeds: B.U.T. 6, B.U.T. Premium and, Auburn (200 turkeys per breed). Half of the birds had infrared-trimmed beaks; the other half had intact beaks. For each treatment combination (breed, beak status), 25 turkeys were housed in one section. A screed grinding wheel was installed in each feed pan of the non-beak-trimmed turkeys as of week six to facilitate natural beak abrasion until slaughter. Eight randomly selected turkeys per section were regularly examined to record injuries, plumage condition, and beak dimensions. In addition, 96 beaks from randomly slaughtered birds were examined macroscopically and histologically. The results concerning injuries and plumage condition showed in most cases no differences between the beak-trimmed turkeys and the ones provided with the blunting disks. The histological examinations revealed alterations in only the beak-trimmed birds. We can conclude that the blunting method smoothens the beak during feeding and thus may be a possible alternative to beak trimming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems and at Slaughter)
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