Research in a flash: CSIRO animal welfare research

Andrew Fisher

^{CSIRO Livestock Industries}

• Introduction
• Background
• CSIRO’s animal welfare research projects
• CSIRO’s provision of scientific expertise on animal welfare
• Collaboration under AAWS
  
  
• Conclusions
• References- recent CSIRO Animal Welfare publications (2007-08)
  
  

Introduction

Enhancing the profitability of livestock agriculture in Australia is critical to the future of the industry and associated rural sectors. Traditionally, the success of Australian animal agriculture has been based on a predominantly pastoral based system to produce products at a low cost relative to many other countries. Maintaining and enhancing the profitability of Australian livestock industries will require increasing attention to the production of high quality products with added value, while continuing to utilise low cost farming systems.

The standards of husbandry and welfare practised during the raising of livestock are becoming increasingly important factors influencing customer perceptions of product quality in many markets. Clearly, the use of welfare-unfriendly animal practices has the potential to downgrade product quality and adversely affect both animal health and the efficiency of animal production. Furthermore, the use of practices that initiate consumer and public concerns that are unable to be adequately addressed, may cause damage to the image and marketability of Australian livestock products. The practice of high standards of animal welfare and associated improvements in animal health and reductions in animal stress can not only improve the efficiency of production, but improve product characteristics and add value by increasing product quality, differentiate products from those produced in less welfare-friendly ways, and enhance access to premium-priced welfare-sensitive markets.

Background

The philosophical position of animals in society has been the subject of human discussion since ancient times. During the Age of Enlightenment, contrasting positions on the capacities of animals were symbolised by the views of the philosophers René Descartes (animals were unfeeling “automata”) and Jeremy Bentham, who argued that animals could suffer. In the 19th century, the debate moved on to whether animals should be granted a degree of protection against suffering. In 1822, Richard Martin pushed for the first anti-cruelty bill in the UK parliament, which granted protection for cattle, horses and sheep. Although, for many at the time, the idea of compassion for animals was seen as a bizarre concept, the formation of what became the RSPCA soon followed, in 1824.

During the past century, community views on animal welfare have moved from being concerned only with acts of wanton cruelty toward animals, to concerns about standards of animal care. An area of focus of this public concern for animal welfare has been systems where animals are kept for profit, such as agriculture. Intensive farming systems, where animals are managed in man-made environments, have received particular attention from animal welfare interest groups, and were the subject of the first farm animal welfare campaigns and regulatory scrutiny in the 1960s and 1970s.

As the animal welfare issue has steadily increased in profile in developed countries over recent years, farming industries have grappled with the questions of how to best respond. There are three arguments commonly presented for animal production industries to engage with the welfare issue. These are: 1) Protection/enhancement of markets and assistance in influencing the regulatory environment; 2) Improved production and profitability through reduced animal stress; and 3) Ethical considerations.

In reality, advances in animal health and management mean that the absolute level of animal welfare in modern production systems is generally better than in previous times. However, the movement towards greater intensification in many industries challenges the public concept of the agrarian ideal of animal farming, and raises questions about the welfare of the individual animal within such systems. In addition, specific management practices have the capacity to prompt significant welfare concerns, as demonstrated by the recent action on mulesing in sheep.

The ongoing or emerging animal welfare issues for today’s production systems essentially have the following components: 1) restriction of movement, surgical husbandry practices that may cause pain; 2) long-distance transport of animals for economic gain, and; 3) diseases or problems induced by the production environment.

Australia is well-placed to address the interest of the modern consumer in the animal welfare standards of farming practices. The Australian Animal Welfare Strategy provides a comprehensive framework that can link animal welfare policy, regulatory requirements and industry welfare standards and assurance schemes. Furthermore, many of our production systems, by their nature, conform more easily to public perceptions of how animal farming should look. The flip side is that our extensive livestock production environments have required the development of practices that in some cases are relatively unique to Australia (such as mulesing), or that are performed differently, such as the need to truck animals for relatively long distances.

Where Australian practices are different from those of other farming industries elsewhere, it is possible that they will come under greater welfare scrutiny, or appear more problematic to the external observer. To meet these challenges requires an engagement with the animal welfare issue, including the ability to question what is currently done and to ask if it can be improved.

Such animal industry engagement with animal welfare requires from science the ability to: 1) evaluate the welfare status of farm animal husbandry practices and production environments; 2) address any welfare issues in practices that are revealed; and 3) provide assurance to markets, regulatory authorities and the general public of the welfare standards of the animals being farmed.

The CSIRO is Australia’s national science organisation. The CSIRO’s stated core purpose is to deliver great science and innovative solutions for industry, society and the environment. CSIRO primary roles are to: 1) undertake scientific research; 2) assist Australian industry and to further the interests of the Australian community; 3) contribute to national and international objectives and responsibilities of the Commonwealth Government; and 4) encourage or facilitate the application and use of the results of its own or any other scientific research. Secondary roles are to undertake: 5) international scientific liaison; 6) training of research workers; 7) publication of research results; and 8) dissemination of information about science and technology.

Although CSIRO has a long history of research that has benefited animal health and welfare, in 2002 a decision was taken to develop and fund a dedicated animal welfare research group. Importantly, this decision recognised CSIRO’s roles both in furthering the interests of Australian industry, as well as addressing the interests of Australian society at large. In its animal welfare research, CSIRO continues to aim to address these goals.

CSIRO’s animal welfare research projects

In its animal welfare program, CSIRO focuses on two areas: 1) scientific research (including the development of the next generation of scientists); and 2) the provision of scientific expertise. The aim of the research component is to develop improved and objective measures of animal welfare, and strategies to improve animal welfare and the social acceptance of livestock production practices in Australia. There are three research sub-programs: 1) Develop improved understanding of the biology of animal welfare and its measurement; 2) Identify and select animals adapted to their production environment; and 3) Assess and improve the welfare outcomes of livestock husbandry practices.

The biology of animal welfare and its measurement

The core goal of this sub-program is to develop objective measures of animal welfare through an improved understanding of the biology of stress responses in sheep and cattle. The sub-program includes a project on improving our understanding of animal cognition in order to enable animals to tell us how they perceive the situations in which they are farmed, as well as a project on developing objective measures of livestock welfare (funded by MLA and MWNZ and collaborative with AgResearch). CSIRO research through the Beef CRC is also linked in here, examining gene expression changes and other welfare-associated responses in cattle, conducted in collaboration with the Animal Welfare Science Centre (VicDPI).

Identify and select animals adapted to their production environment

This sub-program aims firstly to develop strategies for the selection and breeding of animals that are suited to their production environments, and secondly to quantify the animal welfare and production benefits of these selection practices. There are three main projects. The Breechstrike Resistance Project is funded by AWI and aims to develop best practice breeding guidelines for breechtraits for the sheep industry, in order to obviate the need for mulesing and equivalent post-birth alterations to breech conformation. The project operates in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture WA. The other two research projects are Contribution of Sheep Temperament to Productivity & Mothering Ability (funded by MLA and collaborative with the University of Western Australia), and Enhancing Lamb Survival, which examines the factors underlying lamb vigour at birth and is in collaboration with the University of New England.

Assess and improve the welfare outcomes of livestock husbandry practices

This sub-program includes recently completed research on the animal welfare outcomes of livestock road transport practices (funded by MLA). This research, through AAWS, has provided a contribution to the development of the forthcoming Australian Standards and Guidelines for Livestock Transport. The sub-program also includes a large project on the assessment and alleviation of responses to painful husbandry procedures in sheep, including work funded by AWI.

CSIRO’s provision of scientific expertise on animal welfare

The goal of this program of activity is to contribute to the national agenda on animal welfare. In general, CSIRO’s welfare research achieves impact through the adoption of livestock industry animal welfare standards and practices, and the incorporation of findings into Australia-wide regulations for animal welfare. Under the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, state and territory jurisdictions are committed to developing a common animal welfare regulatory framework. In contributing to this process, CSIRO scientists form part of the current Standards Writing and Standards Reference Groups, ensuring that the new regulations are underpinned by objective CSIRO science. CSIRO also engages with industry, government, and animal protection NGOs through representation on the livestock sector working group within the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy. As part of the final oversight of Australia’s animal welfare policies and standards, CSIRO provides the technical representation to the Animal Welfare Working Group within the PIMC-PISC system under COAG.

It is important to recognise that such expertise extends beyond farm animals and into other sectors covered by the AAWS. For example, CSIRO continues to make a contribution to the welfare of animals in research and teaching, including being a member of the Code Liaison Group for the Australian code of practice for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes, as well as being a founding and continuing member of ANZCCART.

Collaboration under AAWS

As one of the three largest animal welfare research groups in Australia, the CSIRO animal welfare research group is committed to forming one of the central pillars of the integrated animal welfare research framework identified under AAWS, along with the Animal Welfare Science Centre in Victoria, and the Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics at the University of Queensland. Close by, in New Zealand, there are collaborations with the Centre for Animal Welfare and Bioethics at Massey University, and AgResearch’s Animal Behaviour & Welfare Group. With the role of the OIE in developing agreed international animal welfare benchmarks and standards, these types of collaborations are of increasing importance.

Conclusions

As Australia’s national science organisation, the CSIRO is committed to enhancing the sustainability of Australian industry and the interests of the Australian community. Given the increasing importance of animal welfare, this area of research within CSIRO is in a strong position. The AAWS provides an optimal template to achieve a national animal welfare research framework, with collaborations within Australia, and also overseas, such as with New Zealand. A strong animal welfare research expertise and international presence is important, given the international nature of animal welfare issues.

References- recent CSIRO Animal Welfare publications (2007-08)

Agnew, L.L. and Colditz, I.G. 2008 Development of a method of measuring cellular stress in cattle and sheep. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 123:197-204.

Colditz, I.G.; Ferguson, D.M.; Greenwood, P.L.; Doogan, V.J.; Petherick, J.C.; Kilgour, R.J. 2007. Regrouping unfamiliar animals in the weeks prior to slaughter has few effects on physiology and meat quality in Bos taurus feedlot steers. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 763-769.

Colditz, I.G. and Le Jambre, L.F. 2008 Development of a faecal occult blood test to determine the severity of Haemonchus contortus infections in sheep Veterinary Parasitology 153: 93-99.

Colditz, I.G. 2008. Challenges to the development of new tests for diagnosis of infection and resistance to infection of sheep by gastrointestinal nematodes. Tropical Biomedicine 25 Supplement: 41-49

Colditz, I.G. 2008 Six costs of immunity to gastrointestinal nematode infections. 2008. Parasite Immunology 30:63-70.

Colditz IG 2008 The costs of immune responses. In 'Resource Allocation Theory Applied to Farm Animal Production'. (Ed. WM Rauw) (CABI Publishing: Wallingford, UK)

Colditz, I.G, Schneider, M.A., Pruenster, M. and Rot, A. 2007. Chemokines at large: in-vivo mechanisms of their transport, presentation and clearance. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 97: 688-693.

Ferguson, D.M., Daly, B.L., Gardner, G.E. and Tume, R.K. 2007. Effect of glycogen concentration and form on the response to electrical stimulation and rate of post-mortem glycolysis in ovine muscle. Meat Science: in press, doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2007.06.003

Ferguson, D.M., Shaw, F.D. and Stark, J.L. 2007. Effect of reduced lairage duration on beef quality. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 770-773.

Ferguson, D.M., Warner, R.D., Walker, P.J. and Knee, B. 2007. Effect of cattle marketing method on beef quality and palatability. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 774-781.

Fisher, A.D., Roberts, N., Bluett, S.J., Verkerk, G.A., Matthews, L.R. (2008). Effects of shade provision on the behaviour, body temperature and milk production of grazing dairy cows during a New Zealand summer. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 51: 99-105.

Lee, C., and Fisher, A.D. Welfare consequences of mulesing of sheep 2007 Australian Veterinary Journal: 85: 89-93.

Lea, J.M., Niemeyer, D.D.O., Reed, M.T., Fisher, A.D. and Ferguson, D.M. (2008). Development and validation of a simple technique for logging body temperature in free-ranging cattle. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48: 741-745.

Lee, C., Prayaga, K., Reed, M. Henshall, J. 2007 Methods of training cattle to avoid a location using electrical cues. Applied Animal Behavioural Science 108: 229-238.

Lee, C., Fisher, A.D., Reed, M.T. and Henshall. J.M. 2007. The effect of low energy electric shock on cortisol, beta-endorphin, heart rate and behaviour of cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science In press, doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.10.002.

Pettiford, S.G., Ferguson, D.M., Lea, J.M., Lee, C., Paull, D.R., Reed, M.T., Hinch, G.N. and Fisher, A.D. 2008. The effect of loading practices and 6 hour road transport on the physiological responses of yearling cattle. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48: 1028-1033.

Paull, D.R., Lee, C., Atkinson, S.J., Colditz, I.G. and Fisher, A.D. 2007. The effect of a topical anaesthetic formulation, systemic flunixin and carprofen, singly or in combination, on cortisol and behavioural responses of Merino lambs to mulesing. Australian Veterinary Journal: 85: 98-106.

Paull, D.R., Colditz, I.G., Lee, C., Atkinson, S.J. and Fisher, A.D. 2008. The effectiveness of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and epidural anaesthesia in reducing the pain and stress responses to a surgical husbandry procedure (mulesing) in sheep. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48: 1034-1039.