Pfeifer Mareike, Koch Alexandra, Lensches Clara, Schmitt Armin O, Hessel Engel F
Department of Animal Sciences, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Gutenbergstraße 33, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Breeding Informatics, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Margarethe von Wrangell-Weg 7, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Apr 19;10(4):711. doi: 10.3390/ani10040711.
The welfare of farm animals is being increasingly discussed in society and politics. To evaluate animal welfare, indicator systems are often used. Such a system has been developed by the German Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture and suggested in the publication "Animal Welfare Indicators: Practical Guide-Pigs". The association's aim is to provide farmers with a useful method for recording the welfare of pigs. Crucial for the acceptance of the guide by farmers is a high degree of feasibility of the recommended indicators as well as the proposed methods for their recording. To evaluate this, 40 farmers keeping fattening pigs were interviewed. The guided semi-structured interview was conducted on the farms after the farmers evaluated the welfare of their fattening pigs according to the guide. The results are: Apart from the indicators faecal soiling and tail length, all the other eleven indicators are accepted for the assessment of fattening pig welfare by a majority of the interviewed farmers (between 57.5% and 90% acceptance per indicator). Furthermore, the feasibility of the individual indicators was assessed as being positive. The relationship between time expenditure and benefit was rated on a five-point scale at an average of 3.1 (medium), which clearly shows that there is a need for further development of this guide. Some possible changes with a potential for improvement could be identified; for example, the aggregation of the results after the collection of the individual indicators to an overall result that can be compared and interpreted.
农场动物福利在社会和政治层面正受到越来越多的讨论。为评估动物福利，人们常使用指标体系。德国农业技术与结构协会已开发出这样一个体系，并在《动物福利指标：实用指南——猪》一书中提出。该协会的目标是为养殖户提供一种记录猪福利状况的实用方法。养殖户能否接受该指南，关键在于所推荐指标及其记录方法的高度可行性。为对此进行评估，我们采访了40位饲养育肥猪的养殖户。在养殖户依据该指南对其育肥猪的福利状况进行评估后，我们在养殖场进行了有引导的半结构化访谈。结果如下：除粪便污染和尾巴长度这两个指标外，其他十一个指标中的大多数受访养殖户（每个指标的接受率在57.5%至90%之间）都认可其可用于评估育肥猪的福利。此外，各个指标的可行性评估结果为积极。时间投入与效益之间的关系在五分制量表上的平均评分为3.1（中等），这清楚表明该指南仍有进一步完善的必要。我们可以确定一些可能的改进之处；例如，在收集各个指标的结果后，将其汇总为一个可比较和解读的总体结果。
