Spigarelli Chiara, Berton Marco, Corazzin Mirco, Gallo Luigi, Pinterits Sabine, Ramanzin Maurizio, Ressi Wolfgang, Sturaro Enrico, Zuliani Anna, Bovolenta Stefano
Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Front Vet Sci. 2021 Nov 10;8:741497. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.741497. eCollection 2021.
The multidimensional concept of animal welfare includes physical health, good emotional state, and appropriate behavior of the animals. The most recent methods for its assessment are inspired by the Welfare Quality, a project compiling animal-, resource-, and management-based measures. Recently, animal welfare assessment has also considered the human factor in a so-called "One Welfare" approach. The One Welfare framework highlights the interconnections between animal welfare, human well-being, and the environment. The concept seems to fit particularly well to mountain areas where the relationship between human, animals, and the environment is stronger. In such disadvantaged areas, farmers' well-being plays a key role in maintaining livestock farming profitably and sustainably. This study aims to investigate the relationship between farmers' satisfaction, animal welfare outcomes, and overall farm performance in 69 small-scale dairy farms in the Eastern Alps. Animal welfare assessment consisted of animal-based measures and was performed using the methodology proposed by the European Food Safety Authority for this type of farm. Moreover, the farmers were interviewed to retrieve data on farm characteristics and on their level of satisfaction toward workload, land organization, relationship with the agricultural/non-agricultural community, and the future of local agriculture. The results show that good animal welfare can be obtained in a mountain farming system. Clinical indicators show a low prevalence of diseases and of very lean cows as opposed to integument alterations. The workload is not perceived as a problem in traditional farms (i.e., tie-stall and with no participation in quality-certification schemes). Animal welfare is higher in those farms where farmers have a positive engagement with both the agricultural and non-agricultural community and where farmers are satisfied with their land organization. A One Welfare approach could be applied on a larger scale to fully understand the links between animal and human well-being in mountain areas.
动物福利的多维概念包括动物的身体健康、良好的情绪状态和适当的行为。其最新评估方法受到“福利质量”项目的启发，该项目汇集了基于动物、资源和管理的措施。最近，动物福利评估还在所谓的“同一福利”方法中考虑了人类因素。同一福利框架强调了动物福利、人类福祉和环境之间的相互联系。这一概念似乎特别适用于山区，在那里人与动物及环境之间的关系更为紧密。在这些条件不利的地区，农民的福祉对于维持畜牧业的盈利性和可持续性起着关键作用。本研究旨在调查东阿尔卑斯山69个小型奶牛场中农民满意度、动物福利成果与农场整体绩效之间的关系。动物福利评估包括基于动物的措施，并采用欧洲食品安全局针对此类农场提出的方法进行。此外，还对农民进行了访谈，以获取有关农场特征以及他们对工作量、土地组织、与农业/非农业社区的关系以及当地农业未来的满意度的数据。结果表明在山地养殖系统中可以实现良好的动物福利。临床指标显示疾病和极度消瘦奶牛的患病率较低，而皮肤病变的患病率则相反。在传统农场（即拴系牛舍且未参与质量认证计划）中，工作量不被视为问题。在那些农民与农业和非农业社区都有积极互动且对土地组织感到满意的农场中，动物福利更高。同一福利方法可以更广泛地应用，以全面了解山区动物与人类福祉之间的联系。
