3.4 - Animal Welfare

• Animal welfare


  Refers to the wellbeing of an animal, including the ability of the animal to express its natural behavioural patterns
• Costs, benefits and ethics of animal welfare

  • Intensive farming gives animals very limited space
  • Intensive farming is less ethical than free range farming due to poorer animal welfare
  • Improving the welfare of domesticated animals involves increased costs
  • An expensive initial payment is needed from the farmer, as free range requires more land
  • Ongoing costs are also higher as free range farming is more labour intensive
• Benefits of free range farming

  • Increased growth of animals
  • Increased success rate of breeding
  • Higher quality end products (meaning they can be sold at a higher price)
  • Improved image and marketing appealing to wider markets
  • Better quality of life for the animals
• Intensive farming often results in poor animal welfare however it can be more cost-effective and therefore more profitable
• Behavioural indicators of poor welfare

  • Over-plucking
  • Stereotypy
  • Misdirected behaviour
  • Failure in sexual behaviour
  • Failure in parental behaviour
  • Altered levels of activity
• Stereotypy


  When an animal displays repetitive movement expressing distress, can be reduced by enriching the animal's environment
• Misdirected behaviour


  When a normal behaviour is directed inappropriately, includes over-plucking, gnawing, hyper-aggression, and reduced reproductive success
• Failure in sexual behaviour

  When animals stop demonstrating mating behaviours or are no longer capable of mating
• Failure in parental behaviour

  Includes abandonment, aggression, killing, or stealing offspring
• Altered levels of activity

  Low levels known as apathy, high levels known as hysteria