Animal welfare indicators pilot for the livestock export industry supply chain

Summary

The Animal Welfare Indicators (AWI) Pilot project for the livestock export industry identified important considerations for monitoring and collection of animal welfare indicator data for feeder and slaughter sheep and cattle, throughout the live export supply chain.

A total of 97 animal welfare indicators were tested. Of these, 26 are now collected under new industry regulatory reporting requirements, 46 have been determined not critical or impractical, 2 require further research prior to adoption, and 23 are proposed for possible industry adoption across the live export supply chain.

It was determined that on-going data collection by industry was required to allow priority measures to be confirmed, measurement systems to be refined and performance benchmarked.

Objectives

The project aimed to develop and pilot an industry applicable system for monitoring animal welfare through investigation of a suite of animal welfare indicators.

Key findings

• A suite of animal welfare indicators was developed into a practical protocol to monitor livestock transported by sea from Australia. This list was established using the Welfare Quality® framework outlining four principles of animal welfare (Good Feeding, Good Housing, Good Health and Appropriate Behaviour).
• Inevitably, the full range of variations in environmental conditions (e.g. heavy sea swell conditions), and management practices (e.g. heavy cattle management) could not be monitored during the pilot phase; however, indicators have been included to account for conditions that can be reasonably expected to occur during commercial operations.
• The degree of variability between pen conditions and classes of livestock was found to be significant. Therefore, it was not feasible to determine a precise number of pens required to provide a representative sample for each measure for an entire consignment of livestock.
• Training of observers is required to facilitate the collection of standardised data.
• Time constraints of collecting welfare data must be considered. As data collection platforms evolve and trained observers become increasingly proficient, additional pen replicates may become achievable in shorter time frames.
• The protocol detected meaningful changes in animal behaviour and health, and was sensitive to different environmental, resource and management conditions.
• The full benefits of this project will not be evident until large data sets are collected and statistically analysed. The protocol has been designed and presented in a form that should facilitate straightforward data collection and analyses.

Benefits to industry

The AWI pilot project provided valuable contributions to the development of LIVEXCollect. This software program provides information for use in the investigation of an adverse animal welfare event, which enables systematic analyses and creates a body of evidence of satisfactory animal welfare outcomes on livestock voyages.

Additionally, this research was used by the Shipboard Animal Welfare Surveillance (SAWS) Committee to design a well-structured and viable animal welfare indicator protocol.

To date, most of the animal welfare indicators found to be viable have been included in the ASEL 3.0 reporting standards and, as a result, will automatically be adopted by industry. The outcomes of the AWI pilot project and the SAWS Committee demonstrate a progressive and scientific approach to animal welfare in the live export industry.

Future research

• Further research is required to understand appropriate selection of pens for shipboard welfare monitoring, and to address variability within a voyage (considering consignment size, route, season, species, class, vessel type and the personnel resources associated with data collection).
• Following the adoption of the protocol across many voyages and to all regions, industry-wide benchmarking and thresholds regarding acceptable animal welfare outcomes can be considered; for this to be achievable, data should be collected over a period of at least 2 years.
• It is recommended that a further study addressing inter- and intra-observer reliability of animal welfare observations and the level and frequency of training required to ensure confidence in standardised assessments.