2024
Disease and
Production
Measure of
Animal Welfare
This module will show you
How disease. production and welfare are
related to each other
What measures of disease and production you
can use when assesing physical functioning
and related things.
Disease and Production
Disease a physical or mental condition where
normal function is disturbed or harmed
Intensive (and excessive) production
techniques can result in similar disruption to
the normal functioning of the systems
Both diseases and excessive production demands have a
mental elements because they provide sensory input to the
brain which can result in negative feelings (e.g. pain, fatigue)
and negative emotions (e.g. fear resulting from physical
weakness and vulnerability).
Three approaches when considering animal welfare
Physical Mental
Aspects of
Naturalness
Note that any significant compromise in physical functioning-because of diseases or
excessive production demands can affect the metal state of the animal. However, it
may also affect the r third area of welfare by thwarting the performance of natural
behaviours that are important to the animals.
The third area also be compromised by disease or by excessive production demands.
This review reminds us that while our professional focus will be primarily on animals
physical functioning and related feelings, we must always see our patients as a whole
PATHOLOGY is the study of disease.
Disruption of physical function (pathology) by disease or
excessive production (e.g. rapid growth, overcrowded housing,
high demand for milk) results in altered behaviour (loss of
appetite or reduced activity for example) and physiological
changes (such as immunosuppression). These changes create
sensory input which is evaluated by the brain, and this can give
rise to negative feelings such as pain and weakness, and negative
emotions such as fear secondary to the pain or weakness. All of
these elements cause poor welfare, which in itself can lead to
negative feelings and emotions, altered behaviour and
physiological changes, resulting in increased susceptibility to
disease and therefore entering a downward spiral that can lead to
death of the individual in extreme circumstances.
Disease
Diseases are caused by infectious agents
-Prions
-Viruses
_Bacteria
-Fungi
-Parasites
(protozoa, helminths, insects)
Not-infectious
-Metabolic
-Nutritional
-Neoplastic
-Autoimmune
-Genetic
Why disease reduces welfare
Disease reduces welfare primarily because of the negative feelings
that the animal experiences.
-Pain
Thirst, nausea, hunger
(inability to compete for food)
Secondary Problems
-Immobility
-Fatigue from immune response
Disease and Pain
Pain is a particular concern with disease. Not all disease is painful.
Pain occurs because the forebrain evaluates sensory input from
particular neural pathways as noxious.
Briefly:
• The relevant sensory input is either a mechanical, thermal or chemical
stimulus that is detected by specialised receptors (nociceptors) at the
end of particular types of myelinated and unmyelinated sensory nerve
fibres.
• The noxious stimulus is transmitted to the dorsal horn of the spinal
cord where it is ‘processed’. • The stimulus is then passed up the spinal
cord to the cerebrum. There, the stimulus is consciously registered as
pain. If the cerebrum is not functioning (e.g. because of anaesthesia or
because the animal has been stunned), the animal does not feel pain,
even though nociceptors are being stimulated and the rest of the pain
pathway is functioning.
Disease and Pain
Untreated pain can cause sensitisation of the pain pathway
•Hyperalgesia: heightened perception of existing pain
•Allodynia: pain response to a low-intensity, normally non-painful,
stimulus
•Sensitisation of the central nervous system by an acute disease
may persist for several months
Assessing Pain
As vets, we need to recognise signs of pain in animals so
that we can treat it.The detection of pain takes practice, as
some species do not demonstrate pain very obviously.
Generally, you can assess pain using behavioural indicators
such as:
• altered posture e.g. hunched
• altered demeanour (animals may seem depressed and
unresponsive to their surroundings)
• gait (lameness e.g. sheep with infected feet may graze while
kneeling on their front legs)
• inappetence
• increased respiratory and heart rate
• grinding teeth (this is common in ruminants with visceral
pain
Other causes of pain
•Injury, e.g.
•Routine procedures
•Fighting
•Slippery flooring
•Rough handling
•Parturition-is another significant cause of pain, and some of
it is the result of mechanical pressure on the pelvis during
the birthing process.
Markers of Disease
•CLINICAL SIGNS
•Changes in behaviours:
sickness behaviours, pain behaviours, e.g. lameness
•Physical changes:
pale mucous membranes, swollen limb, elevated body
temperature, reduced production, etc.
•Production measures:
body condition score, body weight, fertility measures, etc.
•CLINICAL PATHOLOGY
•Laboratory tests:
haematocrit, biochemistry, urinalysis, faecal culture,
histopathology
Measure of disease
You can measure the level of disease in a group of animals
by estimating the incidence and prevalence.
‘Incidence’ is the number of new cases in a fixed time period
divided by the number of animals at risk. Usually the period
of study is chosen to be one year, in which case we speak of
the annual incidence.
•Prevent new cases, e.g. by vaccination, improving hygiene,
nutrition, etc.
Measure of disease
‘Prevalence’ means the number of animals affected by the
disease at any point in time. You calculate it by dividing the
number of animals with the disease by the number of
animals at risk.
When you inspect animals on a farm, you can assess
prevalence directly. However, you would need the farm
records in order to estimate incidence.
Production and Welfare
Production is another area that farmers and the owners of
working animals will consult you about, because their
livelihood depends on the productivity of their animals.
•Total output
•Milk
•Litter size
•Speed or weight carried (working animals)
•Rate or frequency of production
•Growth rate
•Calving-to-conception period (cows)
•Number of litters per year (pigs, sheep)
Genetics and Welfare
Production is a function of the animal’s genetics, nutrition,
metabolism and management, and it may be modified by the
presence of stressors such as social instability, disease,
chronic pain, fatigue, etc.
•High production produces secondary effects, e.g.
•Osteomalacia in laying hens
•Metabolic exhaustion in high-producing dairy cows
-Loss of body condition because conversion of food intake
into milk is not efficient
•Genetic correlation between high milk production and
reduced fertility
-Made worse in less intensive environments -i.e. decline
in adaptability
Markers of Production
•Body condition score
•Body weight and carcass weight
•Average daily yield (milk)
•Litter size
•Measures of meat quality
This is not to say that high production is an indicator of good
welfare, as selection and management have often prioritised
production over other aspects of biology relevant to welfare.
However, a decrease in production below that expected, or
below the average of the group, is often an indicator of a
welfare problem.
Disease and Production Measures of Welfare
when we assess the ‘physical functioning’ aspect of welfare,
we not only need to measure the outputs of disease and
production, we also have to include welfare inputs that affect
disease and production.
•Welfare inputs, e.g.
•Genetics
•Biosecurity
•Vaccinations
•Helminth control
•Nutrition
•Transport
•Group size
•Dairy hygiene
•Use of analgesics for routine procedures
Disease and Production Measures of Welfare
Moving on to the welfare outputs that indicate production
and disease levels with the group, here are some examples.
Note that for many of these, you may be reliant on your farm
client to keep records.
•Welfare outputs, e.g.
•Incidence/prevalence of lameness, mastitis, bruised
carcasses, metabolic disease, culling, etc.
•Amount of antibiotics used
•Visits from the vet
•Somatic cell counts
•Production: fertility, growth rate, milk yield etc.
Summary
•Disease and production can affect welfare by disrupting
physical function and creating feelings of pain, fatigue,
nausea, etc.
•Importance of pain pathway
•Role of genetics in production and secondary effects on
welfare
•Disease and production can be assessed using relevant
welfare inputs and outputs
•Train the farmer to recognise diseases
