The Use of Qualitative Behaviour Assessment for the On-Farm Welfare Assessment of Dairy Goats.

Animals (Basel). 2018 Jul 19;8(7). pii: E123. doi: 10.3390/ani8070123. Battini M1, Barbieri S2, Vieira A3, Can E4, Stilwell G5, Mattiello S6. Author information 1 Laboratorio di Benessere animale, Etologia Applicata e Produzioni Sostenibili, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy. monica.battini@unimi.it. 2 Laboratorio di Benessere animale, Etologia Applicata e Produzioni Sostenibili, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy. sara.barbieri@unimi.it. 3 Instituto Superior Técnico, Centre for Management Studies, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. ana.lopesvieira@gmail.com. 4 Division of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Sutton Bonington Campus, University of Nottingham, College Road, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK. ednacan@gmail.com. 5 Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Polo Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisbon, Portugal. stilwell@fmv.ulisboa.pt. 6 Laboratorio di Benessere animale, Etologia Applicata e Produzioni Sostenibili, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy. silvana.mattiello@unimi.it. Abstract This research investigated whether using qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) with a fixed list of descriptors may be related to quantitative animal- (ABM) and resource-based (RBM) measures included in the AWIN (Animal Welfare Indicators) welfare assessment prototype protocol for goats, tested in 60 farms. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on QBA descriptors; then PCs were correlated to some ABMs and RBMs. Subsequently, a combined PCA merged QBA scores, ABMs and RBMs. The study confirms that QBA can identify the differences in goats' emotions, but only few significant correlations were found with ABMs and RBMs. In addition, the combined PCA revealed that goats with a normal hair coat were scored as more relaxed and sociable. A high farm workload was related to bored and suffering goats, probably because farmers that can devote less time to animals may fail to recognise important signals from them. Goats were scored as sociable, but also alert, in response to the presence of an outdoor run, probably because when outdoors they received more stimuli than indoors and were more attentive to the surroundings. Notwithstanding these results, the holistic approach of QBA may allow to register animals' welfare from a different perspective and be complementary to other measures. KEYWORDS: Qualitative Behaviour Assessment; dairy goats; emotion; welfare assessment protocol; welfare indicators PMID: 30029507 DOI: 10.3390/ani8070123 Free full text