Conventional turkey husbandries frequently fail to provide structural elements or occupational material apart from the feeding and drinking systems. However, these may carry numerous advantages for animal welfare (spatial separation to exercise natural behavior, retreat options, stimulation of locomotion). We review various enrichment possibilities and their effects on the welfare of turkeys.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34861734/

Contact: Dr. Janja Sirovnik Koscica, DVM

Janja.Sirovnik-Koscica@vetmeduni.ac.at 

For the second time in a row, Christine Arhant received the "Improving Pet Welfare Award" from the Journal of Veterinary Behavior (Elsevier).

Elsevier's Journal of Veterinary Behavior presents two Improving Pet Welfare Awards annually for scientific contributions that focus on improving pet welfare. Christine Arhants publication “Owner reports on use of muzzles and their effects on dogs; an online survey" has now been awarded one of the two prizes. Together with her colleagues, the animal welfare expert devoted herself to questions such as the ideal muzzle type, the right fit and the effects of muzzle use on the physical condition and behavior of dogs.

Congratulations!

Difficult-to-adopt dogs in shelters are a common problem and over time, long-stay dog populations develop. The aim of this work was to identify certain traits that characterize long-term shelter dogs and to investigate whether long-term shelter dogs are impaired in their welfare due to the limitations of kennel ownership. The IMHAI master's student Christina Raudies devoted her thesis to this important topic under the supervision of Christine Arhant and Susanne Waiblinger. On this basis, dogs with an increased risk can be identified at an early stage. With measures tailored to the individual, a long-term stay can be prevented.

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In the recent article "Balancing skill against difficulty - behavior, heart rate and heart rate variability of shelter dogs during two different introductions of an interactive game", the "Poker Box 1 © Trixie" dog toy was used to assess the effects of a stepwise (each 2 boxes out of 4) compared to a full presentation (all 4 boxes) of an interactive game. Overall, our results suggest that the manner in which a moderately difficult game is introduced plays an important role in perceptions of the experience. Step-by-step introduction, including human demonstration of how it works, promoted a more enjoyable experience characterized by a higher likelihood of success (dog reaches treat in box), less stressful behavior, and a physiological profile that suggested activation of both branches of the autonomic nervous system contains. We hypothesize that this may be a physiological signature for successful completion of a challenge in which the animal's ability is balanced with the difficulty of the task. This could indicate the existence of "flow-like" states in animals.

article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016815912030229X

Pets often seek out and enjoy human interaction. Jean-Loup Rault and Susanne Waiblinger, along with two other international colleagues, reviewed the literature to understand the processes underlying positive animal-human-animal interactions, their scientific indicators, and implications for current practices and solutions.

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Contact Jean-Loup Rault

Animal welfare has traditionally been assessed through direct human observation, providing information at selected points in time. In recent years, this evaluation method has been questioned because of the potential for precision livestock farming technologies to produce more valid, reliable and actionable real-time data at the individual level and to serve as early warning systems for well-being. The purpose of this article is to describe how accelerometers can be used to assess the principles of the Welfare Quality ® protocol in cattle and swine.

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Contact Kristina Maschat

In dairy farming it is common to separate the calves from their mothers within a few hours and to give them milk first with bottles and then with buckets or automatic feeders. However, mother-bound calf rearing, in which the calves stay with their mother and can suckle their milk from the udder, has been attracting attention in recent years and has already found acceptance on some farms. In this study, we investigated whether rearing-related differences in contact with humans in the first week of life have a long-term effect on the relationship with humans. Friendly contact with people during feeding in the first five days of life also improved the calves' relationship with people in the long term.

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Contact: Susanne Waiblinger 

Calves from dairy cows are generally separated from their mothers within a few hours and reared in calf groups or even individually for a period of time. In this study, we examined how the social and play behavior of calves in the first 12 weeks of life differs, which were either raised separately from the mother in a calf group or mother-bound, i.e. had access to the cowshed with the mother and the other cows. As expected, the mother-bonded calves had significantly more social experiences - this explains the higher social competence found in earlier studies by the Institute and greater sociability later in life. The mother-reared calves also played significantly more, especially running and chasing games and jumps, which is an indication of better welfare for these calves and is also supported by the larger space available in the cowshed. Increased play could also have a long-term positive effect on animal welfare. The study therefore again underlines the advantages of rearing the calves with contact to the mother and the herd of cows, a method that is used by innovative farms.

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Contact: Susanne Waiblinger

Due to increasing public concern about the separation of dairy cows and calves within the first few days after birth, alternative systems where cows and calves remain in contact over a longer period of time are gaining increasing interest. This research reflection provides definitions and proposes a common terminology for the different systems that allow contact between cow and calf and describes the different phases of the contact systems between cow and calf.

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Contact Janja Sirovnik Koscica

In terms of more animal-friendly husbandry, from January 1st, 2033 breeding sows in Austria may only be fixed in the crate for the so-called “critical life phase of the suckling piglet”. Before and after this time they should be able to move freely in the movement bay. As part of the "Pro-SAU" project, sows were assigned to one of four types of restraint in one of five types of exercise pens in order to determine the duration of the critical phase of life and to be able to make a statement about the animal welfare of various exercise pens with the option of temporary restraint. The aim of the present study by the ITT was to evaluate the effects of these fixation variants and pen types on housing-related damage to the sows.

Paper: https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.29.3.339

Contact: Kristina Maschat

In this study, a method was developed to monitor the behavior of sows in farrowing pens via an accelerometer in the ear tag. Based on this measurement data, algorithms are used to produce two types of information for the livestock owner: at what point in time before birth should a sow be provided with appropriate nest building material and from what point should it be fixed in the farrowing stall to protect the piglets. This exact and individual animal-related information can help to improve animal welfare and economic success in piglet production.

Paper:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10010006

Contact Maciej Oczak, Kristina Maschat & Johannes Baumgartner

In August 2019, the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) elected Susanne Waiblinger, from the Institute for Animal Welfare Science and Animal Husbandry at the Vetmeduni Vienna, as President.

After two years as junior vice-president (2017-2019), Susanne Waiblinger is now President of ISAE, the only globally active scientific society for applied ethology, until 2021. ISAE provides a forum for sharing the latest knowledge on the behavior and welfare of domestic and other human-owned or managed animals. Another goal of the ISAE is to promote the incorporation of these advances into practice, for example to improve animal welfare, food security and sustainable animal production.

“It is a great honor for this society, which brings together the world's leading experts on the subject, to serve as President. For several years, the ISAE has been trying to expand or strengthen its activities in regions where applied ethology and animal welfare activities are not yet established, or only to a limited extent. This is a special challenge, but also makes the presidency particularly interesting," says Susanne Waiblinger. Next year, the annual international congress of the ISAE will take place in India for the first time.

Waiblinger studied veterinary medicine in Munich. After completing her doctorate at the University of Zurich, she did research at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) in the field of human-livestock relationships and the social behavior of cattle. She also worked in several veterinary practices in Switzerland and Bavaria and in the official veterinary service.
Susanne Waiblinger is a veterinarian specializing in animal husbandry and animal welfare as well as ethology and diplomat of the European College of Animal Welfare Science and Behavioral Medicine (animal welfare sciences). She habilitated at the Vetmeduni Vienna in the subject of animal husbandry, animal welfare and applied ethology. She has been working at the Institute for Animal Welfare Science and Animal Husbandry, formerly the Institute for Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare, at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, for 22 years now. There, Waiblinger heads the working group on ruminants and human-animal relationships.

Susanne Waiblinger is a.o. Chair of the Association for Research into Species-Appropriate Animal Husbandry (VEAT), member of the Veterinarians' Association for Animal Welfare (TVT) and deputy chair of the specialist veterinary examination committee "Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare" of the Austrian Federal Veterinary Association. From 2000 to 2003 she worked for ISAE as regional secretary for the “West Central Europe” region, i.e. the German-speaking countries of Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Students of the Vetmeduni IMHAI course observed the interactions between the sow and her piglets. Nose contact was common between sows and piglets in the vacant farrowing pens and differed between "first time mothers" and older sows.

The results were published in the open access journal Animals: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9080513

Contact: Jean-Loup.Rault@vetmeduni.ac.at

A new study by ITT has shown that the hormone oxytocin can be measured in the saliva of cows, pigs and goats. This new approach offers opportunities to better understand how animals perceive interactions with humans. The full article is available at:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104636

Contact: Prof. Jean-Loup Rault jean-loup.rault@Vetmeduni.ac.at

The effect of positive emotions on secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in calves was investigated. A circadian rhythm was present (lowest values at 2:00 p.m.). Furthermore, the sIgA concentration was reduced directly after milk feeding, which was possibly due to increased salivation. The sIgA concentration was not increased after the onset of gambling behavior. sIgA is probably not suitable as an indicator of positive emotions.

Paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/9/657

Contact: Stephanie Lürzel Stephanie.Luerzel@Vetmeduni.ac.at

In the comparative housing of broiler rabbits on a commercial farm, in pens with perforated plastic floors or concrete floors with straw bedding, a higher percentage of rabbits had clean coats on straw, no significant differences in parasite load, mortality, pathological changes or causes of loss and a higher slaughter weight in rabbits perforated plastic bottom.

Paper https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9050216

Contact: Ines Windschnurer Ines.Windschnurer@Vetmeduni.ac.at

Human-animal interactions occur in a wide variety of circumstances, from caring for one's livestock or pets to interactions with wild animals.

The book "Anthrozoology - Human-Animal Interactions in Domesticated and Wild Animals" presents for the first time our knowledge of human-animal interactions in all these contexts and deals with the effects on humans and animals. In the chapter "Agricultural animals", Susanne Waiblinger from the institute first addresses the importance of farm animals for humans before she focuses on human-farm animal interactions and human-farm animal relationships. It gives a comprehensive overview of the importance for animal welfare, underlying mechanisms and causes of differences.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/anthrozoology-9780198753636?cc=gb&lang=en