Publicaties

This study explores upright versus inverted catching and crating of spent laying hens. Both catching methods were compared using a cost-benefit analysis that focused on animal welfare, ergonomic, and financial considerations. Data were collected on seven commercial farms (one floor system and six aviary systems) during depopulation of approximately 3,000 hens per method per flock. Parameters such as wing flapping frequency, catcher bird ...

The Piétrain pig is the last native Belgian pig breed with a viable population size. The breed originated in the vicinity of the village Piétrain during the first half of the 20th century, and the breed is characterized by its superior muscularity and black spots with a grey outline. After the formation of the breed, Piétrain pigs were exported worldwide from the 1960s on, leading to the formation of various Piétrain subpopulations nowadays. ...

Environmental enrichment using elevated platforms is one of the emerging approaches to improve the welfare of broiler chickens. Following promising results of these platforms with integrated additional functionalities i.e. cooling system, manure collection trays and sheltered area on litter quality and related welfare indicators in experimental settings, this study aimed to test these platforms in a commercial pilot farm. The objectives were a) ...

This study aims to understand urban animal welfare policy development and implementation for four species in public spaces: cats (Felis catus), dogs (Canis familiaris), pigeons (Columbia livia domestica), and foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Our exploratory research offers an overview of the perspectives of all involved municipal and police officers and their challenges in a metropolitan urban context, the Brussels Capital Region in Belgium. We conducted ...

With the current environmental impact of large-scale animal production and societal concerns about the welfare of farm animals, researchers are questioning whether we can cultivate animal cells for the purpose of food production. This review focuses on a pivotal aspect of the cellular agriculture domain: cells. We summarised information on the various cell types from farm animals currently used for the development of cultured meat, including ...

BACKGROUND: Psoroptic mange, caused by Psoroptes ovis mites, is affecting Belgian Blue cattle's welfare and production potential. The Belgian Blue cattle-known for its high degree of muscling, low feed conversion ratio and high beef quality-is highly susceptible for this disease. RESULTS: In this study, we phenotyped 1975 Belgian Blue cattle from more than 100 different groups on commercial beef farms for their psoroptic mange susceptibility. ...

BACKGROUND: Previous research showed that deviations in longitudinal data are heritable and can be used as a proxy for pigs' general resilience. However, only a few studies investigated the relationship between these resilience traits and other traits related to resilience and welfare. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between resilience traits derived from deviations in longitudinal data and traits related to animal ...

A deeper understanding of gas emissions in milk production is crucial for promoting productive efficiency, sustainable resource use, and animal welfare. This paper aims to analyze ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions in dairy farming using bibliometric methods. A total of 187 English-language articles with experimental data from the Scopus and Web of Science databases (January 1987 to April 2024) were reviewed. Publications notably increased ...

The pig sector in Belgium is economically the most important subsector in agriculture with an annual production value of 1.5 billion euro (FOD Economie, 2015). Approximately 11.9 million pigs are being raised and slaughtered annually. An international estimate (Walters, 2016) reveals that on average 3.2% of the pigs suffers from a congenital defect, which would represent 380,000 individuals in Belgium each year. The economic loss caused by ...

Understanding the emotional states of animals is a long-standing research endeavour that has clear applications in animal welfare. Vocalisations are emerging as a promising way to assess both positive and negative emotional states. However, the vocal expression of emotions in birds is a relatively unexplored research area. The goal of this study was to develop an interactive feeding system that would elicit positive and negative emotional ...