The resting behaviour of 64 groups of sheep was observed in the lairages of 2 slaughterhouses after transport for about 4 hours in a commercial livestock transporter. The sheep were watched at 5 minute intervals for the initial 3 hours in the lairage pen. The median percentage of time spent lying pe...

Biochemical measurements of stress and injury were determined in 112 groups of sheep arriving at a commercial abattoir either from farms (71 groups, n=1829), local markets (21 groups, n=2125) or distant markets (20 groups, n=3145). Sheep from farms had significantly fewer bruises (0.08/sheep) than t...

Scan samples of the postural, eating and drinking behaviours of 92 groups of cattle, and focal samples of the eating and drinking behaviour of 378 individuals, were made during the initial 3 h in a commercial slaughterhouse lairage. Cattle which arrived from markets spent more time drinking and lay ...

The handling of 39 cattle during unloading and movement to slaughter of 163 was observed at a commercial abattoir. Most potentially traumatic events and handling events occurred while the cattle were in the race. During the initial 3 hours in the lairage pen, 28 cattle from markets spent significant...

This study quantified potentially traumatic events during handling (350 groups; n=3296), and the effect of source and sex class on the occurrence of carcass bruising of cattle (339 groups; n=3270) at 2 commercial slaughterhouses. A mean of 0.13 and 0.97 potentially traumatic events per animal occurr...

Methods to assess changes in the mental state of animals in response to their environment can be used to provide information to enhance animal welfare. One of the most profound changes of mental state observable in mammals is the change between wakefulness and sleep. Sleeping mammals have characteri...

Groups of sheep were observed in a slaughterhouse lairage in order to investigate the factors affecting their ability to rest. 34 groups were observed using a video camera and recorder from arrival to dusk (evening) and from dawn to removal (morning). 19 groups were transported by road to the slaugh...

Protecting farm animals from hunger and thirst is central to good welfare. However, there are a large number of situations where farm animals are exposed to nutrient restriction. Some of these, such as the effects of prenatal nutrition have received insufficient recognition as welfare issues. Genera...

The primiparous food-restricted sows were investigated as to whether individual differences and/or daily variations in levels of chain manipulation and excessive drinking are correlated to individual differences and/or daily variations in pre- or postfeeding glucose concentrations. Blood samples wer...

The welfare of animals in transit may be affected by driving events, such as acceleration, braking and cornering. The relationships between driving events and the behavioural responses of the animals were examined. A single-deck, non-articulated vehicle was with a video-recording system, GPS and tri...

The effect of a novel lairage environment on the ability of sheep to recover from 16 h of transport was investigated. Sheep were transported from grass paddocks to either novel outside paddocks or inside pens, and housed groups were transported to either familiar or novel inside pens. During transpo...

Dairy cows require individual monitoring around the time of calving to identify any calving difficulties or health problems as early as possible. To assist with the monitoring of parturition, it would be beneficial to understand the behaviour of dairy cows that is associated with normal calving. Thi...

Comparisons were made of the behaviour, physiology and meat quality of 24-week-old male veal calves (mean live weight 234 kg) that were slaughtered either at the veal unit (the control group) or following 3 h transportation at space allowances of either 0.7 or 0.95 m2 calf-1 and 1.5 h of lairage. Co...

The aim of this project was to examine the relationships between driver behaviour and driving events during a journey and the behavioural responses of sheep to these events. Driving style can have a major influence on the welfare of the animals by affecting the risk of injury and by disturbing the a...

The effects of several aspects of transportation on the behavioural and physiological responses of red deer (Cervus elaphus) were studied. In two experiments conducted in winter and summer, two groups of five adult male castrated red deer (housed at a space allowance of 2.7 m² per deer) were subjec...

Questionnaires on methods of euthanasia used in Canadian animal shelters were sent to 196 Canadian animal shelters yielding 67 responses. Sodium pentobarbital injection was the only method of euthanasia used by 61% establishments that euthanized dogs and 53% of the establishments that euthanized cat...

Methods for culling wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) were compared by observing behaviour and collecting post mortem samples from wild deer shot: (i) by a single stalker during daytime; (ii) by more than one stalker during daytime; (iii) by using a helicopter for the deployment of stalkers and carcase...