New guidance outlining a pioneering new approach for farm assurance schemes, retailers and farmers to improve animal welfare has been released following a six-year project with the Soil Association, RSPCA and University of Bristol.
The new AssureWel Manual is shifting the way assurance schemes look at welfare by focusing on the individual animal and looking at 'welfare outcomes' resulting from conditions animals are kept in, such as their physical health and behaviour.
The manual provides a framework designed specifically for use during a farm assurance scheme audit, which traditionally would only have assessed the "inputs", such as diet and how much space each animal is given, without guidance for assessing how effective those resources and management are at directly providing a good level of welfare for the individual animals.
The AssureWel approach covers how to develop, train and use welfare outcomes within the farm assurance context to improve animal welfare. Examples of measures developed include assessing feather loss on laying hens, injuries, body condition and lameness on dairy cows, how pigs are using enrichment items provided such as straw and destructible toys, as well as levels of mortality and their causes.
The protocols are now used by Soil Association Certification and RSPCA Assured, and a number of other schemes such as Red Tractor, Global Animal Partnership and Animal Welfare Approved also use or recommend their use.
Follow the link to read the article in full on the University of Bristol website