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Bulletin No. 18 - Spring 2004
MiscelleanousProduction
DAY JEL, KELLY H, MARTINS A, EDWARDS SA
Towards a baseline assessment of organic pig welfare.
Animal Welfare 2003, 12, 637-641
The growing interest of consumers towards organic livestock production as a way to guarantee animal welfare and food safety, calls for a suitable tool to assess this type of production which primarily relies on good management and uses veterinary medicines only as a last resort. Nine organic pig farms in the South West of England were included in this survey. Data were collected through direct examination of the animals and facilities (scoring system) over a period of 3 years and through a questionnaire submitted to the primary stock persons. The major causes of concern were keeping pigs free from external parasites (mange and lice) and intestinal parasites and avoiding paddocks to become wet during winters. The systems assessed achieve high standards of animal health and provide animals with good living conditions.
