Teresa Collins

Finding practicable and cost-effective forms of enrichment for cattle in feedlot environments is challenging. Specifically, the enrichment must alleviate cattle from the boredom imposed by often barren and confined environments, while not negatively impact productivity. Providing enrichment could also assist in improving feedlot sustainability, addressing societal concern for cattle having a non-natural life. Exercising cattle within their home pens or in laneways, using low-stress stock handling, was tested for its effect on Bos taurus cattle behaviour, temperament and productivity. In late summer 2019, 287 mixed breed B. taurus cattle in a feedlot located approximately 250km north-east of Perth were split across three pens; two provided with different exercise treatments (pen 1 = exercised in-pen, 2 = exercised in the laneway) and a control pen. Cattle were exercised 2-3 times per week for approximately 20 minutes between days 40-80 of a 120-day feeding program. Individual body weights, crush temperament and crush exit speeds were collected on days 40 and 80, while behavioural testing (novel person test, ethograms prior to and post novel person test, and avoidance test) was conducted on days 41, 60 and 79 in home pens. While body weight was found to significantly increase for all pens combined over the study, weight gains did not significantly differ between pens (p < 0.05). Despite this, a smaller and higher range of weight gains were found for the exercised pens, while the control pen had two animals lose weight, with exact cause for weight loss (health or poor performance) unknown. This suggests that while enrichment did not negatively impact productivity, there is a possible positive influence, with more cattle having consistently higher weight gains; however, conducting study over an entire feeding program is needed. Behavioural testing found the cattle exercised in the laneway to be less responsive or recover quickly to human exposure, returning to lying posture and resting behaviour after the novel person test. Cattle exercised in-pen were found to be less reactive during avoidance tests and the novel person test, showing an improved human-animal relationship. Exercise was not found to influence temperament; however, all cattle studied had calm temperaments at the beginning of the study. This initial study shows that exercise impacted cattle behaviour and the human-animal relationship, which if implemented, could assist in feedlots becoming more socially sustainable.

Animals used in teaching are a highly valued resource and yet their use stimulates much controversy. The scope for using animals for educational purposes is wide and decisions about their use are made based on the specific learning objectives, the species required and the nature of the use which must involve a detailed cost-benefit evaluation. Our consideration and approval of such use is broadly based on sciencebased and ethics-based concepts. We need to know what guarantees good welfare of our subjects (the science) and how important the use is, and whether it can be justified (ethics). Scientists are well advanced in assessing the degree of any harm done by identifying the various components of welfare (e.g. physiology and behaviour), but there is a need to take a more holistic approach - that is taking a whole animal approach, such as, using qualitative assessments and seeking the opinions of the wider community. As animals may have good or bad experiences in our hands, we have at the very least, an obligation to treat them considerately and to constantly review whether their use in teaching can be replaced by alternatives. This translates into minimizing the harm we do to them and, importantly, maximizing the good. Animal welfare is a complex entity and the use of animals in teaching provides an ideal experience for veterinary and animal science students and staff to engage in a discussion linking philosophical values and evidence-based science that leads to converging views.

Traditionally, the main focus in behavioural studies of group-housed sows has been how aggression changes over time, with little attention paid to other (not necessarily negative) aspects of behaviour. For example, it has been established that, compared with open group pens, the presence of partial feeding stalls results in reduced levels of aggression over the first 90 min of mixing (Barnett et al, 1992), but there are few data regarding other behaviour. Behaviour is dynamic and negative interactions are not the only welfare-relevant actions, and therefore other behaviour such as investigation (sniffing/interacting with pen or another animal), time spent walking, standing (in the group or stalls) or lying should also be quantified to provide a more holistic picture of sow activity at mixing into groups. There are also limited studies on sows mixed at 5 d post-mating. We predicted that behaviour of sows changes over the 90 min post-mixing and that the expression of aggression is transient as the animals establish their social structure.