AgResearch scientist Dr Gosia Zobel said consumers’ expectations for the welfare of farmed animals were changing and for many the only interaction they had with animals was with domestic pets.
Her work would allow farmers to be proactive instead of reacting to changing consumer expectations.
She gave the example the pig industry introducing gestation crates 40 years ago but now farmers were scrambling to remove them as public opinion had turned.
Similarly, there had been a push from the public in places like North America, where stock were housed indoors, to have them kept outdoors.
People had access to more information than ever before from which they could make food choices and for some that was on the emotional state of farmed animals.
“We want to understand from a scientific basis what the animals are feeling by their behaviour, as opposed to just saying for example ‘look, the dog is wagging its tail, so it must be happy’,” Zobel said.
Initial work was on goats and dairy calves to determine research methodology with funding from the Dairy Goat Co-operative and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment.
Zobel said the research was designed to measure an animal’s positive or negative state rather than create a list of recommendations on ways farmers could improve their emotional state.
Research had already determined that cows with access to shade when the temperature reached 22C or greater did not suffer heat stress and produced more milk than those without.
The dairy calf trial was run by AgResearch and the University of British Columbia Animal Welfare Programme in which calves spent periods of time in pens with different flooring and some featuring play items such as a rope.
A small yellow light would flash before access was given to different pens and the level of anticipation in the calves was monitored.
Zobel said the level of anticipation at the sight of the flashing light and the interaction with the play items was much greater than expected.
The methodology used for the calf research could apply to adult dairy cows and beef cattle but at this stage there were no plans to extend the research to sheep.
The goat trial looked at the behaviour of adult goats in more natural environments than they had on farms.
“We are trying to figure out what would they do if left up to their own devices and had no restrictions placed on them from a human system, how would they behave?
“And then in the long run, how we could incorporate that into a human system.”
She found that given the opportunity, the goats chose to climb onto an elevated platform, play on it and sleep on and under the platform.
“They also chose to eat from a high feeder, about 1.5m off the ground.
“Normally they would eat their daily ration at floor level in a feed alley but it turned out they actually ate more when it was elevated off the ground.”
The calf trial would now look at motivating them to access different environments and see which environment they preferred.
The initial project on goats would be extended to include practical means of providing elevated platforms.
Zobel said goats browsed on trees and shrubs and if their natural environment was replicated, they would eat more.
