Animal welfare and sustainable farming promoting positive animal welfare in a context of sustainable farming
Action 2 - Leading Institute: AU
Project summary
The project investigates and further develops innovative husbandry practices with a clear potential to promote positive states of animal welfare (PAW promoting practises) while at the same time creating synergies with economic and environmental (GHG emission, pollution and biodiversity) sustainability.
Project objectives
Task 1: Studies investigating the impact of positive animal welfare promoting practices on animal welfare and the environment.
- Task 1.1: execute experimental studies and multicriteria evaluation of sustainability for the positive animal welfare promoting practices against the six reference systems:
1. Crating of farrowing and lactating sows
2. Indoor confined and barren housing for growing pigs
3. Indoor and barren housing for dairy cows and goats
4. Early weaning and separation practices for calves
5. Net-pen aquaculture farming with low environmental complexity
6. Cage-based systems for quails and ducks
- Task 1.2: facilitate network across partners through short-term missions.
Task 2: Identify opportunities and barriers of best positive animal welfare promoting practices.
- Task 2.1: Identify promising paths to establish economic sustainability.
- Task 2.2: Co-creating the best practices to enhance synergies with environmental impact.
Task 3: Dissemination to stakeholders and the public.
Outcomes and impacts
Outcomes
- Provide research-based documentation on innovative livestock practices that promote positive animal welfare (for sows, growing pigs, dairy cows and goats, calves, aquaculture species) as a tool to “End the Cage Age”.
- Provide insight into potential economic and environmental challenges and opportunities to these innovative livestock practices identified by focus groups of dedicated farmers and experts.
- Provide insight into synergies and trade-off between animal welfare and environmental impact through a multi-criteria sustainability assessment.
- Generate a stronger network across European partners within positive animal welfare promoting practices in a sustainable context.
Impacts
- Support the spread and raise awareness of farming practices at the European level that promote positive animal welfare for a variety of animal species and are sustainable both from an economic and environmental point of view.
- Consolidate the inclusion of the animal welfare component in the conception of sustainable farming systems at EU level.