Aggregation of measures to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare. Part 2: analysis of constraints

Animal

M.B.M. Bracke¹  P. Perny²  I. Veissier²  R. Botreau³  C.G. Van Reenen⁴  A. Butterworth⁵  J. Capdeville⁶ 

[1] Institut de l’Elevage, BP18, Castanet Tolosan F-31321, France;Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, POB 65, Lelystad NL-8200 AB, The Netherlands;INRA, UR1213 Herbivores, Site de Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France;Institut de l’Elevage, BP18, Castanet Tolosan F-31321, France;Laboratoire Informatique de Paris 6, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 8 rue du Capitaine Scott, Paris F-75015, France;University of Bristol Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK;

关键词: animal welfare;    assessment;    livestock;    methodology;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The overall assessment of animal welfare is a multicriterion evaluation problem that needs a constructive strategy to compound information produced by many measures. The construction depends on specific features such as the concept of welfare, the measures used and the way data are collected. Welfare is multidimensional and one dimension probably cannot fully compensate for another one (e.g. good health cannot fully compensate for behavioural deprivation). Welfare measures may vary in precision, relevance and their relative contribution to an overall welfare assessment. The data collected are often expressed on ordinal scales, which limits the use of weighted sums to aggregate them. A sequential aggregation is proposed in the Welfare Quality® project, first from measures to welfare criteria (corresponding to dimensions with pre-set objectives) and then to an overall welfare assessment, using rules determined at each level depending on the nature and number of variables to be considered and the level of compensation to be permitted. Scientific evidence and expert opinion are used to refine the model, and stakeholders’ approval of general principles is sought. This approach could potentially be extended to other problems in agriculture such as the overall assessment of the sustainability of production systems.

【 授权许可】

Unknown