Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be
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Xavier Boivin presents Poster 22 during the poster sessions in the Aula.<br />
Session theme 2: Assessing emotional state and human-animal relations<br />
94<br />
Poster 22<br />
THE RESPONSE OF BEEF LIMOUSINE CALVES TO HUMANS DURING<br />
WEIGHING REVEALS FARMERS’ PROFILES<br />
X. Boivin 1 , A. Juzeau 2 , N. Prevost 2 , G. Trillat 1 , J. Godet 2 , P. Boulesteix 3 , A. Brulé 4<br />
1 INRA UR1213, Unité de recherche sur les herbivores, St-Genés Champanelle, France<br />
2 ISARA Lyon, 23 rue jean-Baldassini, F-69364, Lyon, France<br />
3 France Limousin Sélection, Pôle de Lanaud, 87220 Boisseuil, France<br />
4 Institut de l’Elevage, 35652, Le Rheu, France<br />
Human-animal relationship is an important aspect <strong>of</strong> farm animal welfare. So far on-farm studies in<br />
<strong>be</strong>ef suckling herds and test methodologies for measuring welfare are lacking. This study aimed to<br />
interview limousine farmers about husbandry practices and their attitudes towards animals to relate<br />
them to calves’ <strong>be</strong>haviour supposed to reflect human-animal relationship.<br />
In 23 loose-housing farms, 890 calves (470 females and 420 males, balanced within farm) aged 5-<br />
10 months, were observed once during weighing and with a human standing 10s in front <strong>of</strong> the<br />
scale after weighing. Due to their distribution, <strong>be</strong>havioural observations generated three categories<br />
<strong>of</strong> calves: QUIET calves with no brisk movements, AGITATED calves with one or two brisk<br />
movements, EXCITED calves with more brisk movements.<br />
Farmers (aged 36-50 years) were interviewed using a semi-directive method.<br />
Factor analysis on calves’ <strong>be</strong>haviour revealed four groups <strong>of</strong> farms: 7 farms with a large majority <strong>of</strong><br />
QUIET calves (Q), 6 farms with less then 50% <strong>of</strong> QUIET calves but less then 20% <strong>of</strong> EXCITED<br />
calves (QA), 8 farms with 30% <strong>of</strong> each category <strong>of</strong> calves (QAE) and 2 farms with more than 50%<br />
<strong>of</strong> EXCITED calves (E).<br />
Farmers’ interviews were analysed depending on these groups <strong>of</strong> farm and revealed some general<br />
trends independent <strong>of</strong> herd size. Q farmers were more specialised (6/7) in limousine production than<br />
the others (5/16, p
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