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The aim of this project is to identify the causes of ear tag losses for sheep and cattle in Scotland. Ear tag loss incurs costs to individual farmers and there is a range of impacts to animal health and welfare. There is a lack of evidence about missing ear tags in sheep and cattle. This project aims is supporting the prevention of tag loss and to improving retention rates by identifying factors which cause tag loss and reasons for missing ear tags on different farm settings in sheep and cattle.
The aim of this project is to develop highly effective, optimised, safe, novel vaccines for the control of the most production- and welfare-limiting endemic diseases of Scottish livestock caused by parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes.
This project is developing vaccines to control reproductive diseases in sheep and cattle.
This project is developing highly effective, optimised, safe, novel vaccines for the control of some of the most production- and welfare-limiting endemic diseases of Scottish livestock.
At present, there is limited (and in many cases no) integrated database that supports the registration and movement of managed and farmed Cervids and Camelids. The aims for this project are to understand the key industry structures and operations for Cervids and Camelids, including off-farm structures; to develop, with industry stakeholders, an identification, registration and movements system for these species; to collate and analyse representative data from the industry to model what a tracing system could look like; and lastly to run potential disease scenarios through these new data
To maintain and improve animal welfare despite the UK's EU Exit, we will analyse how lower welfare standards from importing countries could impact farm sustainability, provide evidence on welfare issues relating to relevant standards, inform welfare aspects of CAP replacement, and develop welfare assessment methods (informed by emerging international standards). A selection of topical case studies will be produced and guided by policy developments.
With the phase-out of remaining cages by 2025, we address welfare solutions for egg-laying hens housed in barns or free-range. We investigate breeding for duller beaks or diet changes to reduce feather pecking, develop evidence-based advice for producers to reduce keel-bone fractures, and investigate the feasibility of alternative house designs (e.g. verandas) to address welfare concerns when free range birds must be confined for biosecurity.
Changing human behaviour is central to achieve the highest possible standards of welfare. This project is addressing this by enhancing our understanding of behaviour, and by developing human behaviour change interventions to improve animal welfare.
Agricultural practice is plagued by intractable and challenging welfare issues, which are increasingly the focus of consumer attention and legislative restrictions, such as separation of mothers and offspring, use of painful procedures, chronic disease issues and the confinement of animals in limited space or with limited opportunities to express natural behaviour. This work seeks to resolve these chronic issues through adoption of new techniques, novel approaches and implementation of innovative technology.
Providing environmental enrichment (EE) aims to allow animals to gain positive experiences by engaging in and completing rewarding behaviours. However uncertainties exist surrounding EE use for farmed species including how to assess use of EE in practice and whether EE has other benefits such as promoting greater resilience including decreasing disease susceptibility. This project seeks to address these uncertainties. Engaging with stakeholders and using welfare assessment tools, such as qualitative behavioural assessment (an animal-centric welfare indicator) we are determining levels and