Animal Welfare in Extensive Production Systems

There has been a lot written about animal welfare in intensive farming systems, but very little about animals reared in extensive agricultural systems. Yet these animals make up a significant proportion of the world's farm animal population, covering a significant portion of the globe. Animals kept in extensive conditions face their own unique set of challenges that are vital for anyone with an interest in farm animal welfare to understand. Animal Welfare in Extensive Production Systems presents those challenges in a practical way, backed up with thoroughly referenced research. Topics covered include heat stress, water quality and availability, nutrition, predation, poisonous plants, transport, human-animal interactions, and neonatal mortality. This book is ideal for animal welfare academics, students and researchers. It can also be beneficial to students in animal science, veterinary science and agriculture and to farm industry producers and personnel. The Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre (FAWEC) is based at the School of Veterinary Science of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). FAWEC works with farmers, veterinarians and the livestock sector in general to improve farm animal welfare. Its main activity is to provide practical, science-based training and education on the welfare of farm animals. Further information on FAWEC can be found at www.fawec.org.