AGRI302049 Animal welfare assessment

Type
Lecture and exercise
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Hintze, Sara , Winckler, Christoph
Organisation
Livestock Sciences
Offered in
Wintersemester 2026/27
Languages of instruction
Deutsch
Content

Discussion of the concept of animal welfare and development of different approaches to animal welfare in farm animals (e.g., biological functioning, naturalness of behaviour, emotions).

Overview of ethological, physiological, and pathological/clinical indicators of animal welfare and discussion of these indicators with regard to their validity, reliability, and feasibility.
An overview of the structure of the individual units can be found in the PDF document below.
Development of animal welfare assessment systems for application on farms and in experimental settings.
Previous knowledge expected

Basic knowledge of ethology, physiology, and animal husbandry
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Students are able to describe scientific concepts of animal welfare (e.g., biological functioning, naturalness of behaviour, emotions) as well as indicators for assessing animal welfare (e.g., behaviour, physiology, clinical health) in farmed animals.
Students are able to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of different animal welfare indicators when applied in practical farming settings or in experimental studies.
Students are able to evaluate scientific literature on animal welfare indicators with regard to validity, reliability, and feasibility. They are able to present and justify their evaluation in a written essay.

Students are able to develop a simple animal welfare assessment concept, apply it in practice, and document and interpret both the concept and the results obtained.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.