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Inter- and intra-observer reliability of animal welfare indicators for the on-farm self-assessment of fattening pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2019

M. Pfeifer Open the ORCID record for M. Pfeifer [Opens in a new window] ,
L. Eggemann ,
J. Kransmann ,
A. O. Schmitt  and
E. F. Hessel
M. Pfeifer*
Affiliation:
Thünen – Institute of Agricultural Technology, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Bundesallee 47, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany
L. Eggemann
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Gutenbergstraße 33, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany
J. Kransmann
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Gutenbergstraße 33, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany
A. O. Schmitt
Affiliation:
Breeding Informatics, University of Göttingen, Margarethe von Wrangell-Weg 7, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany Center for Integrated Breeding Research (CiBreed), University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany
E. F. Hessel
Affiliation:
Thünen – Institute of Agricultural Technology, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Bundesallee 47, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany
*
†E-mail: mareike.pfeifer@thuenen.de
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Abstract

In Germany all keepers of livestock are legally required to record animal welfare indicators as part of their on-farm self-assessment. The Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture (Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e.V. (KTBL)) has suggested the use of a particular set of animal welfare indicators in their publication Animal welfare indicators: Practical guide – Pigs. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the inter-observer reliability (Inter-OR) and intra-observer reliability (Intra-OR) of these indicators with respect to the welfare of fattening pigs. For the assessment of Inter-OR, three observers evaluated six KTBL animal welfare indicators. The Inter-OR of the indicators was calculated from the results using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). ‘Excellent’ Inter-OR results were found for the indicators tail length (ICC 0.89), skin lesions (ICC 0.77) and ear lesions (ICC 0.80). In contrast, the Inter-OR of the indicators tail lesions (ICC 0.46) and faecal soiling (ICC 0.47) were considered to be only ‘fair’ and that of the indicator lameness (ICC 0.36) as ‘poor’. For the evaluation of the Intra-OR, the same three observers assessed the welfare of 162 to 200 fattening pigs using the same welfare indicators in total eight times. Again ICCs, here per indicator and observer, were used to calculate the Intra-OR. The Intra-OR of the indicators faecal soiling (ICC 0.81) and ear lesions (ICC 0.97) lay in the ‘excellent’ range on average. While the Intra-OR of the indicators skin lesions (ICC 0.67), tail length (ICC 0.74) and lameness (ICC 0.60) could still be considered as being ‘good’, the Intra-OR of the indicator tail lesions (ICC 0.52) could only be assessed as being ‘fair’. From these results the significance of the KTBL indicators could be judged as follows: it is possible to use all the chosen indicators apart from the indicator tail lesions as an internal controlling instrument or as part of an internal weak-point analysis as long as the indicators are evaluated by the same person. A comparison of the indicators tail lesions, lameness and faecal soiling when assessed by different observers should be considered critically because the Inter-OR of these three indicators could only be considered as being ‘poor’ to ‘fair’.

Keywords

animal welfare assessmentanimal welfare assessment schemeanimal-based measuresobserver agreementinter- and intra-rater reliability
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 13 , Issue 8 , August 2019 , pp. 1712 - 1720
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2019 

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