Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The U.S. is challenged with assuring that animal welfare is adequate in its livestock and poultry production systems. This committee is providing the information gained through evaluation of behavioral tests of animal fearfulness as a means to contribute to this assurance. Thus, the findings of this committee have the potential to impact the welfare of billions of production animals as well as to increase the productivity and competitiveness of millions of U.S. producers. The results from this project will be published in peer-reviewed manuscripts and incorporated into extension programming to provide researchers and classroom and extension educators with tools and information on how to assess animal welfare in terms of fear. Short-term Outcomes: Multistate collaboration is underway between 5 research stations to create a research protocol, collect, analyze and present data related to validation of fear tests in swine. This work will lead to recommendations regarding fear tests that can be used in farm welfare assessments and audits. Outputs: 1) Project findings on swine fear testing at Purdue/USDA-ARS-LBRU were presented at the 2009 ADSA, CSAS, ASAS Joint Meeting in Montreal (D. Lay, J. Garner). 2) Project findings on swine fear testing at Iowa State University were presented at the North American Regional Meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology in Montreal (S. Millman, A. Johnson). 3) Station reports were provided by NC1029 members at Michigan State University, Iowa State University, Purdue University, USDA-ARS-LBRU, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, and Washington State University. 3) Manuscript was prepared on fear testing of goats (J. Mench, L. Katz). Activities: 1) Research related to validating fear tests in swine and small ruminants for use in on-farm welfare assessments is nearing conclusion. 2) Swine fear testing protocols and materials transferred from Iowa State University to Washington State University (R. Newberry) in April, 2009. 3) Animal Welfare Judging and Assessment Competition hosted at Michigan State University in November, 2008, involved personnel from multiple stations affiliated with NC1029. 4) NC1029 Annual Meeting in May, 2009. Milestones: The following milestones are targets for the August 2009 - July 2010 year. These milestones will enable NC1029 to continue to meet research and publication targets mainly related to the current goal of validating fear tests of various livestock species. 1) Swine fear testing to be conducted at Washington State University (R. Newberry). If University of Minnesota (Y Li) decides to participate in swine testing, equipment to be forwarded and testing completed at University of Minnesota by December 2009. 2) All swine fear testing data to be sent to Purdue University (J. Garner) for inclusion in the database by January, 2010. 3) Statistical analysis of swine data (led by J Garner) and first draft of scientific manuscript on swine fear testing to be completed by May, 2010 (all members of swine sub-group). 4) Poultry sub-group (H. Bailey, C. Croney, J. Garner, J. Mench, R. Newberry, B. Webster) to consolidate plans for poultry fear tests by September, 2009. 5) Poultry fear testing to be conducted at Washington State University (R. Newberry) by December 2009. 6) Poultry fear testing to be conducted at other stations by May 2010. 7) Plans for fear testing in cattle to be developed by May 2010 (Endres). 8) Conduct NC1029 Annual Meeting in May, 2010. Develop plans for completion of current project and goals for renewal.

Archer, G.S. and Mench, J.A. 2009. The effect of exposing chicken embryos to light during incubation on their post-hatch fear, physical asymmetry, and behavioral rhythms. Proc International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Cairns AU. Chan W. and Newberry, R.C. 2009. Domestic pig responses to playback of barks. Proc. North American Regional Meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Montreal. Cloutier, S. and Newberry, R.C. 2008. The use of a conditioning technique to reduce the physiological and behavioural stress associated with repeated intra-peritoneal injections in rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 112:158-173. Cloutier, S., Panksepp, J. and Newberry, R.C. 2008. Handling during routine care affects responses of laboratory rats toward humans. In: Proc. 2008 National AALAS Meeting, Indianapolis, IN. Dossey, N., Massey, C., Cloutier, S. and Newberry, R.C. 2008. Impact of play experience on fear and anxiety in chickens. P. 50 in: Program of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Snowbird, UT. Lay, D.C. Jr. and Garner, J.P. 2009. Making sense of fear testing Validating common behavioral tests used in swine. ADSA, CSAS, ASAS Joint Meeting, Montreal 2009. Kanaan, V.T., Pajor, E.A., Lay, D.C.Jr., Richert, B.T., and Garner, J.P. 2008. A note on the effects of co-mingling piglet litters on pre-weaning growth, injuries and responses to behavioural tests. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 110, 386-391. Li, Y.Z. 2008. Is maternal fear associated with piglet survival in loose farrowing systems? West Central News. University of Minnesota. Sept. , 2008. Pairis, M., Garvey, J., Young, A., Johnson, A., and Millman, S. 2009. Can fear be effectively assessed in swine? American Association of Swine Veterinarians Annual Meeting, Dallas TX, March 2009. Pairis, M., Garvey, J., Young, A., Johnson, A., and Millman, S. 2009. Can fear be effectively assessed in swine? A study measuring fear levels during a Human Approach Test. North American Regional Meeting of the ISAE, Montreal, July 2009.