PPILOW, a European project dedicated to welfare in Poultry and PIg Low-input outdoor and Organic production systems - Newsletter issue 2

Newsletter du projet PPILO

Management et bien-être en systèmes de production alternatifs de volailles: Apports du projet PPILOW

National audienceAlternative poultry systems that are particularly widespread in France and in Europe, are recognized for their management and product quality. However, while access to the free range enables animals to express more behaviours they are motivated to perform, it can also be a risk factor for animal health. These systems are also affected by ethical considerations such as the end of the culling of layer male chicks and the associated regulations. In the European PPILOW project, a number of welfare issues for broilers and laying hens are being studied with different practitioners in organic and free-range production systems, including the use of dualpurpose strains as an alternative to the elimination of male chicks, and the study of the individual variability in broiler range use. The EBENE® application, fine-tuned with PPILOW practitioners and technicians, was explained to free-range broiler farmers in France and in Belgium to assess its usefulness. The various innovations proposed as part of this project are the subject of economic assessment and are evaluated through multi-criteria analyses according to the One Welfare concept, embracing the goals of sustainability as well as animal and human welfare.Les systèmes alternatifs de volailles, particulièrement répandus en France et en Europe, sont reconnus pour la qualité de l’élevage et des produits proposés. Cependant, si l’accès au parcours extérieur permet aux animaux d’exprimer davantage de comportements de l’espèce, il peut également être un facteur de risque pour la santé de l’animal. Ces systèmes sont également concernés par les considérations éthiques telles que la fin de l’élimination des poussins mâles de souche ponte et la réglementation associée. Dans le projet européen PPILOW, plusieurs verrous au bien-être des poulets de chair et des poules pondeuses sont étudiés aux différents maillons des systèmes de production biologiques et de plein air, et s’intéressent notamment à l’utilisation de souches à double-fin comme alternative à l’élimination des poussins mâles, la variabilité individuelle de l’utilisation du parcours par le poulet de chair. L’application EBENE®, affinée avec les éleveurs et techniciens dans PPILOW, a été présentée à des éleveurs de poulets plein-air français et belges pour appréhender son intérêt. Les différentes innovations proposées dans le cadre de ce projet font l’objet d’évaluations économiques et multicritères selon le concept One Welfare englobant les objectifs de durabilité, mais aussi de bien-être animal et humain

The PPILOW project: Innovations improving welfare in low input and organic pig and poultry farms

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. PPILOW implements a participatory approach for proposing and studying welfare-improvement levers. It will provide a combination of practical solutions that can be applied at a pan-European level with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market. The multi-actor approach consists in involving end-users including farmers, breeding companies, feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, advisers, processors, and scientists in National Practitioner Groups (NPG) in six participating countries. PPILOW partners facilitate the groups by connecting NPG at European level, transferring scientific information, interacting with partners engaged in animal experiments, and co-creating innovations rising from NPG-specific demands. They co-build with PPILOW partners welfare self-assessment tools (development of the PIGLOW app for pigs and refinement of the EBENE® app for poultry), and innovative breeding, feeding, and rearing strategies and techniques to improve the welfare of animals. They co-design protocols, test innovations on farm, and disseminate the results. In turn, they receive insights on methods and scientific results, and inputs from other NPG reinforcing the value of the expected outcomes. Approaches focus on avoiding physical damage and the elimination of layer male chicks, on reducing boar taint of intact male pigs, promoting positive behaviours, animal health, and robustness through field studies with pigs and poultry. Multicriteria analyses of the most effective levers of welfare improvement will be performed to evaluate their economic, social, and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept; economic and business models will also be developed. To ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, the close involvement of PPILOW’s NPG throughout the EU will ensure disseminationactivities and the facilitation of change. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172. www.ppilow.eu

Welfare barriers and levers for improvement in organic and low-input outdoor pig and poultry production systems

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. Its first step was to sum up animal welfare challenges observed in these systems and levers of improvement, from a review of literature data and research projects. Data were completed with information from key informants of the supply chains of poultry meat, eggs and pork in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. The interviews indicated that the main issues in poultry were: feeding, biosecurity, lack of range use and range management, feather pecking, weather, regulation, flock size or density, predation, bone fractures, lack of robustness, parasitism, pododermatitis, arthrosis, nervousness, water quality, catching and time spent by farmers. The main issues in pig were: feeding, tail biting, mortality, weather, predation, lack of robustness, lack of range use, castration, animal aggressiveness and competition, water quality, range management, human welfare, biosecurity issues, flock size or density, parasitism, insolation burns, joint abnormalities, parturition in freedom and pollution. This information has implemented a participatory approach for proposing welfare-improvement levers. Some issues and potential solutions were included in PPILOW experiments (phytotherapy against parasitism, involvement of animal personality in range use, rearing of entire pig males, genetic selection for reduced piglet mortality, improved farrowing huts for sows and piglets reared on range, avoiding feather pecking in laying hens with intact beaks, avoiding the killing of day-old male chicks etc.), and solution costs evaluated. The results will provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement in Europe. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172

The PPILOW project: Innovations improving welfare in low input and organic pig and poultry farms

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. PPILOW implements a participatory approach for proposing and studying welfare-improvement levers. It will provide a combination of practical solutions that can be applied at a pan-European level with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market. The multi-actor approach consists in involving end-users including farmers, breeding companies, feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, advisers, processors, and scientists in National Practitioner Groups (NPG) in six participating countries. PPILOW partners facilitate the groups by connecting NPG at European level, transferring scientific information, interacting with partners engaged in animal experiments, and co-creating innovations rising from NPG-specific demands. They co-build with PPILOW partners welfare self-assessment tools (development of the PIGLOW app for pigs and refinement of the EBENE® app for poultry), and innovative breeding, feeding, and rearing strategies and techniques to improve the welfare of animals. They co-design protocols, test innovations on farm, and disseminate the results. In turn, they receive insights on methods and scientific results, and inputs from other NPG reinforcing the value of the expected outcomes. Approaches focus on avoiding physical damage and the elimination of layer male chicks, on reducing boar taint of intact male pigs, promoting positive behaviours, animal health, and robustness through field studies with pigs and poultry. Multicriteria analyses of the most effective levers of welfare improvement will be performed to evaluate their economic, social, and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept; economic and business models will also be developed. To ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, the close involvement of PPILOW’s NPG throughout the EU will ensure disseminationactivities and the facilitation of change. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172. www.ppilow.eu

Welfare barriers and levers for improvement in organic and low-input outdoor pig and poultry production systems

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. Its first step was to sum up animal welfare challenges observed in these systems and levers of improvement, from a review of literature data and research projects. Data were completed with information from key informants of the supply chains of poultry meat, eggs and pork in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. The interviews indicated that the main issues in poultry were: feeding, biosecurity, lack of range use and range management, feather pecking, weather, regulation, flock size or density, predation, bone fractures, lack of robustness, parasitism, pododermatitis, arthrosis, nervousness, water quality, catching and time spent by farmers. The main issues in pig were: feeding, tail biting, mortality, weather, predation, lack of robustness, lack of range use, castration, animal aggressiveness and competition, water quality, range management, human welfare, biosecurity issues, flock size or density, parasitism, insolation burns, joint abnormalities, parturition in freedom and pollution. This information has implemented a participatory approach for proposing welfare-improvement levers. Some issues and potential solutions were included in PPILOW experiments (phytotherapy against parasitism, involvement of animal personality in range use, rearing of entire pig males, genetic selection for reduced piglet mortality, improved farrowing huts for sows and piglets reared on range, avoiding feather pecking in laying hens with intact beaks, avoiding the killing of day-old male chicks etc.), and solution costs evaluated. The results will provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement in Europe. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172

The PPILOW project: Innovations improving welfare in low input and organic pig and poultry farms

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. PPILOW implements a participatory approach for proposing and studying welfare-improvement levers. It will provide a combination of practical solutions that can be applied at a pan-European level with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market. The multi-actor approach consists in involving end-users including farmers, breeding companies, feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, advisers, processors, and scientists in National Practitioner Groups (NPG) in six participating countries. PPILOW partners facilitate the groups by connecting NPG at European level, transferring scientific information, interacting with partners engaged in animal experiments, and co-creating innovations rising from NPG-specific demands. They co-build with PPILOW partners welfare self-assessment tools (development of the PIGLOW app for pigs and refinement of the EBENE® app for poultry), and innovative breeding, feeding, and rearing strategies and techniques to improve the welfare of animals. They co-design protocols, test innovations on farm, and disseminate the results. In turn, they receive insights on methods and scientific results, and inputs from other NPG reinforcing the value of the expected outcomes. Approaches focus on avoiding physical damage and the elimination of layer male chicks, on reducing boar taint of intact male pigs, promoting positive behaviours, animal health, and robustness through field studies with pigs and poultry. Multicriteria analyses of the most effective levers of welfare improvement will be performed to evaluate their economic, social, and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept; economic and business models will also be developed. To ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, the close involvement of PPILOW’s NPG throughout the EU will ensure disseminationactivities and the facilitation of change. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172. www.ppilow.eu

Welfare barriers and levers for improvement in organic and low-input outdoor pig and poultry production systems

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. Its first step was to sum up animal welfare challenges observed in these systems and levers of improvement, from a review of literature data and research projects. Data were completed with information from key informants of the supply chains of poultry meat, eggs and pork in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. The interviews indicated that the main issues in poultry were: feeding, biosecurity, lack of range use and range management, feather pecking, weather, regulation, flock size or density, predation, bone fractures, lack of robustness, parasitism, pododermatitis, arthrosis, nervousness, water quality, catching and time spent by farmers. The main issues in pig were: feeding, tail biting, mortality, weather, predation, lack of robustness, lack of range use, castration, animal aggressiveness and competition, water quality, range management, human welfare, biosecurity issues, flock size or density, parasitism, insolation burns, joint abnormalities, parturition in freedom and pollution. This information has implemented a participatory approach for proposing welfare-improvement levers. Some issues and potential solutions were included in PPILOW experiments (phytotherapy against parasitism, involvement of animal personality in range use, rearing of entire pig males, genetic selection for reduced piglet mortality, improved farrowing huts for sows and piglets reared on range, avoiding feather pecking in laying hens with intact beaks, avoiding the killing of day-old male chicks etc.), and solution costs evaluated. The results will provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement in Europe. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172

Welfare barriers and levers for improvement in organic and low-input outdoor pig and poultry production systems

International audienceThe PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. Its first step was to sum up animal welfare challenges observed in these systems and levers of improvement, from a review of literature data and research projects. Data were completed with information from key informants of the supply chains of poultry meat, eggs and pork in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. The interviews indicated that the main issues in poultry were: feeding, biosecurity, lack of range use and range management, feather pecking, weather, regulation, flock size or density, predation, bone fractures, lack of robustness, parasitism, pododermatitis, arthrosis, nervousness, water quality, catching and time spent by farmers. The main issues in pig were: feeding, tail biting, mortality, weather, predation, lack of robustness, lack of range use, castration, animal aggressiveness and competition, water quality, range management, human welfare, biosecurity issues, flock size or density, parasitism, insolation burns, joint abnormalities, parturition in freedom and pollution. This information has implemented a participatory approach for proposing welfare-improvement levers. Some issues and potential solutions were included in PPILOW experiments (phytotherapy against parasitism, involvement of animal personality in range use, rearing of entire pig males, genetic selection for reduced piglet mortality, improved farrowing huts for sows and piglets reared on range, avoiding feather pecking in laying hens with intact beaks, avoiding the killing of day-old male chicks etc.), and solution costs evaluated. The results will provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement in Europe. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172