Farm animal welfare research in interaction with society

Over the last 30 years concern about farm animal welfare has increased and has become a public issue in the Netherlands. Public discussion has stimula ted research in this field, financed by both government and industry. Dutch society in general and consumers of animal products in particular, want to see high standards of welfare for production animals. Good animal welfare has gradually gained more impact in the total quality concept of the produc t. This will encourage scientists to continue to analyse the welfare status of animals and to come up with innovative solutions for the remaining prob lems. At ID-Lelystad much effort is put into farm animal welfare research. This r esearch includes for example, the development of behavioural tests for quan tifying and interpreting fear in cattle, investigations into the effects of dietary iron supply and a lack of roughage on behaviour, immunology, stres s physiology, and pathology in veal calves, studies of the ontogeny of tail biting in finishing pigs and feather pecking in laying hens as well as eva luation of the welfare effects of automatic milking in dairy cows. The resu lts of these projects contribute to concrete improvements in animal husband ry and expertise and support policy making and legislation. The animal indu stry as well as retailers should aim at the further implementation of this knowledge and to specify welfare standards to guarantee consumer acceptance of animal production.