This study compares the effects of modern colony cage systems and traditional floor systems on the production and welfare of broiler chickens. Through two trials spanning 35 days each, we evaluated various physiological parameters, including growth performance, bone health, stress responses, and meat quality. Colony cages demonstrated superior thermal regulation and growth performance compared to traditional floor systems, but also exhibited higher frequencies of leg deformity and reduced standing ability. Conversely, the broilers in traditional floor systems experienced heat stress-related challenges, impacting the meat quality. Our findings underscore the need to balance productivity with animal welfare in broiler farming practices. By understanding the distinct impacts of different housing systems, we can work towards improving broiler rearing methods to ensure optimal welfare and production outcomes.

Attitudes toward practical dairy cow welfare issues were evaluated based on a questionnaire answered by 500 dairy farm workers and 27 veterinary practitioners. Primarily, the effect of demographic characteristics on attitudes toward cattle welfare was tested. Professionally, five themes were identified: effect of welfare awareness on productivity, knowledge of cattle’s senses and social structure, effects of man–animal interactions on milk yield, pain perception and prevention, and knowledge transfer from veterinary practitioners to farm workers. Farms with a higher welfare awareness score also had higher annual milk yield, with an annual mean difference of 1000 L of milk per cow between farms with higher and lower awareness scores. Veterinary practitioners showed high awareness of cows’ social structure, senses, and pain perception. Farm workers were aware of the influence of man–animal interactions during milking and stress effects on milk yield, and the possible effect of man’s behavior on heifers and cows. Practitioners and farm workers had different views regarding pain perception, mostly involving mutilation procedures. All veterinary practitioners advocated the use of pain alleviation in painful procedures, but only some of them instructed the farm workers to administer it. The survey results emphasize the variation in welfare knowledge and practical applications across farms, and the interest of both the animals and their managers to improve applied knowledge of best practice.

Introduction: Freedom from pain is a key component of animal welfare. However, unlike in humans, objective methods for assessing and managing pain in farm animals remain limited. Pain assessment is particularly challenging in cattle, due to their inherently stoic nature. Objective: We investigated biotinidase, an enzyme with amino-exopeptidase activity on opioid neuropeptides, as a novel, short-term pain-biomarker in dairy cattle, in comparison with cortisol and substance P. Methods: Plasma levels of biotinidase, substance P, and cortisol were quantified by ELISA in Holstein cows subjected to 3 distinct pain stimuli: freeze branding (routine husbandry), topical application of capsaicin cream (nonclinical pain model), and spontaneous clinical mastitis. Results: Biotinidase levels increased significantly within 30 minutes after freeze branding compared to controls (1.36 difference of normalized values; P = 0.021), and after capsaicin application (from 18.5 ± 2.5 to 21.5 ± 2.7 ng/mL; P = 0.002). Neither cortisol nor substance P exhibited significant changes after freeze branding or capsaicin exposure. Biotinidase levels elevated significantly in mastitic cows (28.1 ± 8.2 ng/mL) compared to healthy controls (13.63 ± 5.62 ng/mL; U = 74.0, P = 0.038), whereas substance P and cortisol showed no significant differences. Receiver operating characteristic analysis suggests that biotinidase (AUC: 0.84, 0.52, 0.81) outperformed substance P and cortisol in distinguishing painful from painless states. Conclusion: These findings provide compelling new evidence that plasma biotinidase responds robustly to diverse pain stimuli in nonhuman mammals. Further studies should investigate its diagnostic performance individually, and alongside other biochemical, physiological, and behavioral indicators, to enhance pain assessment accuracy and of noninvasive pain detection protocols for farm animals.