The farmer and the animal: a double mirror X. Boivin*, B. J. Lensink and I. Veissier 5 Qualitative welfare assessment: reading the behavioural expressions of pigs F. Wemelsfelder 14 The effect of the operational environment and operating protocols on the attitudes and behaviour of employed stockpersons M. F. Seabrook 21 Daily practice and dialogue-aspects of stockmanship and inter-human relatio...

Analyzing Candida albicans isolates from different human and animal individuals by Ca3 fingerprinting, we obtained no evidence for host-specific genotypes and for the existence of species-specific lineages, even though a certain degree of separation between human and animal isolates was found. Therefore, animals could potentially serve as reservoirs for human Candida infection.

The human–animal relationship is an essential part of farm animal welfare. Avoidance distance at the feeding rack (ADF) has been validated as a measure (HAR) for cows indoors, but no pasture yet. aim this study was to test validity ‘avoidance pasture’ (ADP) HAR grazing dairy cows. We assessed following criteria both ADP and ADF: inter-observer reliability, test–retest stability over season. als...

Regulation for nanomaterials is urgently needed, and the drive to adopt an intelligent testing strategy is evident. Such a strategy will not only provide economic benefits but will also reduce moral and ethical concerns arising from animal testing. For regulatory purposes, such an approach is promoted by REACH, particularly the use of quantitative structure-activity relationships [(Q)SAR] as a ...

This article discusses ethical issues raised by automation systems in animal farming. These systems automatically collect various kinds of information about an animal and allow the farmer to monitor it remotely. It is argued that the relationship between the farmer and the individual animal is becoming increasingly distant and impoverished. Although this may protect the animal from some negativ...