Log in
Impact on health and welfare: The health and welfare of laying hens has been improved by the EU-wide ban on the use of small, barren battery cages, enabled by UoE research on the relationship between cage design and welfare.
Impact on public policy and services: The EU banned conventional battery cages for laying hens through a directive that came into effect on 1st January 2012. New Zealand followed with its own ban in 2012.
Impact on production: Farmers have changed from housing laying hens in battery cages to using more welfare-friendly furnished cages or free-range systems.
Impact on commerce: In the UK, over £400M has been spent to meet the standards laid down by the EU directive.
Beneficiaries: Laying hens in Europe and New Zealand; farmers who use furnished cages as an economically efficient alternative to free-range.
Significance and Reach: The improved welfare of over 1.3 billion laying hens in Europe and New Zealand.
Attribution: All research was led by Dr Michael Appleby, University of Edinburgh (1984-2001), with collaborators at the Roslin Institute (now UoE), Uppsala and Bristol.
Dairy-cow herds in the UK and overseas, together with the dairy farming industry, are benefiting from strategic animal-husbandry changes and lameness-control programmes underpinned by research undertaken at the University of Bristol since 1997. The dissemination by the UK Dairy Levy Board of national Standardised Lameness Scores (the DairyCo Mobility Scoring system, launched in 2008) and of Husbandry Advisory Tools (the DairyCo Healthy Feet Programme, launched in 2011) was a direct result of Bristol's work. It has led to the widespread adoption of lameness scoring as a farm-management tool, the inclusion of lameness assessment within certification schemes and a nationwide network of trained `mobility mentors'. Where implemented, this advisory support has resulted in a significant drop in lameness prevalence, thereby improving welfare and reducing the economic losses associated with treating and culling lame cows. Successful engagement with industry groups throughout the research process has ensured that scientific outputs have been rapidly implemented within the farming community. This approach has been adopted internationally with the scoring system being used by Europe's largest dairy company and a modified version is also being promoted by the New Zealand dairy industry.
Research conducted at the University of Bristol between 2002 and 2006 directly influenced a significant commercial decision about use of a food additive to aid appetite control, which protected consumers from an ineffective product. Concerns about increasing levels of obesity worldwide and the toll this takes not only on human health but on health care costs, have led to the development of food ingredients that satisfy hunger for longer (enhance satiety). One such major new ingredient, Fabuless, which is owned by DSM (Dutch State Mines), a leading global manufacturer of food ingredients, was being considered by Unilever for inclusion in its range of diet foods. DSM and Unilever contacted Professor Peter Rogers, who is known for his novel methods for the experimental study of appetite control, to test the effectiveness of Fabuless. Rogers demonstrated no satiety effect of Fabuless when consumed in realistic products, which caused Unilever to abandon Fabuless as a potential food ingredient in 2009. Publication of the research also meant that other food manufacturing companies and regulatory authorities were informed about the ineffectiveness of Fabuless.
Impact: Policy / animal welfare. Policy implementation changed and bird welfare improved.
Significance: Our research informed welfare guidelines impacting upon housing of around 200 million laying birds in the EU. Our work has been adopted in EC regulations, and they are pushing all EU member states to ensure all their producers install aerial perches over slatted surfaces.
Beneficiaries: Laying birds, welfare organisations, egg producers, and the general public.
Attribution: Prof. Sparks, Dr. Sandilands (SRUC). Involved collaboration with Prof. Green at Heriot Watt University acting as a vision specialist.
Reach: Guidelines have been adopted in EU legislation.
Research carried out by Professor Donald Broom at the Centre for Animal Welfare and Anthrozoology at the University of Cambridge has had a significant impact on the policy and practice surrounding farm animal welfare in the UK and beyond. Work on sow housing, calf housing, laying-hen housing, farm animal transport and other scientific work on animal welfare has led to legislation, binding codes of practice and changes in animal production and management methods in the United Kingdom and other European Union countries and many other countries around the world. In the EU, each year this affects 16 million sows, 6.5 million calves, 320 million hens and 6 billion animals that are being transported.
Key findings of two University of Glasgow research programmes have transformed the UK egglaying industry, driving substantial improvements in productivity and bird welfare. First, two of the largest international poultry-breeding companies adopted an innovative new tool for assessing eggshell quality that was validated by University of Glasgow researchers. This tool has improved eggshell quality through selective breeding, with increased numbers of undamaged saleable eggs (saving approximately £10 million annually in the UK alone), as well as enhancing the hatchability of breeding stock eggs. Second, University of Glasgow research on the long-term health and welfare implications of infrared beak trimming influenced UK policy debate, preventing a ban on beak trimming (due to be enacted in 2011) that would have exposed 35 million laying hens to potential pecking injury or death, as well as costing the industry an estimated £4.82-£12.3 million annually.
Professor Marian Dawkins' research at the University of Oxford has established rigorous metrics of welfare for commercially-reared chickens and ducks, that have had a major impact on policy and practice. Her findings in relation to stocking densities for broiler chickens influenced the 2007 EU Broiler Directive; this was adopted by the UK in 2010, and has had a major impact on the industry. For ducks, research examined the provision of water, for which there were contradictory indications with respect to welfare and bacterial infections, and identified solutions for both. Since 2010 this has been incorporated into duck welfare programmes in which both Defra and industry participate.
Since 2010, infants around the world have been saved from death or severe disability as a result of research conducted by Professor Marianne Thoresen and her team at the University of Bristol. Translational research conducted between 1998 and 2010 by the Thoresen group showed that mild cooling of newborn children who had suffered a lack of oxygen during labour and delivery reduced death and disability by over 50%. Extensive publication on this treatment and practical training for neonatal staff, led by the Bristol team since 2008, has transformed the management of neonatal brain injury. By 2010/11, therapeutic cooling had been adopted as standard treatment throughout the developed world, saving thousands of children from death or severe disability, including cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Therapeutic hypothermia also saves the NHS and UK families about £200 million/year in care and compensation costs.