On-farm evauation of Austrian finishing pig farms with different husbandry systems regarding animal welfare and economy

The currently most widespread housing system for fattening pigs are unstructured pens with fully slatted flooring, which may be economically and labor-economically advantageous, but hardly meet the needs of the animals regarding normal behavior. The aim of IBeSt+ is therefore to develop a scientific basis for legal framework conditions, subsidy guidelines and label pork production in Austria, which better meet the demands of the animals and society, taking into account the economic limitations of the farms. For this purpose, factors that can influence animal welfare (e.g. space available, design of the lying area, ventilation, feeding, origin of the animals) will be identified on the basis of 30 existing farms in Austria participating in quality assurance programs (15 farms with +60% space available, 15 with + 100%). For this purpose, behavioral indicators (e.g., tail biting, lying positions), clinical indicators on the live animal (e.g., tail and ear lesions, lameness, soiling) and at the slaughterhouse (e.g., lung lesions), and treatment records (e.g., respiratory diseases) and production data (e.g., mortality, weight gains) will be collected based on three farm visits at different times of the year. The data are pooled with existing data from the 8 IBeSt farms, analyzed and characterized. Thus, combinations of factors (e.g. more space + reduced percentage of slatted floor) can be presented, which have a particularly beneficial effect on animal welfare aspects on the farms. This characterisation will also be used to evaluate economics and labor management. For a wider uptake of improved husbandry systems, knowledge about motivation and obstacles of farmers to participate in such label programs is crucial, information, which will be collected during interviews. In this way, a scientific basis can be provided that contributes to the further development of housing systems as an alternative to the existing fully slatted pens in terms of animal welfare