Farm Animal Welfare

The animal welfare field is currently a battleground between two extreme viewpoints. On the one side are the extreme welfarists' who advocate a natural habitat for the raising of livestock, and on the other are the intensivists, whose only concern in raising stock would appear to be the production results they achieve. A middle course is possible and the aim of this book is to consider the welfare of farm animals as a whole in the light of current knowledge. There is no perfect system for raising each different type of farm animal, but this book does provide practical information and aims to demonstrate that acceptable systems of management do exist which are economic, humane and provide satisfactory returns on investment. The book should be of interest to agricultural and veterinary students, agricultural advisors and to those interested in this aspect of livestock management generally.