Awin Mobile Apps; Animal Welfare Assessment at Your Fingertips

Animal welfare is an increasingly relevant aspect of livestock farming for societal and economic reasons. It should also be a requirement for high-quality and sustainable production as assuring optimum welfare helps to minimize losses in animal performance and resource loss. In order to implement these production models it is critical to the livestock industry to have access to practical, yet sophisticated tools and assessment protocols that ascertain the animals´ welfare status. The development of easy to use but effective protocols and supporting tools were one of the main goals of the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN www.animal-welfare-indicators.net) project funded within the 7^th Framework Programme of the EU. AWIN scientists developed assessment protocols for turkeys, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys that can be effectively applied to commercial conditions with minimal disturbance for the animals. To simplify further the assessment procedures, four Apps for mobile devices were developed in collaboration with the company Daia. The Apps I-WatchTurkey, AWINSheep, AWINGoat, and AWINHorse generated by AWIN scientists are freely available on Google Play Store and allow on-farm data collection of animal-based welfare indicators. The AWIN Apps are specifically designed to guide the user step-by-step during the farm visit. The basic statistical tools included provide an immediate visual output with the results of the assessment, to compare the results with previous evaluations and allow export of the files for further statistical procedures. Potential users of the AWIN apps include farmers for their own self-assessment and to improve competitiveness, or veterinary services and technicians in their everyday practice. The real-time output can facilitate dialogue with farmers, suggesting actions to improve the welfare of animals, but can also generate data that can be easily linked to productive performance. The AWIN apps are easy to use, however basic training on the specific methodologies used, such as the transect approach for turkey welfare assessment, and on how to assess and score the welfare indicators is needed in order to harmonize the assessment and obtain reliable data. AWIN Apps work offline, features that contribute to an extensive use of welfare assessment protocols with no geographical limits. These apps increase the efficiency and standardization of on-farm welfare assessment that can promote consumers’ acceptance of modern livestock production and social responsibility.