Disease and Pain in Relation to Animal Welfare

Animals experience welfare compromise when they suffer from disease or pain. Both conditions affect normal functioning, reduce productivity, and cause physical and mental distress. Proper recognition, prevention, and management are therefore critical in livestock production systems.

A. Disease and Welfare

• Disease is an abnormal condition that impairs normal physiological functioning, resulting from infection, nutritional imbalance, genetic disorder, or environmental stress.

Impact on Welfare

• Causes suffering, discomfort, and reduced quality of life.
• Reduces ability to express natural behaviour.
• Leads to poor productivity and increased mortality.

Examples

• Mastitis in dairy cattle → pain, reduced milk yield, altered udder condition.
• Respiratory disease in poultry → laboured breathing, reduced feed intake, high mortality.
• Lameness in cattle or broilers → difficulty in locomotion, reduced access to feed and water.

Disease as a Welfare Indicator

• High incidence of diseases in a herd indicates poor welfare management.
• Preventive measures such as biosecurity, vaccination, good nutrition, and hygiene reflect good welfare practices.

B. Pain and Welfare

• Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
• Animals cannot verbally express pain, but it can be recognized through physiological and behavioural changes.

Types of Pain

• Acute Pain: Sudden, short-term pain (e.g., injury, castration, branding).
• Chronic Pain: Long-lasting pain often due to disease (e.g., arthritis, chronic lameness).

Indicators of Pain

• Behavioural: Lameness, reluctance to move, abnormal posture, teeth grinding, vocalisation.
• Physiological: Increased heart rate, respiration, cortisol levels, sweating.

Examples

• Dehorning or castration without anesthesia → acute pain.
• Foot rot in sheep → chronic pain and reduced mobility.
• Colic in horses → rolling, pawing, abdominal pain.

C. Management of Disease and Pain

Disease Management

• Preventive healthcare: vaccination, deworming, biosecurity.
• Proper housing, ventilation, and nutrition.
• Prompt diagnosis and treatment.

Pain Management

• Use of analgesics, anesthetics, and anti-inflammatory drugs in veterinary practice.
• Adoption of humane husbandry practices (e.g., disbudding calves with pain relief, avoiding hot-iron branding).
• Early detection and treatment of painful conditions like lameness.

D. Ethical and Welfare Implications

• Allowing animals to live with untreated disease or unmanaged pain is a serious violation of animal welfare principles.
• Proper management of health and pain aligns with the Five Freedoms (freedom from pain, injury, and disease).
• Society increasingly expects farmers and veterinarians to adopt welfare-friendly practices.