Abstract
European Fur Breeders’ Association initiated the ‘WelFur’ project in 2009 in order to develop a welfare assessment protocol for mink and fox farms after the Welfare Quality® standards. The assessment is based on four welfare principles (Good feeding, Good housing, Good health and Appropriate behaviour) and 12 underlying criteria, to be measured on-farm. The major steps in the development of the WelFur mink protocols are described: (1) Writing literature reviews and listing potential measures. (2) Identifying valid, reliable and feasible welfare measures. (3) Developing registration protocols, descriptions, and schemes. (4) Testing preliminary protocols in relevant seasons of the annual production. This paper focus on the evaluation of validity, reliability and feasibility of the 22 measures that have been selected for the WelFur assessment protocols. These protocols have been tested in the three mink production seasons: Winter, spring, and autumn, in order to cover the life cycle of mink and proved feasible for a one-day visit.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Botreau R., Gaborit M. and Veissier, I., 2012. Applying Welfare Quality® strategy to design a welfare assessment tool for foxes and mink farms. Scientifur. 35, 4, pp. 6.
Damgaard, B.M., Hansen, S.W., Børsting, C.F. and Møller, S.H., 2004. Effects of different feeding strategies during the winter period on behaviour and performance in mink females (Mustela vison). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 89: 163–180.
European Food Safety Authority, 2008. Animal welfare aspects of husbandry systems for farmed Trout, Prepared by Working Group on Trout Welfare, Issued on 11 September 2008. Annex I to The EFSA Journal 796: 1–97.
Hansen, S.W. and Damgaard, B.M., 1991. Effect of environmental-stress and immobilization on stress physiological variables in farmed mink. Behav. Processes 25: 191–204.
Hansen, S.W., Hansen, B.K. and Berg, P., 1994. The effect of cage environment and ad libitum feeding on the ciradian rythm, behaviour and feed intake of farm mink. Acta Agric. Scand. sect. A 44: 120–127.
Hansen, S.W., Houbak, B. and Malmkvist, J., 1998. Development and possible causes of fur damage in farm mink – significance of social environment, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section A. Animal Science 48: 58–64.
Hansen, S.W., Jensen, M.B., Pedersen, L.J., Munksgaard, L., Ladewig, J. and Matthews, L., 2000. Methodological aspects of operant conditioning: do type of work and duration of access to reward affect demand functions in mink. In: Proceedings of the 12th Nordic Symposium of the International Society for Applied Ethology, pp. 29–30.
Hansen, S.W, Malmkvist, J, Palme, R and Damgaard, BM, 2007. Do double cages and access to occupational materials improve the welfare of farmed mink? Animal Welfare 16: 63–76.
Hansen, S.W and Møller, S.H., 2008. Diurnal activity patterns of farm mink (Mustela vison) subjected to different feeding routines. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 111: 146–157.
Hansen, B.K, Møller, S.H., Berg, P. and Bækgaard, H., 2009. Validation of a method for body condition scoring. Annual report 2008, Danish Fur Breeders Research Center, Holstebro, Danmark. pp. 129–135. [In Danish].
Kirkden, R.D., Rochlitz, I., Broom, D.M. and Pearce, G.P., 2010. Assessment of on-farm methods to measure confidence in mink and foxes on Norwegian farms. Report prepared for Dyrevernalliansen (Norwegian Animal protection Alliance), Oslo, Norway. Cambridge University Animal Welfare Information Centre, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 43 pp.
Malmkvist, J and Hansen, S.W., 2002. Generalization of fear in farm mink, Mustela vison, genetically selected for behaviour towards humans. Anim. Behav. 64, 487–501.
Malmkvist, J. and Palme, R., 2008. Periparturient nest building: Implications for parturition, kit survival, maternal stress and behaviour in farmed mink (Mustela vison). Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 114: 270–283.
Malmkvist, J., Jeppesen, L.L. and Palme, R., 2011. Stress and stereotypic behaviour in mink (Mustela vison): A focus on adrenocortical activity. Stress 14: 312–323.
Malmkvist, J., Brix, B., Henningsen, K. and Wiborg, O., 2012. Hippocampal neurogenesis increase with stereotypic behaviour in mink (Neovison vison). Behav. Brain Res. 229: 359–364.
Mason, G. and Latham, N.R, 2004. Can’t stop, won’t stop: is stereotypy a reliable animal welfare indicator? Animal Welfare 13: 57–69.
Mason, G., Clubb, R., Latham, N. and Vickery, S., 2007. Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour? Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 102: 163–188.
Mononen, J., Møller, S. H., Hansen S. W., Hovland A. L., Koistinen, T., Lidfors, L., Malmkvist, J., Vinke, C. and Ahola, L., 2012. The development of on-farm welfare assessment protocols for foxes and mink: the WelFur project. Animal Welfare (in press).
Møller, S., 1990. The need for nest boxes and drop-in bottoms in the whelping period of female mink. Scientifur 14, pp. 95–100.
Møller, S. 1991. Drinking behaviour of mink in relation to watering system and water temperature. NJF seminar no. 192. Drinking water for farm animals. Uppsala, Sweden. March 6–7. pp. 12.
Møller, S.H. and Hansen S.W. 2001. Assessment of mink welfare at farm level. NJF seminar nr. 331. Snekkersten, Danmark, 1/3/10. 8 pp.
Møller, S.H., Hansen, S.W. and Sørensen, J.T. 2003. Assessing Animal Welfare in a Strictly Synchronous Production System: The Mink Case. Animal Welfare 12: 699–703.
Møller, SH., 2011. The incidence of wounds and injuries in farm mink. Internal rapport no. 109, September 2011. Aarhus University, pp. 61–67. [In Danish]
Møller, S.H., Rousing,T. and Hansen, S.W., 2012. WelFur – Mink. Inter Observer Reliability of on-farm welfare assessment in the growing season. Scientifur 35, 4, pp 6.
Rousing, T., Møller, S.H., and Hansen, S.W., 2012. WelFur – Mink. Effect of sample size on test results of animal based measures. Scientifur 35, 4, pp 6.
Rattenborg E., Dietz H.H., Andersen T.H. and Møller S.H. 1999 Mortality in Farmed Mink: Systematic Collection versus Arbitrary Submissions for Diagnostic Investigation. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 40: 307–314
Veissier, I., Botreau, R. and Perny, P., 2009 Scoring animal welfare: difficulties and Welfare Quality® solutions. In: Keeling, L. (ed.), Welfare Quality Report No. 12. An overview of the development of the Welfare Quality® project assessment system, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, pp. 15–32.
Welfare Quality®, 2009a. Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for cattle. Welfare Quality® Consortium: Lelystad, the Netherlands, 182 pp.
Welfare Quality®, 2009b. Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for pigs. Welfare Quality® Consortium: Lelystad, the Netherlands, 122 pp.
Welfare Quality®, 2009c. Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for poultry. Welfare Quality® Consortium: Lelystad, the Netherlands, 114 pp.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all WelFur partners who have generously contributed to the development, test, and refinement of the WelFur assessment protocols and schemes. Thanks to farmers for letting us in, to colleagues and advisors for making the testing possible, and to INRA for making our reasoning logic and consistent. EFBA is acknowledged for financial and practical support of the WelFur project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Wageningen Academic Publishers The Netherlands
About this paper
Cite this paper
Møller, S.H., Hansen, S.W., Rousing, T., Malmkvist, J. (2012). WelFur – mink: development of on-farm welfare assessment protocols for mink. In: Larsen, P.F., et al. Proceedings of the Xth International Scientific Congress in fur animal production. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-760-8_60
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-760-8_60
Publisher Name: Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen
Online ISBN: 978-90-8686-760-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
