A comparison of online and live training of livestock farmers for an on-farm self-assessment of animal welfare

dc.date.accessioned2023-01-16T14:06:28Z
dc.date.available2023-01-16T14:06:28Z
dc.date.issued2022-11-14
dc.description.sponsorshipGefördert durch den Publikationsfonds der Universität Kassel
dc.identifierdoi:10.17170/kobra-202301167386
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/14369
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.doidoi:10.3389/fanim.2022.915708
dc.rightsNamensnennung 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectanimal welfareeng
dc.subjecttrainingeng
dc.subjectanimal-based indicatorseng
dc.subjectself-assessmenteng
dc.subjectreliabilityeng
dc.subjectfeasibilityeng
dc.subject.ddc570
dc.subject.ddc590
dc.subject.swdSelbsteinschätzungger
dc.subject.swdTierschutzger
dc.subject.swdLandwirtger
dc.subject.swdSchulungger
dc.titleA comparison of online and live training of livestock farmers for an on-farm self-assessment of animal welfareeng
dc.typeAufsatz
dc.type.versionpublishedVersion
dcterms.abstractOne approach to strengthening the involvement of farmers or stockpersons in the evaluation and improvement of animal welfare is the implementation of an on-farm self-assessment. A valid comparison of the results with reference values, between or within farms, requires that training of the farmers and reliability testing have taken place. We investigated two different training methods (online vs. live) with a total of 146 livestock farmers from farms with dairy cows and calves, beef cattle, sows and suckling piglets, weaners and fattening pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, and turkeys from all over Germany. Online tests were conducted by assessing photos/videos of each indicator of the assessment scheme to estimate the inter-rater reliability (prevalence-adjusted and bias-adjusted kappa, PABAK). The farmers were requested to provide information on their professional background and rate their motivation to participate in the training and their subjective training success, meaning their confidence in assessing each indicator later on-farm. They evaluated the feasibility of the training and its impact on their views and attitudes. In general, farmers achieved at least substantial inter-rater reliability (PABAK ≥ 0.61) in 86.8% of all initial tests; 13.4% of the tests were repeated once or more times, resulting in a significant improvement of the agreement, with 90.9% of the tests reaching a PABAK ≥ 0.61. However, reliability was higher for indicators with a lower number of score levels. The subjective evaluation of training success was, on average, positive (score = 74.8 out of 100). No effects of the training method or the farmers’ professional background on the inter-rater reliability or the subjective training success were detected. Furthermore, for both methods, farmers moderately agreed that the training had sharpened their views on the animals, encouraged them to implement the assessment on their farm, and made it clear that self-assessment supports animal management. Although the reported costs and time investment for the online training were significantly lower, the effort required for both methods and the ease of integration into the workflow were ranked as similarly acceptable. Overall, both training methods appear feasible for the training of farmers/stockpersons on the assessment of animal-based indicators.eng
dcterms.accessRightsopen access
dcterms.creatorMichaelis, Sarina
dcterms.creatorSchubbert, Antje
dcterms.creatorGieseke, Daniel
dcterms.creatorCimer, Kornel
dcterms.creatorZapf, Rita
dcterms.creatorLühken, Sally
dcterms.creatorMarch, Solveig
dcterms.creatorBrinkmann, Jan
dcterms.creatorSchultheiß, Ute
dcterms.creatorKnierim, Ute
dcterms.source.articlenumber915708
dcterms.source.identifiereissn:2673-6225
dcterms.source.journalFrontiers in Animal Scienceeng
dcterms.source.volumeVolume 3
kup.iskupfalse

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