Pol Llonch

• DVM, MSc, PhD, Dip. ECAWBM
• Ramón y Cajal Researcher at Autonomous University of Barcelona

Online access: https://www.revistaganaderia.com/Noticias/Noticia/9798/bienestar-animal-positivo-nuevo-enfoque-mas-alla-ausencia-sufrimiento

Simple Summary: Animals must be stunned before slaughter to avoid fear, pain, and distress. In pigs, the most extensively used method is exposure to hypercapnia (high (>80%) concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO 2)). However, it produces irritation of the mucosa and a sense of breathlessness, reducing the welfare before slaughter. We investigated wh...

The goal of the current study was to develop a pig model to investigate oxidative stress with a low negative impact on piglet welfare. Four independent trials (A, B, C, and D) were performed using a single intraperitoneal shot of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as an immune challenge, aiming to assess the minimal LPS dose for piglets of different age to t...

Regrouping practices are frequent in pig production, altering hierarchy and triggering aggressive behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the physiological responses of piglets to an experimental model designed to induce stress through systematic social mixing in two trials. In Trial A, a total of 144 crossbred piglets (25 days postweanin...

Sensor technology is used in precision livestock farming applications to monitor amongst others animal health and welfare. However, in order to effectively use sensor data for welfare monitoring, the sensors need to provide valid and reliable measurements and the measured data needs to be relevant for animal welfare. Thus, sensor validation is cruc...

Within the framework of the EFSA project "More Welfare: towards new risk assessment methodologies and harmonized animal welfare data in the EU", a literature review was carried out on the current application of welfare assessment protocols in commercial practice. We reviewed scientific literature between 2013 and 2023, and focused on the following...

The use of sensor technology to monitor animal welfare continuously is of interest to farmers and other stakeholders. However, for sensor data to be used effectively in welfare monitoring, it is imperative that sensors provide valid and reliable measurements, and sensor data needs to be relevant to animal welfare. Therefore, the validation of senso...

Within the framework of the project "More Welfare: towards new risk assessment methodologies and harmonized animal welfare data in the EU", commissioned by EFSA, desk research was used to map activities related to on-farm animal welfare assessment. Five types of activities were mapped: 1) For research projects (RP), a systematic review was carried...

The objective was to study the impacts of micro-climate conditions on truck and journey characteristics, on animal welfare, using Welfare Quality (WQ) assessment. Trips (n=103) were monitored. Sensors included a GPS tracker, DOL 114, and DOL 19. GPS tracker timestamped each stop. DOL 114 recorded temperature and humidity. DOL 19 recorded CO2 level....

Alternative farrowing systems that have been developed in recent years could have a positive effect on the welfare of sows during farrowing and lactation. Oxytocin measurements in saliva may provide information about positive animal welfare status. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in salivary oxytocin concentrations in sows dur...

(esp) El bienestar animal es un componente esencial en la producción porcina y actualmente existe una tendencia creciente a utilizar tecnología de sensores para monitorizarlo. Esta tendencia es comúnmente llamada ganadería de precisión (PLF, por sus siglas en inglés "Precision Livestock Farming"). Los rápidos avances llevados a cabo en inteligencia...

Animal welfare is a multidimensional concept that comprises animal health, mental state and natural living conditions and plays an essential role in dairy production. On dairy farms, animal welfare can be assessed with different available protocols. The goal of this study was to describe the animal welfare strengths and hazards of dairy farms in Ar...

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) strives to develop new methodologies (quantitative and qualitative) for assessing animal welfare of food-producing animals by 2027 and start collecting standardised and good quality animal welfare (AW) data by 2030. In light of its vision, EFSA identified the need to develop an action Roadmap for the More W...

This presentation illustrates the final outcome of an EFSA Tender Call: Development of a roadmap for action for the project - More Welfare: towards new risk assessment methodologies and harmonised animal welfare data in the EU (reference: OC/EFSA/ED/2022/02). The video info session of this project can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/w...

Automation is an important element in modern livestock farming. Image computer analysis is the automation technology aiming to monitor farm animals by recording continuous images. Further analysis can be carried out to assess more precisely and effectively farm animals’ welfare. The aim of this study was to determine the applicability of the commer...

Brief description and the achievement of the ClearFarm project. Online version: https://www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/catching-up-with-the-trend-artificial-intelligence-ai-to-monitor-farm-animal-welfare/40193/

Most pigs experience transportation at least once in their lives. However, the welfare of the pigs during transportation is often overlooked. The aim of the current study was to investigate potential welfare indicators measured by PLF technologies during truck transportation to the slaughterhouse. Two trucks were used in the study. One GPS tracker...

Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) is developing as a powerful on-farm tool to monitor animal welfare. ClearFarm aims to contribute to this by developing an algorithm that can assess animal welfare continuously, based on the five Welfare Domains. This study summarises the main achievements and barriers experienced in the development of the algorithm...

Mastitis is major health issue compromising the welfare of dairy cows. Individual behaviour of dairy cows few days before mastitis is a potential tool for higher detection accuracy. However, little is known about the existence of behavioural patterns usually expressed by cows in healthy conditions that are associated with the subsequent onset of ma...

A brief journey of our achievements and barriers from the ClearFarm Work Package 2 (i.e., pig trials) when trying to aggregate animal welfare data collected from sensors and to construct platform algorithm.

Sheep production systems are diverse in Europe, and welfare assessment should consider this diversity, including differences in breed type, climatic conditions, and time of the year. The aim of this study was to evaluate welfare in 100 commercial sheep farms in Spain, and therefore in Mediterranean conditions, using a list of 24 indicators, compris...

This study aimed to investigate the association between salivary biomarkers and three animal-based parameters measured by two PLF sensors in pigs. The two PLF sensors are: SoundTalks (SoundTalks NV, Belgium) and Peek Analytics (Copeeks SAS, France). SoundTalks measured Respiratory Health Status (ReHS) and Peek Analytics measured activity level (Act...

Calving is a painful and stressful event for dairy cows. Continuous monitoring can provide quick and accurate assistance to the cow, reducing stress, pain, and preventing calving difficulties (dystocia). Vocalizations can provide information on cow welfare problems, such as pain. The aims of the current study were: (1) to characterize cows' vocaliz...

ClearFarm project intends to develop a platform to monitor animal welfare continuously throughout the value chain of pigs and dairy cattle using sensor technology. This platform relies on algorithms (for each species), built up with relevant welfare indicators measured by PLF (Precision Livestock Farming) technology. Before constructing the algorit...

The development of artificial intelligence algorithms and monitoring technologies has led to the increased use of sensors in animal production. Animal production stakeholders have emphasized the importance of non-invasive methods that provide accurate information without compromising the physical integrity of the animals. Animal vocalizations offer...

Farrowing systems can influence the behaviour of sows during lactation -including their interaction with piglets and ability to move around-, hence improving their welfare. Oxytocin has been associated with positive emotions, and consequently to welfare improvement. The purpose of this study was to compare the welfare of sows through salivary oxyto...

Welfare assessment of dairy cows by in-person farm visits provides only a snapshot of welfare, is time-consuming and costly. Possible solutions to reduce the need for in-person assessments would be to exploit sensor data and other routinely collected on farm records. The aim of this study was to develop an algorithm to classify dairy cow welfare ba...

Using sensor technology to support monitoring the environment and animal welfare on farm is becoming a common practice. An EU-funded project, ClearFarm, aims to use the data collected by PLF (Precision Livestock Farming) sensors to build an algorithm to assess animal welfare continuously across the value chain, with the focus on pig and dairy cattl...

Acidosis is a major health and welfare issue, especially in high-producing dairy cows. During acidosis, rumination is affected, as early as a few days before diagnosis. For this reason, behavioral patterns can be considered as promising indicators for the early detection of acidosis. However, the power of behavior analysis to predict acidosis can g...

Simple Summary Animals that are capable of suffering from pain and distress should be protected when they are being submitted to circumstances that could provoke suffering, such as experimental surgery or killing for human consumption. In terrestrial animals used for scientific purposes and food production, evidence of their capacity to experience...

Convenience sampling in animal experiments may affect findings due to individual difference in temperament. The aim in this study was to assess the consistency of convenience sampling order (ORDER), and to study the association between potential factors (i.e., behaviors related to handling, and coping ability to weaning) and ORDER in pigs (n = 325)...

Animal behaviour is an elastic trait that changes according to environmental circumstances and intrinsic properties, such as health or genetic background (i.e., breed). The term behaviour elasticity refers to the range of behaviour that an animal is capable to express. The evaluation of behaviour may be used to estimate either the adaptation capaci...

Poster presented in the 4th Annual Meeting of the EVCBMAW (European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare) 2022 Conference

Resting is important when assessing animal welfare and sensor technology can allow continuous on-farm monitoring of resting behaviour. The aims were to study resting behaviour over a three-month-period with a sensor, and to investigate the factors that may affect this behaviour. Four nursery pens (100 pigs/pen) and four fattening pens (13 pigs/pen)...

Behaviour is recognized as an important indicator of health and welfare of dairy cattle. In dairy cows, changes in behavioural patterns can be automatically monitored by PLF technology and used to early detect diseases such as mastitis, the most crucial health issue of high-producing dairy cows. The aim of the present study was to identify whether...

Computer vision is progressively integrated as a technology to monitor animal behavior on farm and can assist in applied research and decision making for farmers. However, the accuracy of computer vision needs to be assessed. This study compared a computer vision sensor developed by Copeeks (Copeeks SAS, France) with human-based observation on a co...

Incorporating sensing technology into on-farm welfare assessment is a trend in modern livestock farming. Using sensors to collect quantitative information from the environment and the animals can assist the producers on decision making. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation of the parameters collected by two commercial sensors on...

Automatic Milking Systems (AMS) have been used for almost 30 years, but animal welfare studies are scarce and comparation between different AMS almost inexistent. The objective of this study was to compare the behaviour and welfare of cows in 3 AMS facility design.

Simple Summary The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a panel of 29 salivary biomarkers of stress, immunity, inflammation, redox homeostasis and other physiological functions can change in healthy fattening pigs when monitoring the different phases of their productive cycle and can be influenced by various sources of variations such as gende...

Poster presented in the 1st Scientific Meeting of Red CIBA - ISAE South West Europe Region (Red CIBA: Spanish animal welfare research network) (ISAE: International Society for Applied Ethology)

Observing behaviors on farm by naked eyes may produce biases due to the presence of observers. Additionally, the analysis of videos recorded continuously can be time-consuming. Change of the activity level, however, has been found to be associated with health or welfare problems in pigs. The aim of the pilot study was to investigate whether the act...

The intense nature of pig production has increased the animals’ exposure to stressful conditions, which may be detrimental to their welfare and productivity. Some of the most common sources of stress in pigs are extreme thermal conditions (thermal stress), density and mixing during housing (social stress), or exposure to pathogens and other microor...

Within the European Union, there is no harmonization of farm animal welfare quality schemes for meat and dairy products. Instead, there are several industry-driven initiatives and voluntary schemes that seek to provide information on animal welfare for attentive consumers. This study had two aims. First, we quantified how selected industry-wide qua...

The study investigated the effect of farrowing environment on the weaning adaptability of sows and piglets. One farrowing crate (FC) and two farrowing pens with temporary crating (TC: SWAP and JLF15) were compared. Sixty-four sows and 663 piglets were followed until 5 days post-weaning. At weaning (D24), sows and piglets were moved to group pens an...

Industrial food animal production practices are efficient for producing large quantities of milk, meat, and eggs for a growing global population, but often result in the need to alter animals to fit a more restricted environment, as well as creating new animal welfare and health problems related to animal confinement in high densities. These practi...

The main conditions and diseases considered painful in dairy cows are mastitis, lameness, calving (including dystocia and caesarean section) and metritis. The cattle literature reports that deviation from normal daily activity patterns (both increased and/or reduced daily lying time) can be indicative of painful conditions and diseases in cows. Thi...

Dairy Cattle Welfare in Practice takes a very practical approach, first outlining what welfare is, then demonstrating how poor welfare can lead to economic losses and using case studies to show how welfare improvements have led to increased productivity.

Weaning is a critical period in the life of pigs with repercussions on their health and welfare and on the economy of the swine industry. This study aimed to assess the effect of the commercial early weaning on gut microbiota, intestinal gene expression and serum metabolomic response via an integrated-omic approach combining 16S rRNA gene sequencin...

The study aimed to compare the welfare and performance of sows and piglets in three different farrowing systems (farrowing crate (FC) and farrowing pen with temporary crating (TC): SWAP and JLF15). One batch of crossbred Duroc was followed in every season. There were 18 sows (183 piglets) in FC, 23 sows (243 piglets) in SWAP, and 23 sows (237 pigle...

Convenience sampling in animal experiments may result in bias due to temperament. The aim was to assess the consistency of convenience sampling order (ORDER) and its association with some temperament traits in pigs. We followed 325 pigs and they were housed in 20 pens during suckling (14 piglets/litter), eight pens during nursery (initial density:...

3-minute oral presentation in FFL21 (Research updates: Experience with free farrowing / temporary confinement systems) https://www.freefarrowing.org/research/references/freedom-in-farrowing-and-lactation-2021-ffl21/

The temporary crating system is one of the alternatives to the farrowing crate that has been introduced recently. The study aim was to compare sow body movements related to crushing in three farrowing systems. In each batch, there were five conventional farrowing crates (CON), six SWAP and six JLF15 pens, which are the commercially available tempor...

INTRODUCCIÓN La investigación en bienestar animal en España ha crecido de forma notable en los últimos años. Cada vez existen más grupos dedicados a este objetivo en centros de investigación y universidades. Sin embargo, este rápido crecimiento a veces no ha ido acompañado de un incremento de la colaboración entre investigadores de esta área, ni ta...

Several precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies, conceived for optimizing farming processes, are developed to detect the physical and behavioral changes of animals continuously and in real-time. The aim of this review was to explore the capacity of existing PLF technologies to contribute to the assessment of pig welfare. In a web search for...

In order to base welfare assessment of dairy cattle on real-time measurement, integration of valid and reliable precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies is needed. The aim of this study was to provide a systematic overview of externally validated and commercially available PLF technologies, which could be used for sensor-based welfare assessm...

The aim of this study was to determine the possible impact of early socialization and an enriched neonatal environment to improve adaptation of piglets to weaning. We hypothesized that changes in the microbiota colonization process and in their metabolic response and intestinal functionality could help the animals face weaning stress. A total of 48...

Simple Summary Weaning is an important period for the swine industry and is influenced by the early events that occur during gestation and lactation. Therefore, a range of dietary and management strategies have to be implemented to achieve optimal health status, maturity, and weight at weaning. In this review, we aimed to identify the major dietary...

Simple Summary Animals must be stunned before slaughter to avoid fear, pain, and distress. In pigs, the most extensively used method is exposure to hypercapnia (high (>80%) concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2)). However, it produces irritation of the mucosa and a sense of breathlessness, reducing the welfare before slaughter. We investigated whet...

Global climate change increasingly affects agricultural and livestock production with an overwhelmingly negative effect on the health and wellbeing of livestock. The livestock sector must urgently seek for more efficient and sustainable productivity and meet higher standards of animal welfare. The negative effects of climate change on animal health...

(esp) El alojamiento durante el parto y la lactación influye en la forma en que una cerda y sus lechones interactúan. En las jaulas de parto, el movimiento y la interacción de la cerda con sus lechones están restringidos, lo que compromete el bienestar de las cerdas lactantes y de sus lechones. Las parideras con jaulas temporales están diseñadas pa...

The aim of this study was to assess the welfare of culled dairy cattle sent to an auction in the UK and identify associations between animal-based measurement and economic gain. The population of cull dairy cows sold at a Scottish livestock market were assessed on ten occasions for measures including body condition, mobility, hair loss and lesions,...

The present study had 2 objectives: the first was to analyze the possible impact of transport on weight loss and mortality during transport, and first-week mortality. The second was to monitor the environmental condition (i.e., temperature, humidity, and so on) variability during transport with an effect on day-old chicks. Probe equipment was insta...

On-farm practices like premature weaning and frequent regrouping induce stress to pigs. Early socialization or environmental enrichment in piglets reduce weaning stress, as suggested in previous studies. Little research with both effects and in commercial settings was found. The aim was to investigate the effects of preweaning socialization and env...

The aim of the study was to assess lactating sow welfare in three farrowing systems. The farrowing systems included one conventional permanent crating (CON) and two temporary-crating systems (SWAP and JLF15, produced by Jyden, Denmark). Four batches of crossbred Duroc sows were studied: 18 sows in CON, 24 sows in SWAP and 23 sows in JLF15. The day...

The aim of this study was to assess piglet welfare in three farrowing systems on an intensive farm in Spain. The farrowing systems included one conventional crate system (CON) and two commercially available temporary-crating systems (SWAP and JLF15, designed by Jyden, Denmark). Four batches of crossbreed Duroc were studied from birth to weaning: 18...

Poster presented in UFAW 2020 Animal Welfare Conference

Technical report published in pig333.com (https://www.pig333.com/articles/free-farrowing-systems-on-commercial-farms-in-denmark-and-spain_16153/)

Weaning and other regrouping events as routine work in commercial farms cause stress to pigs and compromise their welfare. Several studies found positive outcomes to mitigate weaning stress when piglets were socialized (i.e. co-mingled) or raised with enrichment materials in research settings. However, research in commercial settings is lacking. We...

First-week mortality is an important performance index as well as an important welfare indicator. The aim of the present study was to identify internal (individual-dependent) and external (management or environmental) factors that could influence the cumulative first-week mortality of broilers. To carry out this study, field data obtained from a ha...

Consequences of heat stress during pregnancy can affect the normal development of the offspring. In the present experiment, 30 Murciano-Granadina dairy goats (41.8 ± 5.7 kg) were exposed to 2 thermal environments varying in temperature-humidity index (THI) from 12 days before mating to 45 days of gestation. The environmental conditions were: gestat...

Esta monografía trata dos aspectos sanitarios e de benestar animal a considerar nas matanzas domiciliarias de gando porcino e as normas legais e recomendacións a cumprir para un correcto proceso de atordamento e sacrificio destes animais. This monograph addresses to health concerns and animal welfare which must be considered on domestic slaughters...

The management of the litters through practices of early-socialization and environmental enrichment has been shown to improve piglet’s adaptation at weaning, reducing stress response. We hypothesized that changes in the neonatal environment of piglets could also modulate the maturation of intestinal microbiota and gene expression at weaning. In a c...

The aim of the study was to investigate the combined effects of early-socialization and neonatal enriched environment on pig’s growth from birth to slaughter. Two treatments were applied on a commercial farm in Lleida (Spain) in June 2017. During suckling period, piglets of control treatment (CON, n=324 from 20 litters) were raised in barren farrow...

Consequences of heat stress during pregnancy can affect the normal development of the offspring. In the present experiment, 30 Murciano-Granadina dairy goats (41.8 ± 5.7 kg) were exposed to 2 thermal environments varying in temperature-humidity index (THI) from 12 days before mating to 45 days of gestation. The environmental conditions were: gestat...

(esp) Estudios recientes han demostrado los beneficios de la socialización temprana y el enriquecimiento ambiental durante el periodo de lactancia en condiciones experimentales. Sin embargo, hay información limitada en condiciones comerciales. Se llevaron a cabo una serie de estudios experimentales de 2015 a 2017 para investigar los efectos de la s...

In this study, the changes of salivary stress biomarkers were contrasted with skin lesions during weaning in piglets. The stress biomarkers evaluated were cortisol (as the reflection of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis), chromogranin A (CgA) and alpha amylase (sAA) (both as the reflection of sympathoadrenal-medullary (SAM) axis). In additi...

Feeding behavior in dairy cattle has a significant impact on feed efficiency, which is important for increasing the profitability of livestock and, at the same time, reducing the environmental impact. Feeding behavior can be measured by feeding time, meal duration, meal frequency, feeding rate, and rumination time. Higher feed intake is related to...

Introduction Projected temperature rise in the upcoming years due to climate change has increased interest in studying the effects of heat stress in dairy cows. Environmental indices are commonly used for detecting heat stress, but have been used mainly in studies focused on the productivity-related effects of heat stress. The welfare approach invo...

PRISMA 2009 checklist. (DOC)

Description of the factors of the studies found in the systematic review. (XLSX)

Systematic review references list. (DOCX)