Animal welfare in the poultry project of the Francisco de Paula Santander Ocaña University

Abstract

Producers are increasingly aware of the importance of proper management of animals to promote health, reproduction and production, so now seeks the valuation of animal welfare in production systems (SP) as a point of measurement of the level of management. The level of animal welfare is altered by elements that expose physical and mental health, influencing the satisfaction of the individuals involved. The intention of the study is the evaluation of the level of animal welfare in the production system of birds of postures of the line Backoc Brown of the University Francisco de Paula Santander Ocaña (UFPSO), applying the protocol Welfare Quality®(WQ), through a descriptive methodology with mixed approach, where the qualitative component was integrated by data of direct exploration with the animals, and the quantitative component by measuring the four (4) parameters of the Welfare Quality® protocol (Food, Housing, Good Health and Behavior), ten (10) criteria and twenty (20) complementary indicators among them, in a group off our thousand twenty-four (4024) laying birds of thirty-seven (37) week of life. The results of the measurement determined the evaluation of animal welfare as excellent, since the score in all parameters was greater than 80%, presenting compliance percentages of 89.5% in feeding, 91.3% in housing, 95.72% good health and 87.5% appropriate behavior, with total score (91.01%).