Cohort profile: The FarmMERGE project-Merging human and animal databases to investigate the relationship between farmer and livestock health and welfare. The HUNT Study.

Stockmanship is an important determinant for good animal welfare and health. The goal of the FarmMERGE project is to investigate the associations between farmer health and work environment, and the health, productivity and welfare of their livestock. We merged several livestock industry databases with a major total population-based health study in Norway (The Trøndelag Health Study 2017-2019 (HUNT4)). This paper describes the project's collection and merging of data, and the cohort of farmers and farms that were identified as a result of our registry merge. There were 56,042 participants of HUNT4 (Nord-Trøndelag County participants only, participation rate: 54.0%). We merged a list of HUNT4 participants whose self-reported main occupation was "farmer" (n = 2,407) with agricultural databases containing production and health data from sheep, swine, dairy and beef cattle from 2017-2020. The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities was used as an intermediary step to achieve a link between the farmer and farming enterprise data. We identified 816 farmers (89.5% male, mean age 51.3 years) who had roles in 771 farming enterprises with documented animal production. The cohort included 675 unique farmer-farm combinations in cattle production, 139 in sheep, and 125 in swine. We linked at least one HUNT4 participant to approximately 63% of the dairy farms, 53% of the beef cattle farms, 30% of the sheep farms, and 38% of the swine farms in Nord-Trøndelag County in the 2017-2019 period. Using existing databases may be an efficient way of collecting large amounts of data for research, and using total population-based human health surveys may decrease response bias. However, the quality of the resulting research data will depend on the quality of the databases used, and thorough knowledge of the databases is required.

Can shelter dog observers score behavioural expressions consistently over time?

A substantial number of dogs live in animal shelters worldwide. Stressors within the shelter environment can compromise their welfare, and scientific evaluations of feasible welfare assessment methods are therefore needed. Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a "whole-animal" approach used to assess welfare by observing animals' expressive behaviour. To investigate whether observers can score dogs' behavioural expressions consistently over time, this study replicated and extended previous research, by evaluating intra- and inter-observer reliability of QBA based on video recordings of shelter dogs. In Part I, nine veterinary nurse students received theoretical and practical training, and then scored 12 2 min video recordings of shelter dogs using a fixed list of behavioural descriptors. Three of the students undertook further practice and calibration using direct observations of dog behaviour in a local shelter. In Part II, the videos from Part I were scored by these three observers a second time, 15 months later. QBA data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), and reliability was assessed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W). In Part I, the inter-observer reliability was high for both components (0.78 for PC1 and 0.85 for PC2). In Part II, the inter-observer reliability was very high and moderate for PC1 and PC2, respectively (0.90 for PC1 and 0.65 for PC2). The intra-observer reliability was high for both components (W ≥ 0.86). Our results indicate that the fixed list of behavioural descriptors for shelter dogs can be used reliably when assessing videos, and that observers can score dogs' behavioural expressions consistently after a break of 15 months following the initial assessment. Nevertheless, the reduction in inter-observer-reliability of PC2 in Part II can indicate that some retraining and calibration may be required to avoid observer drift.

Childhood Experiences of Companion Animal Abuse and its Co-Occurrence with Domestic Abuse: Evidence from a National Youth Survey in Norway.

It is increasingly acknowledged that companion animal abuse often occurs in the same contexts as other types of abuse, particularly domestic abuse. However, the co-occurrence and strengths of these associations in the general population have not been well established in research. With data from a large representative sample of Norwegian adolescents, we aimed to determine 1) the extent to which Norwegian children are exposed to companion animal abuse in the family, 2) whether and how companion animal abuse is linked to other forms of domestic abuse that children experience, and 3) background factors associated with companion animal abuse. A total of 9240 adolescents aged 12-16 years (Mage 14.7) participated in the digital school-based survey. Four percent (n = 380) reported that they had ever witnessed a parent being violent towards a family companion animal, whereas 1% (n = 125) had experienced that an adult in the household had threatened to harm a companion animal. There was a substantial overlap between companion animal abuse and child abuse, and it most frequently co-occurred with psychological abuse and less severe forms of physical child abuse. This resonates with conceptualizations of domestic abuse as an ongoing pattern of psychological abuse and coercive control. The risk factors identified for companion animal abuse in this representative sample of adolescents were similar to known risk factors for domestic abuse. Low socioeconomic status and parents' substance abuse, parents' psychiatric illness, and parents' history of incarceration entailed a greater risk of experiencing companion animal abuse. We conclude that companion animal abuse co-occurs with other forms of domestic abuse and that it may be considered a part of the repertoire of domestic abuse that impacts children.

Reliability of observer ratings: Qualitative behaviour assessments of shelter dogs using a fixed list of descriptors.

Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a whole-animal approach used to quantify the expressive style of animals' behaviour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inter-observer reliability of QBA of shelter dogs using a fixed list of descriptors. The fixed list of 20 terms was generated using a group of experts and literature reviews. In the pilot study, seven veterinary students scored 12 two-minute video clips, and in the main study, 22 final year veterinary nurse students and third-year veterinary students scored the same videos. The two datasets were analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and the level of agreement for the main components and individual terms was assessed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W). In the pilot study, the observer agreement was 0.89 for PC1 and 0.78 for PC2, indicating high inter-observer agreement. The reliability was similarly high for both components in the main study (0.88 and 0.79, respectively). Results also demonstrated high or moderate agreement for most of the terms included in the fixed list. We propose that this approach can be a useful learning tool for students. Our results support further exploration of this method for the assessment of shelter dog welfare by direct observation.

Intra- and Inter-Observer Reliability of Qualitative Behaviour Assessments of Housed Sheep in Norway.

This study tested the reliability of a Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) protocol developed for the Norwegian Sheep House (FåreBygg) project. The aim was to verify whether QBA scores were consistent between different observers, i.e., inter-observer reliability, and between scorings of the same observers on different time points, i.e., intra-observer reliability. Six trained observers, including two veterinary students, two animal welfare inspectors and two sheep farmers observed sheep in 16 videos, and independently scored 14 pre-defined behavioural descriptors on visual analogue scales (VAS). The procedure was repeated one week after the first scoring session. QBA scores were analysed using Principal Component Analysis. Inter- and intra-observer agreement was assessed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W). Principal component 1 (PC 1) and 2 (PC 2) combined explained >60% of the total variation in the QBA scores in both scoring sessions. PC 1 (44.5% in sessions 1 and 2) ranged from the positive descriptors calm, content, relaxed and friendly to the negative descriptors uneasy, vigilant and fearful, and was therefore labelled mood. PC 2 (18% in session 1, 16.6% in session 2) ranged from bright to dejected and apathetic, and was therefore labelled arousal. Kendall's coefficient of concordance of PC 1 for all observers was high in the two scoring sessions (W = 0.87 and 0.85, respectively), indicating good inter-observer reliability. For PC 2, the agreement for all observers was moderate in both video sessions (W = 0.45 and 0.65). The intra-observer agreement was very high for all observers for PC 1 (W > 0.9) except for one, where the agreement was considered to be high (W = 0.89). For PC 2, Kendall's coefficient was very high for the veterinary students and interpreted as moderate for the two farmers and welfare inspectors. This study indicates that the QBA approach and the terms included in the Fårebygg protocol were reliable for assessing video recordings of sheep behaviour when applied by trained observers, regardless of whether they were a veterinary student, animal welfare inspector or sheep farmer. Further work is needed to examine the reliability of the QBA protocol when tested on-farms for sheep managed under Norwegian housing systems.

Problem behaviors in adult laying hens - identifying risk factors during rearing and egg production.

Feather pecking, toe pecking, cannibalism, smothering, social clumping, hens laying eggs outside the nest boxes, and reduced feather quality are examples of problem behaviors and consequences reported by egg producers. The aim of this study was to identify rearing- and production-related risk factors associated with producer-reported problem behaviors in Norwegian layer flocks. Questionnaires were distributed to 410 egg producers nationwide, and 120 producers responded to the survey (response rate 29%). After exclusion of data that did not comply with the instructions, the final dataset included 78 flocks (19%). The survey covered questions about the farm, the flock's production results, the housing environment, climate and management routines, and the behavior of the birds from 16 wk of age until the flock was euthanized at 70-80 wk of age. The individual problem behaviors were combined to generate a continuous index variable called "problem behavior", ranging from 0 (none) to 8 (all the listed problem behaviors) reported. Multilevel linear regression models were applied to evaluate associations between the index and selected risk factors during rearing and production. The primary predictor was housing system during egg production: producers with aviary flocks on average (± standard deviation) reported 1.6 (± 0.60) more problem behaviors compared to producers with furnished cages (P < 0.001). Within aviaries (n = 40), producers, on average reported 1.7 (± 0.50) more problem behaviors in flocks that experienced problems with climatic conditions, compared to flocks without climatic problems (P = 0.001). For respondents with furnished cages (n = 30), on average 1.1 (± 0.50) fewer problem behaviors were reported in farms with ≥ 7,500 birds compared to farms with < 7,500 birds (P = 0.027). In conclusion, this is the first study assessing management and housing factors during the rearing and laying phase associated with problem behaviors as reported by Norwegian egg producers. As this study relied on producer reported observations, future studies are needed to investigate whether objective measurements can verify these results.