CONCOFOR Operational Group: Monitoring the welfare of fattening lambs to reduce the incidence of their main pathologies

The project focuses on the collection and analysis of animal activity data, and several activities will be carried out to achieve this. The lambs' activity and circadian rhythms will be assessed during the fattening period. This will be measured at several different stocking densities to establish a relationship between the number of lambs per square meter and changes in activity and circadian rhythms. It is very important that this be done simultaneously on three different farms to ensure the robustness of the results obtained.

In addition, all data related to diseases that may affect the animals will be taken into account during the study. Furthermore, an analysis will be conducted of the time the lambs spend near feeders and waterers, thereby providing insight into the lambs' feeding and drinking patterns during the fattening period.

All of this data, along with disease data, will provide a comprehensive view of lamb behavior during the finishing phase and its relationship to disease. Since this data can be affected by environmental conditions, data collection must be conducted several times throughout the year to accurately reflect any variations that may occur. All of these activities will ultimately allow us to develop scientifically based recommendations on stocking density and the availability of feeders and waterers to achieve the highest welfare standards and reduce the presence of disease in our feedlots.