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Abstract
In Germany, many stables are constructed with
subsidies from the Farm Investment Scheme (FIS), a measure
of the EU Rural Development Programme. The FIS is
considered to be “the most important measure for the
promotion of investments into welfare friendly housing
systems” by the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and
Consumer Protection.
We evaluated the effect of the FIS on animal welfare in
dairy and pig farms, applying and adapting an environment
based method. Information on animal housing conditions
before and after the investments was gathered in a telephone
survey carried out in 2007. The farms were selected
in a random disproportional sample, stratified according to
the federal states. The sample sizes amount to 18 % of the
population of assisted dairy farms and 32 % of assisted
fattening pig farms.
The analysis shows that the FIS does not achieve important
improvements in the behavioural aspect of animal
welfare at the examined farm types. Although there are
some meliorations in the dairy farms, these are mainly due
to the abandonment of tethered-stalls. At the pig farms,
restriction of animal behaviour is a much more severe
problem, and the FIS can not account for any progress.
Should the FIS strive for achievements in the field of
animal welfare, expert based definitions of investments
which really lead to improvements in animal welfare are a
precondition. Additionally, the measure needs to be integrated
into an approach involving tightened legislation,
guidelines for welfare friendly housing systems, consumer
information campaigns and possibly even compensation
payments.