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easily implemented in farm husbandry and management since they are safe,
relatively easy to implement, and economically affordable.
CONCLUSION
If we agree that farm animals are sentient and that they can more particularly
feel emotions, then we should follow our representation of the sentient
animals and behave towards them in the way that has been developed
throughout the present chapter. The starting point of the welfare of an animal
is its emotions, which may or may not evolve into prolonged affective states
(
Veissier et al., 2012
). We particularly emphasized in this chapter the
cognitive aspects that can be useful to access emotions in animals. New
conceptual frameworks based on cognitive sciences offer relevant tools to
investigate positive affective states animals are capable of experiencing and
to achieve real practical improvements in the welfare of the animals that we
use for our own ends. Emotions are not merely determined by the character-
istics of the challenges, but also by the personality of the individual animal.
Avoiding the rearing of overly vulnerable individuals through appropriate
genetic selection and careful consideration of the maternal and early environ-
ment will help to improve the welfare of both animals and stockpeople.
We saw that the implementation of cognitive challenges into animal housing
(based on positive anticipation, positive contrast, and positive control) is a
promising and practical approach to induce long-lasting positive effects on
animal welfare and speculatively on animal health. Further research is neces-
sary to fully understand how appraisal processes and ongoing cognitive
coping influence the immune system before developing relevant behavioral
strategies to enhance animal welfare and its health. Now, scientific informa-
tion reported throughout this chapter should be enough convincing to
promote livestock management practices, based on the animal's emotions,
that ensure a better match between the animals' sentience, their own expecta-
tions, and their environment, in order to achieve a positive animal welfare.
REFERENCES
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