![]() ![]() This state varies according to the animal's perception of the situation.” One of the means for satisfying the behavioral needs of animals is to consider their natural behavior. In this context, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety ( 3) developed the following definition of animal welfare: “ The welfare of an animal is the positive mental and physical state related to the satisfaction of its physiological and behavioral needs as well as to its expectations. Providing animals with a “good life” ( 2) requires more than just ensuring animals are healthy and productive. Indoor housing of ruminants is often criticized because of perceived intensiveness and lack of naturalness. Society is becoming increasingly interested in the welfare of farmed animals with an growing appreciation of animal welfare parameters over other quality attributes of food products ( 1). Nonetheless, we highlight that some goats actively used the elevated feeder this coupled with the clear preference for leaves over grass, suggests that offering feed type and presentation diversity would allow individuals to express their natural feeding behavior more fully. We did not identify a preference for elevated feeding posture however, we suggest that our short test (compared to previous work) encouraged goats to make choices based on line-of-sight and also that the elevated feeder design (replicated from previous work) made leaf access harder. Feed intake was negatively affected by exploring time (Exp1 only: r = −0.541 P < 0.001) and performing non-feeding activities (Exp1: r = −0.698 P < 0.001 Exp2: r = −0.673 P < 0.001). Type of feed affected preference for feeding posture and height. Effects of posture (Exp1), height (Exp2) and feed type were analyzed. Measurements included feed intake (g of DM/feeder), feeder switching frequency, first feeder visited, latency to visit first feeder and exploration and non-feeding activity time. Sixteen adult, Saanen cross females participated in two experiments comparing a floor-level feeder (grazing posture farm standard), with an elevated feeder (browsing posture Exp1) and a platform-level feeder (raised, grazing posture Exp2), when two forages (leaves, grass) were offered. We investigated if feeding preference was related to posture, feeder height relative to the ground, and type of feed. Goats naturally browse different forages in various postures this differs from typical farm practice, thus there are opportunities to improve goat welfare by understanding what and how they like to eat. ![]()
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