Abstract

The present study’s aim was to test a German guideline for farm’s self-monitoring in sows and piglets for its feasibility as well as its interobserver and test–retest reliability. The study was performed between September 2016 and April 2018 on 13 farrowing farms in Northern Germany. Contrary to the guideline, the testing was not carried out by the farmers themselves but by 2 observers with experience in pigs representing common farmers. For the interobserver reliability study, the observers performed 20 joint farm visits independently assessing the same animals. For the test–retest reliability study, each farm was visited 5 times by 1 observer (day 0, day 3, week 7, month 5, month 10). Farm visit 1 (day 0) was used as reference and compared with the remaining farm visits. The reliability was evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (RS), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and limits of agreement (LoA). As results, the guideline’s feasibility was limited. The indicators’ reliability also presented divergent results: All indicators in piglets revealed acceptable to good interobserver reliability (RS 0.64 to 0.77 ICC 0.33 to 0.48 LoA between the intervals −0.02 to 0.13 and −0.02 to 0.00). Contrarily, interobserver reliability was low for indicators in sows (e.g., claw alterations: RS −0.41 ICC 0.00 LoA −0.97 to 0.68). Overall acceptable test–retest reliability could be assigned to all indicators although no exact agreement existed but only the pursuit of trends is indicated. On the basis of the present results, the guideline in its present form cannot be recommended for farms’ self-monitoring. Given the restricted applicability, it should be reconsidered whether it might not be more appropriate to use scientifically tested and generally accepted animal welfare assessment systems such as the Welfare Quality animal welfare assessment protocols, although their application is also time-consuming.

中文翻译：

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德国母猪和仔猪自我监测指南的可行性和可靠性。

摘要

本研究的目的是检验德国的母猪和仔猪自我监测指南的可行性以及观察者间和重测的可靠性。该研究于 2016 年 9 月至 2018 年 4 月期间在德国北部的 13 个分娩农场进行。与指南相反，测试不是由农民自己进行，而是由代表普通农民的 2 名具有养猪经验的观察员进行。对于观察者间可靠性研究，观察者进行了 20 次联合农场访问，独立评估相同的动物。对于测试-再测试可靠性研究，每个农场由 1 位观察员访问 5 次（第 0 天、第 3 天、第 7 周、第 5 个月、第 10 个月）。农场访问 1（第 0 天）用作参考并与剩余的农场访问进行比较。RS )、组内相关系数 ( ICC ) 和一致限 ( LoA)）。结果，该指南的可行性受到限制。指标的可靠性也呈现出不同的结果：仔猪的所有指标都显示出良好的观察者间可靠性（RS 0.64 至 0.77 ICC 0.33 至 0.48 LoA 在区间 -0.02 至 0.13 和 -0.02 至 0.00 之间）。相反，母猪指标的观察者间可靠性较低（例如爪改变：RS -0.41 ICC 0.00 LoA -0.97 至 0.68）。总体可接受的重测信度可以分配给所有指标，尽管不存在确切的一致性，但只表明了对趋势的追求。根据目前的结果，目前形式的指南不能推荐用于农场的自我监测。鉴于有限的适用性，