EBENE application for poultry welfare self-assessment by farmers

Summary

The EBENE® smartphone app was designed for farmers to monitor the welfare of their own poultry and rabbits in different production systems, including free-range and organic systems. The app contains animal-based questions that relate to one of the 4 Welfare Quality principles: good housing, good feeding, good health and appropriate behaviour. The results include scores for each welfare indicator and aggregated criteria and automated advice with risk factors for possible welfare problems. An anonymous comparison with the scores of other app users is also possible within a specific company (benchmarking). Using the EBENE® app could help increase awareness of potential welfare problems and risk factors, which could make it easier to prevent problems from occurring. Farmers are advised to discuss the results with their veterinarian or other advisors to, if relevant, come up with the best approach to improve animal welfare on their farm.