AHG Seminar - 15 October: Defining Animal Well-Being

Defining Animal Well-Being: Sciences and Practices of Care in Italian Animal Husbandry

Miriam Borgia, University of Bologna and EHESS-CRH, Paris

At the end of the eighteenth century in parts of Italian territory, following the French model, the first veterinary medicine schools were established to address the recurrent epizootics. This constituted not only a hygienic concern, but also an economic imperative. Within this context, and with increasing emphasis throughout the nineteenth century, it became progressively evident that a productive animal, particularly in the case of cattle, was primarily a healthy animal. However, how was one to define a healthy animal? And what was the tension between care and exploitation? In this contribution, I will examine how veterinarians, small-scale farmers, and zootechnics sought to establish this definition through considerations of nutrition, reproduction, and behavior. Knowledge and practices concerning animal well-being were experimented with in the stables, with particular attention to illumination, ventilation, and temperature control. They also emerged through veterinary care, administered by empirical practitioners or trained veterinarians, and through the challenges inherent in selecting and improving local breeds. Ultimately, the treatment provided to animals directly influenced the quality of derived products (most notably milk and meat). Throughout the nineteenth century, animal husbandry became distinct from agriculture and by century's end some zootechnics asserted that livestock farming was no longer merely a "necessary evil" – that is, an enterprise fraught with sanitary and economic risks yet essential to agricultural practice – but rather an autonomous economic sector and a legitimate scientific discipline, whose success depended entirely upon the care accorded to animals and the application of knowledge from zootechnical and veterinary sciences.