Farm animal observation

Visit a safe local area where you can see farm animals, such as a nearby field or farm (never enter private fields or touch animals). 

Choose one animal in particular to focus on.

Or, if you do not have farm animals nearby, you can use this video. Before you begin, give the video a quick watch and pick an animal that stays on screen long enough for you to observe their behaviour clearly.
 

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Every 30 seconds, look at your chosen animal and note what it’s doing at that exact moment only (this is called instantaneous or point sampling).

If you can’t see the animal at that moment, write “out of sight”.

If you’re using the video, observe your chosen animal for 5 minutes. If the animal goes off-screen, simply write “out of sight”.

Record your observations. Don’t record what happens between each 30-second check, only the behaviour at the exact point in time.

Add your observations to the table on your worksheet and use the behaviour codes to help you. Total how many times each behaviour appears.

Review your data and consider what it may tell you about the animal’s welfare and emotional state.

Answer these questions:

• Which behaviours did you see most often?
• What do these behaviours tell you about how the animal may be feeling? For example, does the behaviour indicate the animal is calm or frightened? 
• Why is observing behaviour important for animal welfare?
• Were there any behaviours on the ethogram that you didn’t see? Is it because the animal didn’t perform the behaviour? Or because you couldn’t see the right environment for it (e.g., no mud bath for pigs to wallow)?

Based on your observations, design an ideal space or enclosure for this animal.

Draw and label features that help meet their needs.