Animal & Veterinary Sciences

Raf coordinates the subject VSC112 Animal Behaviour and Welfare to Veterinary and Animal Science students and the subject ASC225 Animal Behaviour and Welfare 2 to Animal Science students. Raf spent five years as a post-doctoral researcher at the Veterinary School at Bristol University before spending two years with the USDA’s Animal Research Services in Indiana. He took up a research, then lectureship position at UNE Armidale in 2003. Raf’s principle research interest is in the behaviour and welfare of poultry (he discovered the use of a magnetic compass in domestic chickens in 2005) and he has published over 20 papers in peer-reviewed journals, but more broadly has interests in animal behaviour and welfare across all domestic species.

 

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Background

I graduated in zoology and psychology from Bristol University in 1991 and undertook my PhD at Edinburgh University. I returned to Bristol University's Veterinary Science School in 1995 as a post-doc on various projects on animal behaviour and welfare. I then took up a contract with the United States Department of Agriculture in Indiana in 2001, before going to the University of New England in 2003 to work on spatial cognition in chickens. I joined CSU in 2007 as lecturer in animal behaviour and welfare.

 

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Research Interests

I have a broad interest in animal behaviour and welfare of domestic animals, having studied a wide range of animals- mice, chickens, sheep, horses- in a wide range of environments. My focus has been on understanding complex behavioural systems, such as cognition, pain behaviour, abnormal behaviour and behavioural needs and assessing the impact of husbandry practices on animal welfare.

Pain Behaviour

Many livestock species are subjected to routine management practices with the potential to cause acute or chronic pain. Pain behaviour is a critical measure of animal pain which serves to evaluate welfare as well as leading to a better understanding of pain perception in vertebrates. By combining observations and tests of pain behaviour with the use of local analgesics, we can reveal the subjective experience of animals and identify the pathways involved.

A hot blade is routinely used to beak trim chickens.

Animal motivation and cognition

 

Test arenas used to reveal magnetic compass (Left) and object permanence (Right) in the chicken.

Animal motivation tells us what animals want, and animal cognition tells us about the mental experiences of animals. Both are, therefore, critical in revealing situations in which welfare is severely compromised. My research focuses on cognition and orientation in chickens and is in collaboration with Christine Nicol (University of Bristol), Ursula Munro (University of Technology, Sydney), Wolfgang Wiltschko (JW Goethe University, Frankfurt) and Nigel Urwin (CSU).

Horse behaviour and welfare

In conjunction with Petra Buckley (CSU), Jonathan Cooper (University of Lincoln) and Paul McGreevy (University of Sydney), we aim to provide evidence-based solutions to pressing horse welfare behavioural and welfare problems. Horses housed in stables show a number of abnormal behavioural patterns, such as crib-biting, weaving and wind-sucking which are increasingly recognised as a welfare problem. Currently, the prevalence of abnormal behaviours within the Australian performance and recreational industries is unknown. Additionally, there is concern that current trends in the use of grain diets, reduced stable sizes and social isolation- factors known to trigger abnormal behaviour- may be having a detrimental effect on horse welfare.

 

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Research Publications

• Freire, R., Buckley, P. and Cooper, J.J. (2009). Effects of different forms of exercise on post-inhibitory rebound and unwanted behaviour in stabled horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 41, 1-6.
• Freire, R., Clegg, H.A., Buckley, Friend, M.A., McGreevy, P.D (in press). The effects of two different amounts of dietary grain on the digestibility of the diet and behaviour of intensively-managed horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, in press.
• Wichman, A., Rogers, L.J. and Freire, R. (2009). Visual lateralization and development of spatial and social spacing behaviour of chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus). Behavioural Processes, 81, 14-19.
• Wichman, A., Freire, R. and Rogers, L.J. (2009). Light exposure during incubation and social and vigilance behaviour of domestic chicks. Laterality, 14, 381-394.
• Freire, R., Clegg, H.A., Buckley, P., Friend, M.A., McGreevy, P.D. (2008). The behavioural and physiological effects of virginiamycin in the diets of stereotypic horses. Veterinary Record, 163, 413-417.
• Freire, R., Munro, U., Sagasser, S., Rogers, L.J., Wiltschko, R. and Wiltschko, W. (2008). Different responses in two strains of chickens (Gallus gallus) in a magnetic orientation test. Animal Cognition, 11, 547-552.
• Freire, R., Glatz, P. and Hinch, G. (2008). Self-administration of an analgesic does not alleviate pain in beak-trimmed chickens. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 21, 443-448.
• Rogers, L.J., Munro, U., Freire, R., Wiltschko, R. and Wiltschko, W. (2008). Lateralized response of chicks to magnetic cues. Behavioural Brain Research, 186, 66-71.
• Freire, R. and Rogers, L.J. (2007). Experience during a period of right hemisphere dominance alters attention to spatial information in the domestic chick. Animal Behaviour, 74, 413-418.
• Freire, R., Buckley, P. and Cooper, J.J. (2009). Effects of different forms of exercise on post-inhibitory rebound and unwanted behaviour in stabled horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 41, 1-6.
• Freire, R., Clegg, H.A., Buckley, Friend, M.A., McGreevy, P.D (in press). The effects of two different amounts of dietary grain on the digestibility of the diet and behaviour of intensively-managed horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, in press.
• Wiltschko, W., Freire, R., Munro, U., Ritz, T., Rogers, L.J., Thalau, P. and Wiltschko, R. (2007). The magnetic compass of domestic chicken, Gallus gallus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 210, 2300-2310.
• Freire, R., van Dort, S. and Rogers, L.J. (2006). Pre- and post-hatching effects of corticosterone treatment on behavior of the domestic chick. Hormones and Behavior, 49(2), 157-165.
• Freire, R., Munro, U., Rogers, L.J., Wiltschko, R. and Wiltschko, W. (2005). Chicken orient using the magnetic compass. Current Biology, 15(16): 620-621.
• Freire, R. and Rogers, L.J. (2005). Experience-induced modulation of the use of spatial cues in the domestic chicks. Animal Behaviour, 69, 1093-1100.
• Freire, R. and Cheng, H-W. (2004). Experience-dependent changes in the hippocampus of domestic chicks: a model for spatial memory. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(4): 1065-1068.
• Freire, R., Cheng, H-W., and Nicol, C.J. (2004). Development of spatial memory in occlusion-experienced domestic chicks. Animal Behaviour, 67(1):141-150.
• Cheng, H.-W., Freire, R., Pajor, E. (2004). Endotoxin stress responses in chickens from different genetic lines: 1. Sickness, behavioral and physical responses. Poultry Science, 83(5): 707-715.
• Freire, R., Wilkins, L.J., Short, F. and Nicol, C.J. (2003). Behaviour and welfare of individual laying hens in a non-cage system. British Poultry Science, 44(1): 2-29.
• Wichman, A., Rogers, L.J. and Freire, R. (in press). Visual lateralization and development of spatial and social spacing behaviour of chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus). Behavioural Processes, in press.
• Wichman, A., Freire, R. and Rogers, L.J. (in press). Light exposure during incubation and social and vigilance behaviour of domestic chicks. Laterality, in press.

 

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