An EU animal welfare inspection was in 2009 conducted in a total of 561 production farms with the husbandry conditions of more than 360000 animals controlled. Severe negligence calling for urgent action to safeguard the wellbeing of the animals was found in two farms. All in all violations against the animal welfare regulations were reported in ca. 19% of the farms, which is slightly less than in 2008, when 22% of the farms failed to fulfil animal welfare requirements in all respects.
Sheep and goat farms were included in the scope of EU animal welfare inspections for the first time and violations were found in about every third inspection. This is clearly more than for other species. Severe negligence in the husbandry conditions of calves came up in two cattle farms, resulting in emergency action to safeguard the wellbeing of the animals. All in all, however, a turn for the better took place in calf farms, as the share of violations decreased by as much as nine percent over 2008.
In 2009, 752 farms were ordered to be inspected, representing about 1,5 percent of calf farms, 3 percent of pig farms, 7 percent of laying farms, ca. 7 percent of duck and goose farms, 2 percent of sheep and goat farms and 5 percent of fur farms. This time an exceptionally high number of farms (12 percent) had no animals on the premises at the time of the inspection. This reduced the number of realised inspections over the previous years.