Effect of type of floor and space at the manger on growht performance and feeding behaviour of beef cattle

There is no regulation in force concerning the welfare of beef cattle in Europe likely because of the large differences existing among the fattening systems adopted by different countries. The fattening system mainly adopted in Italy must be consider intensive due to the high cattle stocking rate and the indoor housing with lack of pasture. In these rearing conditions the main factors affecting beef cattle welfare are the space allowance, the number of animals/pen, the type of floor, and the space at the manger (EU-SCAHAW, 2001). Up-to-date, the is a lack of specific studies carried out under the Italian rearing conditions to investigate the effect of these factors on beef cattle welfare. Therefore, the present work aimed at evaluating the effect of type of floor and feeding space on the welfare of beef cattle reared in intensive system