INFLUENCE OF MOTION AND VIBRATION OF ANIMALS

Until recently, little attempt has been made to study the response of animals to vibrations and motions which occur on livestock transporters. This paper briefly outlines methods for quantifying vibration dose and their corresponding biological responses. Motion on a vehicle may contain vibrations occurring at a number frequencies and magnitudes, but different frequencies elicit different biological responses. Thus, it is necessary to base a quantitative vibration dose on only those frequencies which cause the particular biological response of interest. Measurements of vibration on a vehicle therefore require filtering with the appropriate frequency weighting to obtain the dose. Although frequency weighting filters have been derived for human response to vibration, none are available for animals. The basis of a method for obtaining frequency weighting curves for the aversion of broiler birds to vibration is discussed, together with some preliminary results used to establish the technique.