**5. Conclusions**

Observers showed strong agreemen<sup>t</sup> as to how the sheep were rated, supporting the use of human observers to score sheep behaviour during commercial transport, with minimum intrusion into the normal procedures of animal handling. QBA is a valuable method for assessing the wellbeing of sheep

in production systems [14]. Observer rating of animal behaviour offers many advantages, not the least that it is practical and relatively inexpensive. The method is also repeatable, reliable and relevant to animal welfare assessment.

The livestock transport process is complex and involves handling of animals at multiple facilities by different groups of stockpersons working under time constraints. Hence a non-invasive assessment using video recording may prove an efficient and effective means to measure the animals' responses to handling and movement and offers insight into how well livestock are coping in what are stressful, but necessary, environments. The inclusion of a qualitative measure adds an important interpretative element to any welfare analysis or assurance scheme. With further validation at specific points within the livestock production chain, QBA appears as a promising welfare-relevant monitoring tool for industry.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/8/11/209/s1.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, T.C., A.L.B., D.W.M. and P.A.F.; Methodology, T.C., C.A.S., P.A.F. and S.L.W.; Writing—Original draft preparation, C.A.S.; review and editing, T.C., A.L.B., D.W.M. and P.A.F.; Project administration and funding acquisition, T.C.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, an initiative of the Australian government. The project was AW1011-15 'Qualitative behavioural assessment as a method to identify potential stressors during commercial sheep transport'.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors wish to thank the vehicle drivers who participated in the study and the feedlot operators who allowed the researchers access to the sheep and vehicles at the time of loading. Thanks also to the volunteer observers who scored the videos and to T. Vindevoghel for assisting with data collection.

**Conflicts of Interest:** All authors have received research funding for other livestock projects and reports from Meat and Livestock Australia, Livecorp, governmen<sup>t</sup> and industry funding, and TC, ALB, DWM and PAF have current ongoing, funded, production animal-relevant projects. TC and ALB are currently on review panels appointed by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (Australian government).
