Influences on the assessment of resource- and animal-based welfare indicators in unweaned dairy calves for usage by farmers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J Hayer ◽  
Dorit Nysar ◽  
Céline Heinemann ◽  
Caroline D Leubner ◽  
Julia Steinhoff-Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Welfare Indicators

Abstract Consumers, industrial stakeholders, and the legislature demand a stronger focus on animal welfare of all livestock at the farm level by using suitable indicators in self-assessments. In order to deduce farms’ animal welfare status reliably, factors that influence indicators’ results need to be identified. Hence, this study aimed to apply possible animal welfare indicators for unweaned dairy calves on conventional dairy farms with early cow-calf separation and evaluate influencing factors such as age and sex of calves or climatic conditions on the applied indicators’ results. An animal welfare assessment using seven resource-based and 14 animal-based indicators was conducted at 42 typical Western German dairy farms (844 calves) in 2018 and 2019 by two observers. The effect of influencing factors was calculated by binary and ordinal logistic regressions and expressed as odds ratios. Although every unweaned calf was assessed during the farm visits, most farms had relatively few unweaned calves (average number of calves ± standard deviation = 20.1 ± 6.7 calves), with six farms having not more than ten calves. The small sample sizes question the usage of those indicators to compare between farms and to set thresholds at farm level. Only one assessed indicator (cleanliness core body) was not statistically affected by the evaluated influencing factors. Calf age was identified as the most decisive factor, as it affected 16 of 21 evaluated indicators and calf age distribution on-farm varied greatly. Climatic conditions (ambient temperature and rainfall) influenced resource-based indicators such as access to concentrate and water or the cleanliness of feeding implements and bedding as well as animal-based cleanliness indicators and the occurrence of health-related impairments such as coughing and diarrhea. The authors found differences between calves on farms assessed by the different observers in resource-based hygiene indicators but also in animal-based indicators like hyperthermia or hypothermia, highlighting the need for further evaluation of quality criteria in dairy calf welfare assessments. Nevertheless, animal welfare assessments by farmers themselves could be useful tools to sensitize farmers to animal welfare and thereby improve calves’ welfare.

scholarly journals Incorporating Silages into Preweaned Dairy Calf Diets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia I. Kehoe ◽  
Paweł Górka ◽  
Zhijun J. Cao
Keyword(s):  
Feed Intake ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Nutrient Digestibility ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Feeding Management ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The World ◽  
Abnormal Behaviors

Supplementing forage to preweaned calves has shown some positive effects, such as stabilization of the rumen environment, limiting abnormal behaviors, and increasing starter intake. However, dry forages can be limited and cost prohibitive in some areas of the world. Contrastingly, ensiled forages are commonly found on most dairy farms and are low cost. Therefore, the objective of this review was to focus specifically on ensiled forages and how they affect preweaned calves. There are few studies that have focused on providing ensiled forages and most of them have used corn silage. Although impacts on rumen development and nutrient digestibility have been variable, feed intake and efficiency were not affected in most reviewed studies. Growth and health parameters were also either not affected or improved. Therefore, with careful silage feeding management, the supplementation of ensiled feeds may be used to provide similar benefits of dry forages to preweaned dairy calves.

Key animal welfare issues in commercially raised dairy calves: social environment, nutrition, and painful procedures

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joao H.C. Costa ◽  
Melissa C. Cantor ◽  
Nicola A. Adderley ◽  
Heather W. Neave
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Pain Control ◽  
Local Anaesthetics ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Individual Housing ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Social Companionship

Dairy calf welfare concerns are growing and new evidence suggests that the early life environment influences appropriate physical, behavioral, and cognitive development lasting into adulthood. This review highlights key evidence for the impacts of housing, diets, and painful procedures on calf welfare. We argue that these topics are currently critical welfare concerns, but are not the only points of concern. In addition to environmental requirements to maintain optimal health, dairy calves experience other challenges including social and nutritional restrictions. Individual housing is associated with impaired behavioral development and cognitive ability. Pair and group housing can mitigate some of these negative effects and should be encouraged. Restrictive milk allowances (<15% of body weight) lead to poor growth and hunger; these welfare concerns can be addressed with proper enhanced milk allowances and gradual weaning programs. Finally, dehorning is a critical animal welfare issue when pain control is withheld; calves show negative behavioral, physiological, and emotional responses during and after dehorning. The combined use of local anaesthetics and analgesics can mitigate these effects. An industry shift toward providing social companionship, enhanced milk allowances, and pain control during painful procedures would help to improve the welfare of dairy calves in intensive commercial rearing facilities.

scholarly journals Dairy Calf Welfare and Factors Associated with Diarrhea and Respiratory Disease among Chilean Dairy Farms

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115
Author(s):  
Javiera Calderón-Amor ◽  
Carmen Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Disease ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Waste Milk ◽  
Milk Feeding

This study aimed to describe management practices that may compromise the welfare of unweaned dairy calves on 29 dairy farms in Chile, and identify factors associated with diarrhea and respiratory disease (n = 700 calves). Evaluations were divided into protocol-, facility-, and animal-based measurements. Calf diarrhea and respiratory disease data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Management practices identified as risk factors for poor calf welfare were: relying on the mother to provide colostrum (48.0% of the farms); using restrictive milk feeding (65.5%), and unpasteurized waste milk (51.7%); giving water after 30 days of age (17.2%); disbudding without analgesia (89.6%) or anesthesia (79.3%); lacking euthanasia protocols (61.5%). Factors significantly (p < 0.05) associated with increased odds of diarrhea were: cleaning the calves’ bed once a week and 2–3 times a week compared with every day, using milk replacer and untreated waste milk compared with treated waste milk (pasteurized or acidified), animals scored dirty in the calf cleanliness score compared with clean animals, and greater herd size. Factors significantly associated with increased odds of respiratory disease were: less pen space allowance (<1.8 m2), farms that did not check colostrum quality, and animals that scored dirty and moderately dirty compared with clean calves. These results suggest the need to improve specific management practices associated with reduced welfare and health in dairy calves in Chile.

scholarly journals Embedding animal welfare in sustainability assessment: an indicator approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Brennan ◽  
T. Hennessy ◽  
E. Dillon
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Farm Accountancy Data Network ◽  
The Impact

In line with growing consumer interest in sustainable food production, a number of farm-level sustainability indicator studies have been published in recent years. Despite the importance of animal welfare, many such frameworks fail to adequately take account of it, mostly due to difficulties in accessing suitable data. This paper demonstrates that it is possible to develop indicators of animal welfare that can be embedded within a wider sustainability framework using a representative farm-level dataset such as the European Union (EU) Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for Ireland, the Teagasc National Farm Survey. The paper presents a set of sustainability indicators for dairy farms in Ireland for the 2014–2017 period and examines the impact of policy reform on sustainability performance. Headline results show that welfare standards on dairy farms in Ireland have remained stable over the period despite the considerable intensification of the dairy sector following EU milk quota removal. Furthermore, dairy farms that have expanded herd size significantly have improved welfare standards more than farms that have not increased production. An analysis of synergies and trade-offs between the various aspects of sustainability reveals that positive correlations exist between welfare standards and economic and environmental performance. The analysis facilitates the identification of win-win farm-level strategies that can be adopted to improve economic, environmental and animal welfare outcomes. The framework developed here presents opportunities for evaluating policy impacts at the farm level on various aspects of sustainability. The use of the FADN demonstrates the capacity to extend such an approach across the EU.

scholarly journals Effect of low and high concentrate supplementation on health and welfare indicators in different breeds in small-scale mountain dairy farms

2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-146
Author(s):  
Laura Flach ◽  
Sarah Kühl ◽  
Christian Lambertz ◽  
Erica DeMonte ◽  
Matthias Gauly
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Milk Yield ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
High Input ◽  
Low Input ◽  
Brown Swiss ◽  
Welfare Indicators ◽  
Concentrate Supplementation ◽  
Concentrate Level

AbstractWe investigated and compared the effects of low and high concentrate supplementation in terms of animal welfare, health and reproductive performance in two different dairy cow breeds on small-scale mountain farms. 64 South Tyrolean dairy farms were evaluated using an on-farm assessment for animal-based and resource-based welfare indicators, data from test day records, and a questionnaire for the farmer. Farms were divided into four groups: low input Tyrolean Grey (L-TG), low input Brown Swiss (L-BS), high input Tyrolean Grey (H-TG) and high input Brown Swiss (H-BS). Effects of intensity level, breed and their interaction were calculated and analyzed statistically. The predominant husbandry system across all groups was tie-stall. The average energy-corrected milk yield increased with increasing concentrate level, with L-TG showing the lowest and H-BS showing the highest milk yield. Age at first calving was lowest in H-BS when compared to all other systems, while numbers of lactations were higher in L-TG compared to H-BS. Feed efficiency (percentage of milk out of roughage) was significantly higher in L-TG and L-BS when compared to H-TG and H-BS. L-BS showed the poorest results for most of the welfare indicators such as lean cows, lesions and percentage of dirty animals. In conclusion, a higher concentrate level in diets does not lead automatically to lower animal welfare for dairy cows in alpine regions. Indeed, keeping high yielding breeds in extensive systems seems to be challenging. The dual-purpose breed TG showed some clear advantages in that calving interval was lower and the number of lactations greater.

scholarly journals Assessing dairy cow welfare during the grazing and housing periods on spring-calving, pasture-based dairy farms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin E Crossley ◽  
Eddie A M Bokkers ◽  
Natasha Browne ◽  
Katie Sugrue ◽  
Emer Kennedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cow ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Nasal Discharge ◽  
Welfare Assessment ◽  
Welfare Indicators ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Cow Welfare ◽  
Head Neck ◽  
Ocular Discharge

Abstract The different periods characterizing spring-calving, pasture-based dairy systems common in Ireland have seldom been the focus of large-scale dairy cow welfare research. Thus, the aim of this study was to devise and conduct an animal-based welfare assessment during both the grazing and housing periods on spring-calving, pasture-based dairy farms, to identify areas for improvement and establish benchmarks for indicators of good welfare. Assessment of seven animal-based welfare indicators was conducted during two visits (one each at grazing and housing) to 82 commercial dairy farms in southern Ireland. Herd-level descriptive statistics were performed for all welfare indicators at each visit, and differences between visits were analyzed using paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. A mean of 9% and 10% clinically lame cows (mobility score 2 and 3) were observed at housing and grazing respectively. Recommended body condition scores (BCS) were not met for a mean of 13% of cows at grazing and 23% at housing, with more over-conditioned cows present at housing than grazing (P &lt; 0.001). Ocular discharge was uncommon in both periods. Prevalence of moderate and severe nasal discharge combined were lower during housing (5%) than grazing (7%). In both periods, similar mean levels of tail injury were observed; 2 to 3% of cows with tail lacerations, 9% with broken tails, and 8% (measured at housing only) with docked tails. Integument alterations involved primarily hair-loss and were most prevalent on the hindquarters (26%) during grazing, and on the head-neck-back region (66%), and the hindquarters (32%) during housing. Cows displayed an avoidance distance of &gt; 1 m (indicative of a fearful response) from an approaching human in an average of 82% of grazing cows and 42% to 75% of housed cows, dependent on test location. Opportunities to improve welfare in this system were identified in the areas of tail injury prevention, nasal health and the management of indoor housing and feeding. The performance of the top 20% of farms for each welfare indicator was used to establish benchmarks of: 0 to 5% clinical lameness; 0 to 12% of cows outside recommended BCS; 0 to 27% ocular discharge; 2 to 16% nasal discharge; 0% tail lacerations and docked tails, and 0 to 3% tail breaks; 0 to 14% IA; and 4 to 74% for avoidance distance of &gt; 1 m. These represent attainable targets for spring-calving pasture-based farms to promote good dairy cow welfare.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Inter-Observer Reliability of Animal Welfare Indicators: Which Is the Best Index to Use?

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1445
Author(s):  
Mauro Giammarino ◽  
Silvana Mattiello ◽  
Monica Battini ◽  
Piero Quatto ◽  
Luca Maria Battaglini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Confidence Intervals ◽  
Bootstrap Method ◽  
Dairy Goat ◽  
Microsoft Excel ◽  
Bootstrap Methods ◽  
Welfare Indicators ◽  
Observer Reliability ◽  
High Concordance ◽  
Variance Estimates

This study focuses on the problem of assessing inter-observer reliability (IOR) in the case of dichotomous categorical animal-based welfare indicators and the presence of two observers. Based on observations obtained from Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project surveys conducted on nine dairy goat farms, and using udder asymmetry as an indicator, we compared the performance of the most popular agreement indexes available in the literature: Scott’s π, Cohen’s k, kPABAK, Holsti’s H, Krippendorff’s α, Hubert’s Γ, Janson and Vegelius’ J, Bangdiwala’s B, Andrés and Marzo’s ∆, and Gwet’s γ(AC1). Confidence intervals were calculated using closed formulas of variance estimates for π, k, kPABAK, H, α, Γ, J, ∆, and γ(AC1), while the bootstrap and exact bootstrap methods were used for all the indexes. All the indexes and closed formulas of variance estimates were calculated using Microsoft Excel. The bootstrap method was performed with R software, while the exact bootstrap method was performed with SAS software. k, π, and α exhibited a paradoxical behavior, showing unacceptably low values even in the presence of very high concordance rates. B and γ(AC1) showed values very close to the concordance rate, independently of its value. Both bootstrap and exact bootstrap methods turned out to be simpler compared to the implementation of closed variance formulas and provided effective confidence intervals for all the considered indexes. The best approach for measuring IOR in these cases is the use of B or γ(AC1), with bootstrap or exact bootstrap methods for confidence interval calculation.

scholarly journals Animal welfare indicators for sheep during sea transport: the effect of voyage day and time of day

2021 ◽  
pp. 105304
Author(s):  
Renee S. Willis ◽  
Patricia A. Fleming ◽  
Emma J. Dunston-Clarke ◽  
Anne L. Barnes ◽  
David W. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Sea Transport ◽  
Welfare Indicators

131 Can Maternal Nutrition in Dairy Cattle Impact Gut Health in Dairy Calves?

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 69-70
Author(s):  
Lautaro Rostoll Cangiano ◽  
Nilusha Malmuthuge ◽  
Tao Ma ◽  
Leluo Guan ◽  
Michael A Steele
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Dairy Calves ◽  
Milk Replacer ◽  
Gastrointestinal Function ◽  
Dairy Calf ◽  
Gastrointestinal Health ◽  
Nutrition Research ◽  
Pregnancy And Postpartum

Abstract The nutritional management, health and welfare of the dairy calf has historically received less attention due to limited research, and recommendations largely focused on passive transfer of immunity and early weaning strategies. Gastrointestinal diseases and disorders remain the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in dairy calves worldwide. Despite the recent thrust in dairy calf nutrition research, major knowledge gaps still exist regarding how maternal nutrition during pregnancy and postpartum impact gastrointestinal health and function, especially during the fetal and neonatal stages when the developmental plasticity is highest. Recent research has focused on how prepartum nutrition and management can influence colostrum quality and has characterized numerous bioactive proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates that may play a critical role in gastrointestinal function and development. It has also been shown that colostrum plays a fundamental role in promoting colonization with commensal bacteria; however, delaying colostrum feeding or abruptly transitioning calves from colostrum to milk decreased the colonization of beneficial bacteria and impaired gastrointestinal development. With respect to the maternal nutrient supply via milk, it is important to note that calves have been traditionally fed less than half of voluntary intake or fed milk replacer formulations that can largely differ in composition from that of maternal milk. Recent research indicated that common milk replacer formulations may impair gastrointestinal function, highlighting the need to question existing nutritional regimens. In addition, feeding prophylactic antibiotics in milk, as well as waste milk containing antibiotic residues, are common practices in the dairy industry, despite recent studies reporting that these practices can increase calf susceptibility to infections by disrupting gut microbiome and gut function. Although our knowledge how maternal factors impact the gastrointestinal tract of calves is limited, it is clear there are great opportunities to further develop prenatal and postnatal nutritional programs to improve dairy calf gastrointestinal health.

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