Impacts of Compost Bedded Pack Barns on the Welfare and Comfort of Dairy Cows

Three loose housing systems for lactating cows (compost bedded pack, CBP; conventional bedded pack, BP; and freestalls, FS) were assessed on one farm in terms of cow behavior and welfare. An on-farm welfare assessment based on the Welfare Quality protocols was used four times every three months on 757 cows. Video recordings taken twice over four days were used to assess behavior patterns at resting areas. Cows in CBP and BP were dirtier than those in FS (p < 0.0001). Fewer integument alterations were recorded for CBP and BP than FS (p < 0.001). Cows in BP were quicker to lie down and stand up compared to those in CBP or FS (p < 0.001). Percentages of cows needing more attempts before rising were higher for FS (p < 0.01). However, a higher frequency of kneeling was observed in CBP (p = 0.033). A lower percentage of cows lying in the resting area was recorded for FS (56%) than CBP or BP (97 or 84%, respectively, p < 0.05). Overall, in this study, cows kept in bedded pack barns were dirtier but had fewer integument alterations and spent more time lying down in the resting area than cows housed in freestalls.

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Dairy cows welfare quality in loose vs tie housing system

Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry ◽

10.2298/bah1103975o ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 975-984 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

D. Ostojic-Andric ◽

S. Hristov ◽

Z. Novakovic ◽

V. Pantelic ◽

M.M. Petrovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Parameters ◽

Health Condition ◽

Housing System ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Housing Systems ◽

Dairy Animals ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

Cow Welfare ◽

Lying Down

The subject of this research was to determine the effect of the housing system on quality of welfare of dairy cattle in Serbia. Study was realized on six farms, capacity of 30 to 900 cows, with loose and tie housing system. Assessment of the welfare quality parameters was done by using the Welfare Quality? Assessment Protocol for Cattle, 2009. Results of the research show that the welfare quality of dairy animals is under the significant effect of housing system, and that loose system has the advantage when it comes to comfort around resting, easy of movements and health condition of cows. Share of not lame cows (81%) and cows with no lesion (86%) was significantly higher (p<0.01) in loose system. Indicator values: duration of lying down movements (6.53 sec), lying down movements with collisions (18.7%) and lying outside lying area (28.4%) in tie system were significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to loose system indicating the inadequacy of the housing and lack of comfort. Analysis of indicators associated with cow hygiene (dirty legs and udder) and diseases (dystocia) points to significant gaps in management in both housing systems which represent significant threat to cow welfare quality.

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Comparing welfare indicators in dairy cattle under different loose housing systems (deep litter vs cubicle barns) using recycled manure solids for bedding

Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.5424/sjar/2020181-15287 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. e0501 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laura Molina ◽

Estrella I. Agüera ◽

Carlos C. Pérez-Marín ◽

Francisco Maroto-Molina

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Housing System ◽

Housing Conditions ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Housing Systems ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

The Impact

Aim of study: Dairy farmers in Southern Spain are continuously investing in the modernization of their facilities and frequently ask technicians about the type of housing they should choose for their farms. Although some studies have analysed the economic impact of different housing systems, there are no reports evaluating the impact of these systems on animal wellbeing. To remedy this deficit, a study was carried out to analyse animal welfare status in two types of loose housing conditions: deep litter (DL) and cubicle (CU) barns.Area of study: This study was conducted in Cordoba (Spain).Material and methods: A total of 1,597 cows from nineteen commercial dairy farms were involved in this study, of which twelve had CU barns and seven had DL barns. Welfare Quality assessment was used to evaluate animal wellbeing, inn order to compare both housing systems.Main results: The study found some weaknesses for feeding and health indicators of animal welfare in both types of housing systems. The overall welfare assessment based on feeding, housing and health indicators showed no differences between farms with DL or CU barns.Research highlights: A good welfare status could be reached under any type of housing system.

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Welfare assessment on dairy cattle farms in eastern Croatia

Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry ◽

10.2298/bah1901013e ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 13-24

Author(s):

Nicole Eberhart ◽

Peter Krawczel ◽

Pero Mijic ◽

Vesna Gantner ◽

Maja Gregic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cattle ◽

Dairy Cows ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Bout Duration ◽

Housing Systems ◽

Data Loggers ◽

Acceleration Data ◽

Cow Health ◽

Cattle Farms ◽

Holstein Dairy Cows

The objective of this study was to evaluate the welfare status of high-producing Holstein dairy cows on commercial Croatian farms. Lying behavior data was collected from 278 dairy cows across four farms with varying milking parlors and housing systems in eastern Croatia for at least 3 days. Data loggers recording at 1-min intervals recorded behaviors: lying time (min/d), lying bout duration (min/bout), lying bouts (n/d) and laterality of lying. Acceleration data was summarized into lying behaviors for each individual cow. Health scores (udder cleanliness, locomotion, and hock injuries) were also assessed. The univariate procedure was used to generate mean lying behaviors and health scores by farm with a 95% CI. Mean lying time per farm ranged from 11.7 ? 2.7 to 10.4 ? 2.7 h/d. Prevalence of lame cows ranged from 28% to 50%. Heavily soiled udders ranged from 2% to 12%. Prevalence of left hocks with minor to major swelling ranged from 50% to 100%; prevalence of right hocks with minor to major swelling ranged from 45% to 100%. In conclusion, all farms assessed have opportunities to improve overall welfare through increasing udder cleanliness and reducing hock injuries.

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Information Technologies for Welfare Monitoring in Pigs and Their Relation to Welfare Quality®

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13020692 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 692

Author(s):

Mona L. V. Larsen ◽

Meiqing Wang ◽

Tomas Norton

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Information Technologies ◽

Objective Assessment ◽

Drinking Behaviour ◽

Production Chain ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Pig Production ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

On Farm

The assessment of animal welfare on-farm is important to ensure that current welfare standards are followed. The current manual assessment proposed by Welfare Quality® (WQ), although being an essential tool, is only a point-estimate in time, is very time consuming to perform, only evaluates a subset of the animals, and is performed by the subjective human. Automation of the assessment through information technologies (ITs) could provide a continuous objective assessment in real-time on all animals. The aim of the current systematic review was to identify ITs developed for welfare monitoring within the pig production chain, evaluate the ITs developmental stage and evaluate how these ITs can be related to the WQ assessment protocol. The systematic literature search identified 101 publications investigating the development of ITs for welfare monitoring within the pig production chain. The systematic literature analysis revealed that the research field is still young with 97% being published within the last 20 years, and still growing with 63% being published between 2016 and mid-2020. In addition, most focus is still on the development of ITs (sensors) for the extraction and analysis of variables related to pig welfare; this being the first step in the development of a precision livestock farming system for welfare monitoring. The majority of the studies have used sensor technologies detached from the animals such as cameras and microphones, and most investigated animal biomarkers over environmental biomarkers with a clear focus on behavioural biomarkers over physiological biomarkers. ITs intended for many different welfare issues have been studied, although a high number of publications did not specify a welfare issue and instead studied a general biomarker such as activity, feeding behaviour and drinking behaviour. The ‘good feeding’ principle of the WQ assessment protocol was the best represented with ITs for real-time on-farm welfare assessment, while for the other principles only few of the included WQ measures are so far covered. No ITs have yet been developed for the ‘Comfort around resting’ and the ‘Good human-animal relationship’ criteria. Thus, the potential to develop ITs for welfare assessment within the pig production is high and much work is still needed to end up with a remote solution for welfare assessment on-farm and in real-time.

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On-farm animal welfare assessment in beef bulls: consistency over time of single measures and aggregated Welfare Quality® scores

animal ◽

10.1017/s1751731113002267 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 461-469 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

M.K. Kirchner ◽

H. Schulze Westerath ◽

U. Knierim ◽

E. Tessitore ◽

G. Cozzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Animal Welfare ◽

Farm Animal ◽

Farm Animal Welfare ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

Animal Welfare Assessment ◽

Beef Bulls ◽

On Farm ◽

Over Time

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Welfare assessment in dairy cows using hair cortisol as a part of monitoring protocols

Journal of Dairy Research ◽

10.1017/s0022029920000588 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 87 (S1) ◽

pp. 72-78

Author(s):

Urška Vesel ◽

Tea Pavič ◽

Jožica Ježek ◽

Tomaž Snoj ◽

Jože Starič

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cows ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Cortisol Concentration ◽

Hair Cortisol ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Potential Marker ◽

Hair Samples ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

Monitoring Protocols

AbstractWelfare of dairy cows can be assessed using welfare assessment protocols consisting of resource, management and animal-based measures. Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol is one of the best-known protocols, which depends almost entirely on animal-based measures. To gain more objective and rapid welfare assessment, new techniques have been developed to measure welfare of animals, such as hair cortisol concentration. As cortisol is released in response to stress, it has long been used as a biomarker of stress in animals. While the precise mechanism of cortisol incorporation into hair is unknown, hair cortisol concentration seems to be a marker of long-term systemic cortisol concentration. Hair cortisol is, therefore, a potential marker of chronic stress and is not likely to be affected by acute stress. Studies on cattle show connections between hair cortisol concentration and factors such as pregnancy, parity, diseases, ectoparasites, body condition score, environmental changes, stocking density and milk yield. Hair cortisol concentration appears to be affected by time of sampling, cow age and breed, UV radiation, season, body region of sampled hair and hair colour. Its concentration also depends on sampling and analytical methods. Hair cortisol is a promising non-invasive tool to evaluate welfare of dairy cows, however, more research is needed to determine the extent of effects on its concentration and the appropriate method of sampling and analysis. Correlations between Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol scores and pooled hair cortisol concentrations have not yet been found, and more research is needed with larger sample size, a standardized protocol of hair sampling, processing and analysis. With proper attention to detail, hair cortisol levels in pooled hair samples might come to be used as a reliable indicator of dairy animal welfare.

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Animal Welfare Assessment: Can We Develop a Practical, Time-Limited Assessment Protocol for Pasture-Based Dairy Cows in New Zealand?

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10101918 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 1918

Author(s):

Sujan Sapkota ◽

Richard Laven ◽

Kristina Müller ◽

Nikki Kells

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Dairy Cattle ◽

Dairy Cows ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Specific Protocol ◽

Almost All ◽

On Farm

Despite being a leading producer and exporter of dairy products, New Zealand has no industry-recognised welfare assessment protocol. A New Zealand-specific protocol is essential, as almost all dairy farms in New Zealand are pasture-based and housing is rarely used. Therefore, protocols developed for intensive cows are not suitable. The aim of this study was to develop a simple yet practical welfare assessment protocol that could be used to assess the welfare of a dairy herd during one visit timed to occur around milking. Six welfare assessment protocols and four studies of dairy cattle welfare assessments that had some focus on dairy cattle welfare at pasture were used, along with the New Zealand Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare, to identify potential assessments for inclusion in the protocol. Eighty-four potential assessments (20 record-based and 64 that needed assessing on-farm) were identified by this process of welfare assessments. After screening to exclude on-farm assessments that were not relevant, that had only limited practical application in pasture-based dairy cows or that required more time than available, 28 on-farm assessments remained, which were put together with the 20 record-based assessments and were tested for feasibility, practicality and time on two pasture-based dairy farms. Assessments were then identified as suitable, suitable after modification or not feasible. Suitable and modified assessments were then included in the final protocol alongside additional measures specific to New Zealand dairy farms. The final protocol included 24 on-farm assessments and eight record-based assessments. Further testing of these 32 assessments is needed on more dairy farms across New Zealand before the protocol can be used to routinely assess the welfare of dairy cows in New Zealand.

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A New, Practical Animal Welfare Assessment for Dairy Farmers

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11030881 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 881

Author(s):

Frank J. C. M. van Eerdenburg ◽

Alice M. Di Giacinto ◽

Jan Hulsen ◽

Bert Snel ◽

J. Arjan Stegeman

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cows ◽

Animal Welfare ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Welfare Assessment ◽

Assessment Protocol ◽

Welfare Quality ◽

Set Up ◽

Category Score ◽

Poor Welfare

The Welfare Quality® assessment protocol (WQ) is the most extensive way to measure animal welfare. This study was set up to determine if resource-based welfare indicators, that are easier and faster to measure, could replace the more time consuming, animal-based measurements of the WQ. The WQ was applied on 60 dairy farms in the Netherlands, with good, moderate and poor welfare. The WQ protocol classified most farms (87%) as ‘acceptable’. Several of the animal-based measures of WQ correlated well with measures in the environment. Using these correlations, an alternative welfare assessment protocol (new Welfare Monitor) was designed, which takes approximately 1.5 h for a farm with 100 dairy cows. Because the opinion of farmers about welfare assessment is important if one wants to improve conditions for the cows at a farm, another objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the new Welfare Monitor for the farmer. Over two years, the farms were visited, and advice was given to improve the conditions at the farm. After the first welfare assessment and advice, farmers improved the conditions for their cows substantially. Farms where the category score had increased made more improvements on average than those that did not upgrade.

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