An assessment tool to help producers improve cow comfort on their farms

Abstract

Effective management and an appropriate environment are essential for dairy cattle health and welfare. Codes of practice provide dairy producers with best practice guidance for the care and handling of their cattle. New Canadian recommendations have been established for the dairy industry. The objectives of this study were to develop an on-farm assessment tool that helps producers assess how well they are meeting their code of practice and that identifies management and environment modifications that could improve dairy cow comfort on their farms. The assessment tool addressed critical areas of dairy cow comfort, including accommodation and housing (stall design, space allowance, stall management, pen management, milking parlor, and transfer alleys), feed and water (body condition scoring, nutrition), and health and welfare (lameness, claw health, and hoof-trimming). Targets of good practices were identified from the requirements and recommendations of the code of practice. Each farm received a score for each target, ranging from 0 (target not reached) to 100 (target reached). One hundred tiestall and 110 freestall farms were surveyed in 3 provinces of Canada (Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta). The duration of the assessment, in 2 visits lasting, on average, 8 and 9h (range between freestall and tiestall farms) and 4 and 4.1h, was beyond the targeted 3 to 4h due mainly to the animal-based measures; strategies to reduce the duration of the assessment were discussed. Standard operating procedures were developed to ensure consistency in measuring and recording data. Periodical checks were conducted by trainers to ensure all 15 assessors remained above target agreement of weighted kappa ≥0.6. Average scores for all critical areas ranged from 25 to 89% for freestall farms and from 48 to 95% for tiestall farms. These scores need to be considered with caution when comparing farms because scores could not always be calculated the same way between housing systems. An evaluation report was provided and discussed with each producer, identifying strengths and areas for improvement that could benefit dairy cow comfort on their farms. The producers were convinced of the effectiveness of our tool for assessing cow comfort (freestall: 86%; tiestall: 95%) and in assisting them to make decisions for improvements (freestall: 83%; tiestall: 93%). Our cow comfort assessment tool served as background material for the Dairy Farmers of Canada animal care assessment program.

Prevalence of and risk factors for hock and knee injuries on dairy cows in tiestall housing in Canada

“…Data for this study were collected as part of a national cross-sectional study undertaken in 2011 (Vasseur et al, 2015). Tiestall farms (n = 100) were visited from January to December 2011 in the provinces of Ontario (n = 40) and Quebec (n = 60).…”

Prevalence of hock, knee, and neck skin lesions and associated risk factors in dairy herds in the Maritime Provinces of Canada

“…To collect information about the general management on each farm, a questionnaire was administered by interview on-farm. The questionnaire was adapted from Vasseur et al (2015) with the addition of questions to gain information not measured during the assessment, such as "What is the estimated time to milk the entire herd?" "Do the lactating cows have access to pasture?"…”

Prevalence of lameness and associated risk factors on dairy farms in the Maritime Provinces of Canada

“…Cows were scored on a scale of 1 (emaciated) to 5 (obese) with increasing increments of 0.25. The cleanliness of the leg, flank, and udder was scored on a 4-point scale based on the amount and freshness of fecal contamination present, as shown in Table 1 and described previously (Solano et al, 2015;Vasseur et al, 2015). The area of the leg that was assessed was between the coronary band and lower half of the tarsal joint on the lateral aspect of the right limb.…”