Bulk tank milk quality data is unlikely to give useful information about dairy cow welfare at herd level

Ginestreti, Jessica; Strano, Rosa Maria; Lorenzi, Valentina; Fusi, Francesca; Angelucci, Alessandra; Ferrara, Giandomenico; Galletti, Giorgio; Bergagna, Stefania; Bolzoni, G.; Zanardi, G.; Buffoli, Elena; Marcolini, A.; Bertocchi, L.

doi:10.1017/s0022029920000187

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The AW scores of the 79 investigated farms are similar to those described in previous Italian studies conducted with the same protocol on a smaller sample of farms in Lombardy [ 32 ] and Sardinia [ 37 ]. The median overall AW score of the investigated farms was over 70%, which can be considered suitable for the evaluation protocol used in this study [ 31 ]. Nevertheless, wide differences among farms were found, which suggests that there is still considerable room for improvement in AW.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The evaluation of each item entails either two or three options: “not acceptable” or “acceptable”; or “not acceptable”, “acceptable”, or “excellent”. The 70 items with their evaluation criteria are reported in the supplementary material of a previous study [ 31 ]. Each item has a different weight [ 30 ] and the overall AW score of the farm is calculated using a 50% contribution by farm management, staff training, and housing systems, and the remaining 50% by animal-based measures [ 32 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Relationship between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Dairy Farms

Mazza

Scali

Formenti

et al. 2021

Animals

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Information regarding the relationship between animal welfare (AW) and antimicrobial use (AMU) in dairy cows is limited. The current study aimed to investigate this relationship on Italian farms and to identify potential targets of AMU reduction. The study was performed at 79 Italian dairy farms housing over 15,000 cows during 2019. AW was scored with an on-farm protocol assessing farm management and staff training, housing systems, and animal-based measures. AMU was estimated using a defined daily dose per kg of animal biomass (DDDAit/biomass) for Italy. The median AW score was 73% (range: 56.6–86.8%). The median AMU was 4.8 DDDAit/biomass (range: 0–11.8). No relationship between the total AMU and AW was found. Management and staff training were positively associated with the use of the European Medicines Agency’s category B antimicrobials, which are critical for human medicine, and with intramammary products for dry cow therapy. In those farms, antimicrobial stewardship should aim to reduce the category B antimicrobials and selective dry cow therapy. Our results underline the importance of implementing both an integrated monitoring system (AW, AMU, etc.) and antimicrobial stewardship tailored to the specific needs of each dairy farm.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Dairy Farms

Mazza

Scali

Formenti

et al. 2021

Animals

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this section, all identified papers are reviewed that examine the relationship of DBVs with WQ criteria and principles, CReNBA areas, and overall scores (see Box 1 ) or that aim to predict farm-level welfare expressed in these scores. Three of the 13 identified publications examined one or a few related DBVs for their association with dairy herd welfare [ 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”

Section: Relationships Between Data-based Variables and Welfare Quality Criteria And Principles Crenba Areas And Overall Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ginestreti et al [ 32 ] studied whether herd welfare status could be predicted using the bulk milk parameters BMSCC, total bacterial count, and fat, protein, and urea contents . For 287 farms, the results of routine on-farm welfare assessments with the CReNBA protocol were obtained from the Italian animal welfare database.…”

Section: Relationships Between Data-based Variables and Welfare Quality Criteria And Principles Crenba Areas And Overall Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-Based Variables Used as Indicators of Dairy Cow Welfare at Farm Level: A Review

Lutz

Zwygart

Rufener

et al. 2021

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the last years, the interest in data-based variables (DBVs) as easy-to-obtain, cost-effective animal welfare indicators has continued to grow. This interest has led to publications focusing on the relationship between DBVs and animal welfare. This review compiles 13 papers identified through a systematic literature search to provide an overview of the current state of research on the relationship between DBVs and dairy cow welfare at farm level. The selected papers were examined regarding their definition of animal welfare and classified according to this definition into three categories: (a) papers evaluating DBVs as predictors of animal welfare violations, (b) papers investigating the relationship between DBVs and animal-based measurements, and (c) papers investigating the relationship of DBVs to scores of welfare assessments like the Welfare Quality protocol or to overall welfare scores at farm level. In addition, associations between DBVs and indicators of animal welfare were extracted, grouped by the type of DBV, and examined for replications that may confirm the associations. All the identified studies demonstrated associations between DBVs and animal welfare. Overall, the first indications of a possible suitability of DBVs for predicting herds with animal welfare violations as well as good or poor animal welfare status were given. The evaluation of relationships between DBVs and animal-based measurements (ABMs) found mortality-based DBVs to be frequently associated with ABMs. However, owing to varying definitions of animal welfare, the use of different variants of DBVs, and different methods used to assess DBVs, the studies could only be compared to a limited extent. Future research would benefit from a harmonisation of DBVs and the use of valid measurements that reflect the multidimensionality of welfare. Data sources rarely investigated so far may have the potential to provide additional DBVs that can contribute to the monitoring of cow welfare at farm level.

show abstract

“…High SCC was affected by age of the cow, age of lactation, stress, season, nutrition, observance of hygiene rules and mastitis. The levels of SCC and TVC provide valuable information on the hygienic conditions during various steps of milk production on the farm (Cedden et al 2002;Eyduran et al 2005;Macedo et al 2018;Ginestreti et al 2020). Consumers need to be able to source raw milk from farmers that have adopted a high level of good animal husbandry practices and manufacturing practices that can reduce potential food safety hazards to very low levels (Berge and Baars 2020;Singhal et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of The Effects of Milking Hygiene and Sanitation Education on Total Bacterial and Somatic Cell Number of Bulk Tank Milk in Dairy Cattle Breeding

2021

Int J Vet Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hygiene and sanitation, which are of great importance for the protection of human. Beside this quality and quantity of the milk is very important for human health. The aim of this project is to develop a training model in raw milk hygiene in Aydın province, and to increase knowledge, skills and competencies of vocational/professional groups in raw milk production. Two surveys were conducted for the farm workers to be trained within the scope of the project. Firstly, a demonstrative survey was conducted for the farms where milk hygiene training was provided. The education satisfaction survey was conducted for the people who were educated after the seminar. The surveys were prepared by the project executives and the questions were answered by face to face interview method. The milk samples of the study were collected from 157 dairy farm bulk tanks located in Aydin province, before the beginning of the project and after training courses. The milk samples were analyzed for Total Viable Count (TVC) and Somatic Cell Count (SCC). In conclusion, 11% of tank milk samples were below the norm value of 100000cfu/mL out of 157 farms. It is also seen that 27 farms reduced their SCC values below 400000cells/mL out of 56 farms with a norm value of ≥400000cells/mL after hygiene training. When the results were evaluated in general, hygiene was improved by 11% in average TVC value and 1% in SCC value after milking hygiene education.

show abstract

Bulk tank milk quality data is unlikely to give useful information about dairy cow welfare at herd level

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

The Relationship between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Dairy Farms

The Relationship between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Dairy Farms

Data-Based Variables Used as Indicators of Dairy Cow Welfare at Farm Level: A Review

Evaluation of The Effects of Milking Hygiene and Sanitation Education on Total Bacterial and Somatic Cell Number of Bulk Tank Milk in Dairy Cattle Breeding

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About