Strategies for keeping dairy cows and calves together – a cross-sectional survey study

Eriksson, Helena; Fall, Nils; Ivemeyer, Silvia; Knierim, Ute; Simantke, Christel; Fuerst-Waltl, Birgit; Winckler, Christoph; Weissensteiner, R.; Pomiès, Dominique; Martin, Bruno; Michaud, Audrey; Priolo, Alessandro; Caccamo, M.; Sakowski, T.; Stachelek, Magdalena; Neff, Anet Spengler; Bieber, Anna; Schneider, Claudia; Alvåsen, Karin

doi:10.1016/j.animal.2022.100624

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…2 weeks) or longer (e.g. 2 months) period, depending on the management practices of the farm (Eriksson et al., 2022 ).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Welfare of calves

Nielsen¹,

Álvarez²,

Bicout³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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This Scientific Opinion addresses a European Commission request on the welfare of calves as part of the Farm to Fork strategy. EFSA was asked to provide a description of common husbandry systems and related welfare consequences, as well as measures to prevent or mitigate the hazards leading to them. In addition, recommendations on three specific issues were requested: welfare of calves reared for white veal (space, group housing, requirements of iron and fibre); risk of limited cow-calf contact; and animal-based measures (ABMs) to monitor on-farm welfare in slaughterhouses. The methodology developed by EFSA to address similar requests was followed. Fifteen highly relevant welfare consequences were identified, with respiratory disorders, inability to perform exploratory or foraging behaviour, gastroenteric disorders and group stress being the most frequent across husbandry systems. Recommendations to improve the welfare of calves include increasing space allowance, keeping calves in stable groups from an early age, ensuring good colostrum management and increasing the amounts of milk fed to dairy calves. In addition, calves should be provided with deformable lying surfaces, water via an open surface and long-cut roughage in racks. Regarding specific recommendations for veal systems, calves should be kept in small groups (2-7 animals) within the first week of life, provided with ~20 m 2 /calf and fed on average 1 kg neutral detergent fibre (NDF) per day, preferably using long-cut hay. Recommendations on cow-calf contact include keeping the calf with the dam for a minimum of 1 day post-partum. Longer contact should progressively be implemented, but research is needed to guide this implementation in practice. The ABMs body condition, carcass condemnations, abomasal lesions, lung lesions, carcass colour and bursa swelling may be collected in slaughterhouses to monitor on-farm welfare but should be complemented with behavioural ABMs collected on farm.

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“…2 weeks) or longer (e.g. 2 months) period, depending on the management practices of the farm (Eriksson et al., 2022 ).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…full‐time, half day, short periods few times per day), the type of physical contact allowed (e.g. full contact with milk sucking; or partial contact) (Sirovnik et al., 2020 ; Eriksson et al., 2022 ). Calf's milk intake and growth will depend on the milk eventually available to the calf.…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare of calves

Nielsen¹,

Álvarez²,

Bicout³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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“…Dam rearing may also stimulate positive experiences in early life and later life through maternal care, natural behaviours such as sucking for milk from an udder and improved social skills. However, the separation from the dam can be stressful and gradual separation is advised, which may lead to the surplus calves having to stay for a longer period of time on the dairy farm (Eriksson et al, 2022;Wenker et al, 2022a). The importance of social contact in calves demonstrates the need for group housing in calves of all ages if welfare is to be elevated, with a preference for the dam in early weeks, as is recommended by EFSA (EFSA Panel on Animal Health Animal Welfare, 2023).…”

Section: At the Dairy Farmmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of surplus dairy calves – an animal welfare perspective

2023

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An important obstacle toward sustainably produced animal-source food is the existence of so-called ‘surplus animals’, which are by-products of the production of dairy products and eggs, and ‘unwanted’ due to their perceived low value. Although this depends on the country, in Europe many surplus dairy calves are transported to veal farms to be raised for 6 months until slaughter. The aim of this article is to present ideas for alternative future systems for the dairy-veal chain, including an overview of current challenges and improvement strategies for calf welfare. This dairy-veal chain presents a number of potential concerns for calf welfare, including transportation of young animals, high risk of disease and barren housing. Many incremental changes have been suggested in past literature to lift the welfare of veal calves, including reducing transportation, transporting calves at an older age, better health screening, and pens with enrichment and bedding. The Netherlands is at the centre of the veal sector import-export flow in Europe and is one of the main veal producers in the world. The Dutch government has recently presented a report with three alternative ‘scenarios’ for the raising of these surplus dairy calves, which are expected to lead to improvements in animals welfare. The first scenario is a restriction on transport of <100km, leading to more local production of dairy-veal. The second scenario is a delay on the transportation of surplus calves from 2 weeks to 3 months of age, handing dairy farmers a much larger role in the raising of these calves. This delay would ensure that calves are more robust and less vulnerable to disease at the time that they are transported to the veal farm. The third scenario proposes an alternative system, where the veal sector is eradicated and surplus dairy calves are raised at the dairy farm of origin until slaughter. We, like others before us, question the impact of small incremental changes on calf welfare, arguing that improvements at one end could potentially lead to worsening of welfare at the other end, and prefer to focus on system changes, such as the use of dual-purpose cattle breeds. We do not however believe that system changes can be created and implemented with the sole input of animal welfare scientists. This work is hence just one piece of the puzzle towards the sustainable production of milk and meat, and more specifically the sustainable rearing of surplus calves.

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“…This has positive effects on the development of social behaviour in calves (Santo et al, 2020;Wagner et al, 2012), their weight gain and the incidence of cross-sucking (Meagher et al, 2019). However, cows and calves react with high levels of stress when the pair is separated during the weaning process (Eriksson et al, 2022), as this still occurs earlier than under natural conditions, mostly at 3-4 months.…”

Section: Europe's Increasing Interest In Cow-calf Contact Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

IDF Animal Health Report

2023

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Strategies for keeping dairy cows and calves together – a cross-sectional survey study

Cited by 28 publications

References 29 publications

Welfare of calves

Welfare of calves

The future of surplus dairy calves – an animal welfare perspective

IDF Animal Health Report

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