The adoption of good practices of handling improves dairy calves welfare: Case study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the adoption of a set of good practices of handling on dairy calves welfare. Data were retrieved from the records of a commercial farm, considering three periods: Conventional handling (CH, 12 mo.), transitional period (TP, 4 mo.), and good practices handling (GPH, 12 mo.). During CH calves were kept in individual pens, milk-fed in open pails and subjected to abrupt weaning; while during TP and GPH they were kept in groups, milk-fed in nipple-pails, brushed for 5 min. once a day, and subjected to progressive weaning. TP was assumed as a training period necessary for GPH implementation. The percentages of calves treated with antibiotics and numbers of deaths per month were used as indicators of calves welfare. Statistical analysis was performed using a logistic regression model to compare the number of deaths per month between CH and the other periods. Chi-square test was used to compare the percentage of animals treated with antibiotics per month. Results showed that CH had a higher risk of calf's death then TP and GPH, as well as a higher percentage of animals treated with antibiotics. In conclusion, the adoption of good practices of handling improved dairy calves welfare.

Contato Humano Positivo Por Estimulação Tátil Tem Potencial Para Promover O Bem-Estar Dos Animais De Produção

“…Além disso, existe a formação de vínculos sociais dentro do grupo e desempenha funções adaptativas como higiene (Sato et al, 1991), prazer (Boissy et al, 2007) e redução da tensão nos grupos de animais (Sato et al, 1993). A interação tátil, especialmente através de escovação associada ao treinamento e habituação à presença humana na sala de ordenha, tem demonstrado melhorar a adaptação de novilhas leiteiras, especialmente zebuínas e seus cruzamentos, ao ambiente de ordenha (da Silva et al, 2021). Isso não apenas reduz o medo dos humanos e das instalações de manejo, com variações individuais significativas (Paranhos da Costa et al, 2021), mas também reduz durante a primeira lactação e melhora a ejeção do leite (Ujita et al, 2021).…”

Good Handling Practices Have Positive Impacts on Dairy Calf Welfare

“…We inferred that the daily tactile stimulation improved human-calf relationship quality and increased the time dedicated by the handler for calf care, important factors affecting calf welfare, and arguably more important than the type of facilities. Closer interactions with calves can facilitate recognition of apathy and weakness and changes in feeding behavior, which could result from diseases such as diarrhea [15]. Daily physical contact with calves, as performed in GHP calves, may reduce disease development, since initial clinical signs are more likely to be noticed.…”

“…Less fearful behavioral responses in GHP calves may have been related to the closer and positive contact between humans and calves, including brushing during milk feeding [15], resulting in lower FD and LH and higher TTT. Gently touching and stroking has the potential to improve dairy calves' welfare, by reducing fear responses toward humans [61].…”

“…In various European surveys, dairy calf mortality ranged from 2.0 to 8.0% [6,[11][12][13]. In Brazil, these values were more variable, ranging from 2.33% [14] to 18.79% [15]. Thus, there is an urgent need to review dairy calf management methods and as an initial step, to evaluate animal welfare under various kinds of management [2].…”

“…However, dairy calves kept in social isolation have more welfare problems compared to those managed in groups [22,23]. Managing dairy calves in groups with an increased frequency of interactions with handlers had positive results [15,24,25], demonstrating that calves managed under such conditions were less fearful toward humans or when placed in an unfamiliar environment.…”