The Welfare of Cattle

Dairy calves’ preference for rearing substrate

“…This view was developed in parallel with the other two views. Natural living comprises of the animal having the ability to express normal, natural behaviours and that the animal should be living away from the constraints of modern society Fraser, 2003;Green & Mellor, 2011;Rushen et al, 2008). The view of natural living is difficult to incorporate into animal welfare assessment as aspects of this view are prevented in modern production systems and may not be adequate in terms of its full welfare implications (Broom, 2011;Green & Mellor, 2011).…”

“…Calves in New Zealand are typically housed indoors, at group sizes averaging 5 to 15 calves per pen, with little or no outdoor access until weaning (Capel, n.d.;Rushen et al, 2008). The implication for cattle husbandry is that early social relationships between calves are beneficial for them.…”

“…Calves are separated from their dams within 24 h of birth (as within dairying systems, milk is the product to be sold) and placed into an environment where they are highly susceptible to the spread of disease as their immune systems are almost nonexistent and the digestive system is immature (National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, 2010;Panivivat, Kegley, Pennington, Kellog, & Krumpelman, 2004;On-Farm Research, 2014). Calves are vulnerable to temperature fluctuations (both hot and cold) and require access to some form of shelter or shade (Panivivat et al, 2004;Rushen et al, 2008). The type of substrate used in calf rearing facilities can provide warmth and comfort, but can also affect calf cleanliness (Panivivat et al, 2004), weight gain, the incidence of scouring (Hill, Bateman, Aldrich, & Schlotterbeck, 2011) and skin surface temperature (Sutherland, Stewart, & Schütz, 2013).…”

“…Substrates recently investigated include sand, rice hulls (rice husks), rubber mats and concrete (Hänninen, de Passillé, & Rushen, 2005;Hill et al, 2011;Panivivat et al, 2004). To improve a calf's welfare, it is important to select clean, dry, comfortable and warm materials for bedding (Kartal & Yanar, 2011;Panivivat et al, 2004;Rushen et al, 2008). Panivivat et al (2004) investigated the effects of different bedding materials (sand, straw, wood shavings, rice hulls and granite fines (by-product of crushing syenite granite rock)) on the growth performance, health, and welfare of dairy calves.…”

The influence of empirical contact networks on modelling diseases in cattle

“…In addition to the empirical testing of mass-action using observed interactions, 25 this assumption has been explored theoretically through comparison of models 26 with more complex mixing structures involving explicit contact networks. It has 27 been shown that simple homogeneous mixing can successfully model disease 28 transmission in populations where each individual is continuously moving on a 29 straight line path or when the duration of the contacts are much shorter than 30 the period of infection of the disease [9,10].…”