Welfare assessment in traditional mountain dairy farms: above and beyond resource-based measures

Zuliani, Anna; Romanzin, Alberto; Corazzin, Mirco; Salvador, Sara; Abrahantes, JC; Bovolenta, S.

doi:10.7120/09627286.26.2.203

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…No cases of nasal discharge were observed and, in accordance with several studies carried out in indoor systems throughout Europe (e.g., Coignard et al, 2013;de Vries et al, 2013;Popescu et al, 2013;Zuliani et al, 2017), low prevalences for the other clinical measures (i.e., ocular discharge, vulvar discharge, hampered respiration, and diarrhea) were found throughout the assessments. Nevertheless, both ocular discharge and diarrhea were significantly more prevalent in DP than in BP and subsequently decreased again in AP.…”

Section: Animal-based Measuressupporting

confidence: 87%

A survey of selected animal-based measures of dairy cattle welfare in the Eastern Alps: Toward context-based thresholds

Zuliani

Mair

Kraševec

et al. 2018

Journal of Dairy Science

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In the Alps, traditional dairy farms are small-scale operations where vertical transhumance from valley indoor housing systems to highland pasture-based systems is still practiced in summer. Vertical transhumance implies a substantial change of environment, available resources, and management practices from one season to another. In such systems, animal-based welfare measures need to be monitored throughout the year to capture the variation of welfare outcomes, based on which targeted welfare management plans can be implemented. Because the Welfare Quality assessment approach has been tailored to indoor housing and intensive farming systems, the European Food Safety Authority recently developed a welfare assessment protocol for small-scale dairy cattle farms adapted after the Welfare Quality framework. The aim of this study was to assess nonbehavioral animal-based measures as defined by this protocol at different time points for transhumant systems in the Alps. In total, 18 animal-based measures were assessed before, during, and after the mountain pasture period in a sample of 67 small-scale dairy cattle farms practicing vertical transhumance in neighboring provinces of Austria, Italy, and Slovenia. Significant differences between assessments were identified for dirtiness of legs and teats, hairless patches, lesions and swellings, claw condition, ocular discharge, and diarrhea whereas BCS, lameness/severe lameness, vulvar discharge, nasal discharge, and hampered respiration were unchanged between seasons. In addition, a benchmarking exercise was carried out to identify relative boundaries (worst quartile thresholds) for each animal-based measure and to contribute to the discussion about achievable welfare outcomes for the 2 husbandry conditions that characterize a transhumant system. Worst quartile thresholds indicated a high prevalence of dirtiness (>80%) when cows were kept indoors, high prevalence of hairless patches (65%) before pasture turnout, and high prevalence of very lean cows (>13%) throughout the assessments. On the other hand, the best quartile thresholds for most clinical conditions suggested that high welfare standards (zero prevalence) are widely achievable in mountain farms practicing vertical transhumance during all assessments. The thresholds identified through benchmarking should serve as the basis for an effective context-based welfare management strategy promoting continuous welfare improvement on-farm.

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Section: Animal-based Measuressupporting

confidence: 87%

A survey of selected animal-based measures of dairy cattle welfare in the Eastern Alps: Toward context-based thresholds

Zuliani

Mair

Kraševec

et al. 2018

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…For example, Popescu et al (2014) observed on average 13.1% cows with a low BCS in loose houses and 10.2% in tiestalls. Zuliani et al (2017) observed 18.3% in Italian mountain farms. Heath et al (2014a) found on average 5.7% in a British study, whereas de Graaf et al (2017a) observed 5.5% in Belgium.…”

Section: Principle Of "Good Feeding"mentioning

confidence: 93%

Relationship between herd size and measures of animal welfare on dairy cattle farms with freestall housing in Germany

Gieseke

Lambertz

Gauly

2018

Journal of Dairy Science

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The objective of this study was to examine the association of herd size with animal welfare in dairy cattle herds. Therefore, 80 conventional dairy cattle farms were classified by the number of cows into 4 herd size classes, C1 (<100 cows), C2 (100-299 cows), C3 (300-499 cows), and C4 (≥500 cows), and assessed using multiple animal-based measures of the Welfare Quality Assessment protocol for dairy cattle. Data were recorded from April 2014 to September 2016 by an experienced single assessor in northern Germany. Each farm was visited 2 times at an interval of 6 mo (summer period and winter period) to avoid seasonal effects on the outcome. The average herd size was 383 ± 356 Holstein-Friesian cows (range 45 to 1,629). Only farms with freestall (cubicle) housing and a maximum of 6 h access to pasture per day were included in the study. Data were statistically analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model. None of the farms reached the highest overall rating of "excellent." The majority of the farms were classified as "enhanced" (30%) or "acceptable" (66%), and at 6 assessments the farms were rated as "not classified" (4%). Regarding single indicators, mean trough length per cow, percentage of cows with nasal discharge, and vulvar discharge increased with increasing herd size, whereas it was vice versa for displacements of cows. Percentage of lean cows, percentage of dirty lower legs, and duration of the process of lying down showed a curvilinear relationship with the number of cows per farm. Herd size was not associated with any other measures of the Welfare Quality protocol. In conclusion, herd size effects were small, and consequently herd size cannot be considered as a feasible indicator of the on-farm animal welfare level. Housing conditions and management practices seem to have a greater effect on animal welfare than the number of dairy cows per farm.

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“…The intensification of the dairy production over the past decades has left the Danish herds with an average herd size of 167 cows in 2015 compared to an average of 65.9 cows in 2000, rendering the larger herds with increased challenges regarding mortality [18] similar to their Nordic neighbors [19,20]. Additionally, herd size has also been associated with other management practices such as the choice of grazing or organic production status in smaller farms [21], an issue also evident in the Italian dairy production [22]. Larger production sites require a larger number of employees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of a Standardized Qualitative Behaviour Assessment and Exploration of Potential Influencing Factors on the Emotional State of Dairy Calves

Brščić

Otten

Contiero

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryAlthough welfare states of dairy calves are of public and scientific concern, no standardized protocol exists to assess the emotionality of these animals. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating and establishing a calf-specific term list for Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA), a technique that is already validated for assessing emotional states in many animal species. The statistically supported results showed that agreement can be reached among observers, terms showed varied results across farms, and evaluated emotional states could be linked to some explaining farm factors. Overall, results showed that calves have a neutral emotional state and profit from certain farm factors. However, we conclude that the assessment should be more widely used to gain more insight into calves’ welfare states and how their emotional state can be improved to a positive one.AbstractAssessing emotional states of dairy calves is an essential part of welfare assessment, but standardized protocols are absent. The present study aims at assessing the emotional states of dairy calves and establishing a reliable standard procedure with Qualitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA) and 20 defined terms. Video material was used to compare multiple observer results. Further, live observations were performed on 49 dairy herds in Denmark and Italy. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified observer agreement and QBA dimensions (PC). For achieving overall welfare judgment, PC1-scores were turned into the Welfare Quality (WQ) criterion ‘Positive Emotional State’. Finally, farm factors’ influence on the WQ criterion was evaluated by mixed linear models. PCA summarized QBA descriptors as PC1 ‘Valence’ and PC2 ‘Arousal’ (explained variation 40.3% and 13.3%). The highest positive descriptor loadings on PC1 was Happy (0.92) and Nervous (0.72) on PC2. The WQ-criterion score (WQ-C12) was on average 51.1 ± 9.0 points (0: worst to 100: excellent state) and ‘Number of calves’, ‘Farming style’, and ‘Breed’ explained 18% of the variability of it. We conclude that the 20 terms achieved a high portion of explained variation providing a differentiated view on the emotional state of calves. The defined term list proved to need good training for observer agreement.

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Welfare assessment in traditional mountain dairy farms: above and beyond resource-based measures

Cited by 13 publications

References 32 publications

A survey of selected animal-based measures of dairy cattle welfare in the Eastern Alps: Toward context-based thresholds

A survey of selected animal-based measures of dairy cattle welfare in the Eastern Alps: Toward context-based thresholds

Relationship between herd size and measures of animal welfare on dairy cattle farms with freestall housing in Germany

Investigation of a Standardized Qualitative Behaviour Assessment and Exploration of Potential Influencing Factors on the Emotional State of Dairy Calves

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