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Animal husbandry and Human-animal relationships

How pasture access impacts cow welfare

By July 14, 2020September 25th, 2020No Comments

Document type: article published in Dairy Global

Author: Treena Hein

 

Preview: Pasture use can provide many benefits for farmers that are able to offer it to their cows, and although some of these benefits are not well known new research shows that on pasture, and to some extent on alternative outdoor access areas (especially bedded packs), dairy cows are enabled to express more of their natural behaviours, a fact which some farmers may not have considered in evaluating their cows' welfare.Indeed, some countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland have implemented regulations requiring dairy farmers to provide their cows access to pasture for specified periods based on the assumption that this provides them with the chance to better express natural behaviours compared to an indoor environment. In Australia, data from 2016 indicates about 99% of dairy cows had some pasture access and 89% were on pasture year-round; in New Zealand, it's estimated that over 99% of current dairy herds have access to pasture some or all of the year.

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