Species : Cows

Review: Assessment of dairy cow welfare at pasture: measures available, gaps to address, and pathways to development of ad-hoc protocols

L. Aubé, M.M. Mialon, E. Mollaret, L. Mounier, I. Veissier, A. de Boyer des Roches

Published in 2022

Scientific review of the benefits and risks of grazing for dairy cows, measures that can be used to assess the welfare of cows on pasture, and the knowledge gaps that need to be filled to develop specific welfare indicators.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Enrichment, Welfare indicators, Living environment, Robustness, Stress

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Un guide pratique sur le bien-être des vaches laitières pour les vétérinaires

Mathilde Clauss, François Gary

Published in 2022

Guide describing good practices in dealing with a sick animal and observing possible warning signs for animal welfare issues in a herd, animal welfare visits, how animal welfare can be integrated to a health visit, providing support for a shift towards increased animal welfare measures. It also looks closely at pain management, making the choice whether to transport an animal or slaughter it on site, good end-of-life practices, and how to discuss the longevity of dairy cows with farmers.

Document Types: Good practice guide

Animal categories: Bovines

Key word: Human-animal relationships, Living environment, Stress,Welfare indicators

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Resphe: Reduce the stress of young cattle at the beginning of Diminuer le stress des jeunes bovins à l’entrée en engraissement pour limiter l’impact des maladies respiratoires

Elise Vanbergue, Marlène Guiadeur, Béatrice Mounaix

Published in 2022

Practical guide setting out the results of an experiment to test the effects of lavender essential oil on young cattle at the beginning of fattening. It was found to have no effect on stress or the prevention of respiratory diseases, but it did increase GMQ by 200 g during the first month of fattening.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Enrichment, Stress

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Graduate Student Literature Review: Role of pain mitigation on the welfare of dairy calves undergoing disbudding

Cassandra N. Reedman, Todd F. Duffield, Trevor J. DeVries, Kerry D. Lissemore, Charlotte B. Winder

Published in 2022

Scientific review describing the disbudding techniques used in North America on dairy calves and assessing the welfare implications of the different pain-reduction techniques used in the procedure. It identifies the need for research to improve assessment of the pain felt by animals undergoing disbudding, to better understand the effects of xylazine sedation, and to determine other ways to reduce recovery times and the pain experienced by calves following disbudding.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Pain, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships

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Lesson learned in big data for dairy cattle: advanced analytics for heat stress detection

Stefano Benni, Marco Bovo, Miki Agrusti, Mattia Ceccarelli, Alberto Barbaresi, Daniele Torreggiani, Patrizia Tassinari

Published in 2022

Publication on the use of big data to improve sustainability and animal welfare in addition to productivity, in dairy farming. If the data is properly managed, it can be used to model early diagnosis and prevention strategies.  This modelling technique has been developed and tested for the assessment of the impact of heat stress.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Precision farming, Welfare indicators, Livestock farming system

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Risk factors associated with the welfare of grazing dairy cows in spring-calving, hybrid pasture-based systems

R.E. Crossley, E.A.M. Bokkers, N. Browne, K. Sugrue, E. Kennedy, B. Engel, M. Conneely

Published in 2022

Scientific paper identifying 14 risk factors associated with one or more welfare indicators during the grazing season on hybrid dairy farms. Many of the risk factors were related to the period spent indoors, suggesting that the potential effects of housing management on welfare persist into the grazing period.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Risk management, Housing, Livestock farming system, Welfare indicators

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Animal Welfare and Parasite Infections in Organic and Conventional Dairy Farms: A Comparative Pilot Study in Central Italy

Matteo Chincarini, Lydia Lanzoni, Jorgelina Di Pasquale, Simone Morelli, Giorgio Vignola, Barbara Paoletti, Angela Di Cesare

Published in 2022

Scientific paper comparing the animal welfare and parasite loads in dairy cows between groups reared organically and conventionally,  finding no significant differences for either criterion, despite the fact that organic farms carried out no treatments for parasites.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Livestock farming system

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The use of animal-based measures at slaughter for assessing the welfare of calves on farm: EFSA's AHAW Network exercise - 2021

EFSA

Published in 2021

Report on the Animal Health and Welfare Network meeting which produced a list of the animal-based measures used in abattoirs that are most relevant for the on-farm monitoring of the welfare of calves.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Carcass quality, Welfare indicators

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Intelligent Perception-Based Cattle Lameness Detection and Behaviour Recognition: A Review

Yongliang Qiao, He Kong, Cameron Clark, Sabrina Lomax, Daobilige Su, Stuart Eiffert, Salah Sukkarieh

Published in 2021

Scientific review summarising and analysing the main uses of smart sensors, big data and deep learning for  the behavioural recognition and health monitoring of farm animals, with a focus on bovine lameness.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines

Keywords: Animal-based measurements, Precision farming, Welfare indicators

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