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Long-term consistency of selected animal-related welfare parameters in dairy farms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

C Winckler ,
J Brinkmann  and
J Glatz
C Winckler*
Affiliation:
Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria
J Brinkmann
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Animal Production and Technology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, Driverstraße 22, D-49377 Vechta, Germany
J Glatz
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Animal Production and Technology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen, Driverstraße 22, D-49377 Vechta, Germany
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: christoph.winckler@boku.ac.at
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Abstract

It was the purpose of this study to assess the consistency of selected animal-based welfare parameters for dairy cattle throughout a one-year period. Eight cubicle-housed dairy herds were visited five times, at two-monthly intervals. At each visit, lameness, injuries to the carpal and tarsal joints, cleanliness, social behaviour and the avoidance distance towards an unknown person were assessed by the same observer in a random sample.

At herd level, lesions of the carpal joints, udder cleanliness and frequencies of agonistic and cohesive behaviour showed low consistency. However, correlations between consecutive recordings as well as between single visits and the average were moderate to satisfactory for lameness prevalence, lesions of the tarsal joints, cleanliness of the hind leg and avoidance distances towards an unknown person in two different locations. The integration of these parameters into on-farm welfare assessment protocols seems to be justified.

Keywords

animal-related parametersanimal welfareconsistencydairy cattleon-farm assessmentreliability
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 16 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level , May 2007 , pp. 197 - 199
Copyright
© 2007 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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