| 1. |
- Alvåsen, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Accuracy of the “index finger test” to determine type of death of dairy cows at destruction plants
- 2012
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dead cows are routinely brought to destruction plants and monitoring the influx may be useful for early detection of emerging (infectious) diseases. A prerequisite is that it can be determined if the cow was euthanized or died unassisted, because a sudden increase in the latter may be indicative of an outbreak. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of visual inspection at the destruction plant as a means to distinguish between the two types of deaths. The two main destruction plants in Sweden were visited 3 times, 3 days each, in spring, summer and autumn during 2011. The identity, and whether the cow was shot in the forehead or not, was recorded for all dairy cows entering the destruction plants during these days. We phoned the owner of the cow within 3 weeks after the cow was examined and asked whether the cow died unassisted or was euthanized. A total of 468 cows examined, also had information from the farmers. The comparison demonstrated that there were discrepancies between the observations. According to the farmers (gold standard) the proportion of cows that died unassisted was 30%, while the visual inspection (test) found that the proportion was 40%. Three cows were euthanized by an overdose of an anesthetic, which explained some of the discrepancy. The sensitivity and the specificity of the visual examination were 93% and 83%, respectively. The positive predictive value was 70% and the negative predicted value was 97%. This study showed that visual inspection of dairy cows at destruction plants overestimate the proportion of cows that died unassisted. The accuracy of the method is however judged to be sufficient to monitor the proportion of unassisted death.
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| 2. |
- Alvåsen, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Animal Welfare and Economic Aspects of Using Nurse Sows in Swedish Pig Production
- 2017
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Veterinary Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2297-1769. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The number of born piglets per litter has increased in Swedish pig industry, and farmers are struggling to improve piglet survival. A common practice is to make litters more equally sized by moving piglets from large litters to smaller to make sure that all piglets get an own teat to suckle. Litter equalization is not always enough, as many sows have large litters and/or damaged teats, which results in an insufficient number of available teats. One way to solve this problem is to use nurse sows. A nurse sow raises, and weans, her own piglets before receiving a foster litter. The objectives of this study were to address how the use of nurse sows affects the welfare of sows and piglets and to explore how it impacts the contribution margin of pig production in Sweden. A literature search was made to investigate welfare aspects on sows and piglets. As there were few published studies on nurse sows, an expert group meeting was organized. In order to explore the impact on the contribution margin of pig production, a partial budgeting approach with stochastic elements was used for a fictive pig farm. Standard templates for calculating costs and benefits were supplemented with figures from existing literature and the gathered expert opinions. In Sweden, the minimum suckling period is 28 days while published studies involving nurse sows, all from outside of Sweden, weaned the piglets at 21 days. A Swedish nurse sow will thus get longer lactation period which might increase the risk of poor body condition, damaged teats, and shoulder ulcers. This indicates a reduced welfare of the sow and may lead to impaired fertility and increased culling risk. On the other hand, the piglet mortality could be reduced with the use of nurse sows, but the separation and mixing of piglets could be stressful. The partial budgeting suggested that the nurse sow system is slightly more profitable (+6,838 Swedish krona) per farrowing group during one dry and one lactation period compared to the conventional system. The result is, however, highly dependent on the input values, and welfare aspects were not considered in the calculations.
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| 3. |
- Alvåsen, Karin
(författare)
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Bete bra för kornas välfärd - och böndernas ekonomi?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Djurens Värld. - 0281-1545. ; , s. 6 - 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- I den offentliga debatten höjs allt fler röster som vill slopa den unika svenska beteslagstiftningen för mjölkkor. Men vad skulle en sådan reform få för djurvälfärdsmässiga och ekonomiska konsekvenser? Svenska Djurskyddsföreningen har finansierat en studie som undersöker detta.
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| 4. |
- Alvåsen, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of grazing management on on-farm mortality in Swedish dairy herds
- 2014
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- On-farm mortality (death and euthanasia) in dairy cows is a welfare concern which also causes economic losses for the farmer. This study investigated the association between grazing management and on-farm mortality. The results show the importance of summer grazing since low on-farm mortality was associated with access to production pasture for most of the day.
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| 5. |
- Alvåsen, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Farm characteristics related to on-farm cow mortality in dairy herds: a questionnaire study
- 2014
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Ingår i: Animal. - 1751-7311 .- 1751-732X. ; 8, s. 1735-1742
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dairy cow mortality is an important animal welfare issue that also causes financial losses. The objective of this study was to identify farm characteristics and herd management practices associated with high on-farm cow mortality in Swedish dairy herds. A postal questionnaire was sent to farmers that had either high or low mortality rates for 3 consecutive years. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: 'About the farm', 'Milking and housing', 'Feeding', 'Routines' and 'Lame and sick cows'. A total of 145 questionnaires were returned (response rate = 33%). Ten of the 77 characteristics investigated met the inclusion criteria for multivariable analysis. The final logistic regression model included: herd size, breed, use of natural service bull, bedding improvement frequency and pasture system. Herds with Swedish Holstein as the predominant breed (odds ratio (OR) 22.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.2 to 101.8) or with mixed breeds (OR 5.5, 95% CI 1.7 to 17.5) had a greater risk of being high mortality herds than herds that were predominantly Swedish Red (OR 1). Herds larger than 100 cows (OR 19.6, 95% CI 3.5 to 110.4) and herds with 50 to 99 cows (OR 13.8, 95% CI 3.2 to 60.6) had greater risk of mortality than herds numbering 35 to 50 cows (OR 1). Being a high mortality herd was also associated with having cows on exercise lots during the summer season (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.3 to 9.9) compared with on pasture. A missing answer on the question of bedding improvement frequency was associated with high mortality herds. Overall, this study suggests that characteristics that are related to intensification of the dairy industry are also associated with high on-farm mortality of dairy cows.
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| 6. |
- Alvåsen, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Risk factors for unassisted on-farm death in Swedish dairy cows
- 2014
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Ingår i: Animal Welfare. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0962-7286 .- 2054-1538. ; 23, s. 63-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased on-farm cow mortality (ie unassisted death and euthanasia) has been demonstrated in Swedish dairy herds during the last decade. Identifying risk factors associated with type of death is needed for future work in reducing cow mortality rates. The objectives of this case-control study were to quantify the relative proportion of unassisted dead cows among cows that die on-farm, and to identify risk factors associated with unassisted death (as opposed to euthanasia). In Sweden, cadavers and animal waste products are being processed into biofuel at destruction plants. Two destruction plants were visited three times in 2011-2012. All dairy cows (n = 556) entering the plants were examined. Farmers that had sent the cows were contacted by telephone to verify type of death. Of the 433 dairy cows included in the analysis, 30% had died unassisted. A stillbirth rate above or equal to the median in the study material (7%) increased the risk for unassisted death. The proportion of unassisted dead cows was lower than that found in other countries. The results indicate that it might be possible to study euthanasia and unassisted death as one group in Swedish dairy cows, because only one factor differentiating between the two types of death was identified. However, unidentified risk factors may still differ and, possibly more importantly, welfare implications may also differ between the two types of death which implies the need to separate them in future studies.
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| 7. |
- Gyllenhammar, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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ANIMAL WELFARE EDUCATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF LILONGWE, MALAWI
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Animal welfare issues are not considered as high priority in Malawi due to other problems affecting the human population. In Lilongwe, the capital city, education programs are used to increase the awareness of animal welfare issues among primary school children. A study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of animal welfare in primary school children. Two different teaching methods for animal welfare 1) humane lessons (HL) and 2) Animal Kindness Clubs (AKC) were evaluated. The gender perspective was explored and also domestic and animal violence. The study was performed in collaboration with Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA). A questionnaire of multiple choice character was handed out to 157 children aged between 9 and 15 from six different schools. Three schools received HLs and the other three AKCs. The children filled in the questionnaire, participated in the intervention (either three HLs or three AKCs), and filled in the questionnaire again. In total, 146 children filled in both the pre- and post-intervention questionnaire, another 92 children did only fill in the post-intervention questionnaire. All children, regardless of the gender, slightly increased their knowledge about animal welfare when attending the education programs. The HLs, however, was more efficient than the AKCs. Many children had a good knowledge in some animal welfare areas before the intervention. A high proportion (93 %) of the children had experienced violence against animals. About half of the children had experienced domestic violence or both domestic violence and violence against animals. There seem to be a link between domestic and animal violence but further studies are recommended to penetrate the subject. The conclusion was that the level of animal welfare knowledge is good regardless of gender in primary school children in Lilongwe. The education programs only improve the animal welfare knowledge to some extent. Further studies are recommended to identify ways to improve the animal welfare education programs and to reduce the knowing-doing gap.
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| 8. |
- Jansson Mörk, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Risk factors associated with on-farm mortality in Swedish first parity dairy cows
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study included first parity cows (n=76,720) calving between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009 in Swedish herds with >40 cows. The effects of potential risk factors on on-farm mortality (death or euthanasia) were analysed using a Weibull proportional hazard model with a frailty effect. The lactations were split in season and lactation stage. The highest hazards were found for trauma and disease, both in the current lactation stage and in the preceding stage. The mortality hazard was higher in early lactation and higher for calving between January and April. Increased age at first calving, dystocia and stillbirth also increased the mortality hazard. Differences were also found between breeds, level of milk yield and genetic merit for milk production as well as farm characteristics. The results in this study show the importance of good management and preventive health actions, especially around calving, to avoid mortality in first parity cows.
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| 9. |
- Svensson, Catarina, et al.
(författare)
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Veterinary herd health management : Experience among farmers and farm managers in Swedish dairy production
- 2018
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Ingår i: Preventive Veterinary Medicine. - : Elsevier. - 0167-5877 .- 1873-1716. ; 155, s. 45-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A preventive herd health approach will most likely reduce incidences of clinical and subclinical disease. Swedish veterinary organizations offer specific veterinary herd health management (HHM) programs, but these services are not used to a large extent. The aim of this study was to investigate dairy farmers' experience of HHM and the conditions for collaboration with veterinarians in HHM. Six focus group discussions were conducted in March 2015 in West Sweden. In total, 33 dairy farmers participated. The recordings were transcribed and coded using thematic analysis, and the transcripts were reviewed to identify potential factors indicating barriers for farmers to engage a veterinarian in HHM. The participants reported HHM to be important, but they had difficulty defining the actions included in the concept. They described a wide range of their work duties as preventive. The farmers' list of potential contributions by the veterinarians in HHM was strikingly short compared to the considerable number of preventive measures they performed themselves. Four main obstacles for farmers and farm managers to engage a veterinarian in HHM on their farm were identified in the analysis: "costs", "veterinary knowledge, skills, and organization", "farmer attitudes", and "veterinarian-farmer relationships". Costs were proposed as the main reason against engaging a veterinarian in HHM and included a high veterinary bill, low cost-benefit of veterinary services, and high costs to implement advice. Poor veterinary competence in HHM and poor knowledge about effective measures, practical farming, and farm economics were other important obstacles. Veterinarians were perceived to insufficiently describe their services and their benefits, and several participants felt they had never been offered veterinary HHM. Although veterinary HHM may be initiated by the farmer, the participants expected the veterinarian to have special responsibility for the initiation. A firm trust between farmer, staff, and veterinarian was considered crucial for veterinary HHM, but such trust takes a long time to build and can easily be disrupted by, for example, a veterinarian's poor communication skills or lack of time. Our findings suggest that Swedish dairy farmers and herd managers find disease prevention important and that they perform a wide range of tasks to prevent disease in their animals. However, they do not see what role the veterinarian can play, and veterinarians were mainly associated with treating unhealthy cows. In order to increase the use of veterinary HHM programs the services and potential benefits of such programs need to be communicated more proactively.
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