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- Algers, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Scientific report on the effects of farming systems on dairy cow welfare and disease
- 2009
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Ingår i: EFSA Journal. - : Wiley. - 1831-4732. ; Annex
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Following a request from the European Commission, the AHAW Panel was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on the welfare of dairy cows, considering whether current farming and husbandry systems comply with the requirements of and welfare of dairy cows from the pathological, zootechnical, physiological and behavioural points of view. Due to the great diversity of topics and the huge amount of scientific data, it was proposed that separate scientific opinions on different welfare subjects would be more adequate and effective. Therefore, it was agreed that a scientific report, an overall scientific opinion and four risk assessments on: i) metabolic and reproductive disorders, ii) udder disorders, iii) leg and locomotion problems and iv) behavioural disorders, fear and pain would be produced. This overall scientific opinion integrates conclusions and recommendations from the scientific report with the outcomes from the four separate risk assessments. In the resulting list of outcomes, conclusions and recommendations considered to have a high priority are evidenced. This scientific opinion on the overall effects of farming systems on dairy cow welfare and disease was adopted by the AHAW Panel on 05 June 2009. In considering the welfare of dairy cattle, some of the most important consequences of poor welfare are the occurrence of disease conditions, in particular foot and leg disorders and mastitis. Reproductive, metabolic and behavioural problems are also relevant indicators of poor welfare. European dairy production is based mainly from specialized intensive farming but there is considerable diversity in how cows are housed and managed. Systems range from grazing all of the year to remaining in a building with zero-grazing. The farming system by itself is a major factor determining the health problems of dairy cattle and other aspects of their welfare, partly through housing and equipment and partly through management and handling practices. Long term genetic selection for high milk yield is the major factor causing poor welfare, in particular health problems, in dairy cows. The milk yield of dairy cows has risen steadily over the last thirty years in Europe with approximately 50 % of this increase estimated to be attributable to genetic selection for milk production efficiency. This selection has also changed the form and size of dairy cows and hence demands on their behaviour and other adaptive mechanisms. The spatial requirements of the dairy cow have increased as well as its vulnerability for mechanical impacts and wounds on the exterior parts of the body, the skin, limbs and claws. The genetic component underlying milk yield has also been found to be positively correlated with the incidence of lameness, mastitis, reproductive disorders and metabolic disorders. In order to improve dairy cow welfare there is an urgent need to promote changes in the criteria used for genetic selection in the dairy industry. Higher weight should be given to fitness and welfare traits when these may conflict with selection for milk yield. Genetic selection for improved fertility, health and longevity is likely to improve welfare and lead to greater profit for the farmer. Whilst issues concerning genetic selection are common to different systems, when comparing different farming systems, hazards associated with housing and management variables have the greatest effects on dairy cattle welfare. The following are the major conclusions and recommendations when systems are compared. Since the body size of cows has increased during the last 20 years, where cubicles are used, they should be wide enough to minimise any movement difficulties or teat trampling. Cubicles and tie-stalls should be designed in such a way that the forward movement of the body of the cow is not thwarted when changing position from lying to standing. The risk assessment exercise confirmed that poor cubicle design and lack of space are the highest ranked hazards, respectively in cubicle houses and tie stalls, in the development of the most common problems in dairy cows. A total space allowance of less than 8.6 m² in cubicle houses negatively affects welfare. Cubicle width should be at least 1.8 times cow hip width. In cubicle houses there should be at least as many cubicles as there are cows in the house. A lying area of at least 2.7 m² / heifer (up to 400 kg) is necessary to avoid negative impact on welfare and production. In loose-housed cows, the area around each feeding place is a location where much aggression can occur. Therefore, the feeding area should be designed in such a way and with sufficient space that all cows can feed with minimal aggression or other interference. Since leg disorders are the major welfare problem for dairy cattle and leg disorders are a problem also in well managed cubicle houses, alternatives to cubicles e.g. straw yards and improvements to cubicle house design should be considered. When possible, dairy cows and heifers should be given access to well managed pasture or other suitable outdoor conditions, at least during summer time or dry weather. Tie-stalls restrict the voluntary movement and social behaviour of dairy cows. When periods of exercise are possible some of the adverse effects are reduced. Therefore, systems of husbandry and management should involve a minimum time of restricted movement in order that all dairy cows are able to meet their need to show certain behaviours such as grooming, social interaction and exercise. While tie-stall use continues, cows should have daily exercise that involves walking freely inside or outside (except where there are adverse climatic conditions) and also the freedom to carry out other behaviours. A minority opinion on the use of tie-stalls was expressed by some Panel members. All dairy cattle should be fed a diet that provides sufficient energy, nutrients and dietary fibre to meet the metabolic requirements in a way that is consistent with digestion. When diet is changed there should be carefully controlled transition feeding in order to prevent poor welfare in the cattle. Feeding systems should allow every individual cow to meet her needs for quantity and quality of feed. Dairy cows should be provided with drinking water whatever their diet. This water should be in sufficient quantity to prevent any dehydration and should be: free from repellent odour and taste, harmful infectious agents, toxic substances and contaminants that can accumulate in body tissue or be excreted in milk. Both indoors as well as outdoors, continuous access to water should be provided. Automatically regulated troughs and drinker bowls should be installed in the animal houses and farmyards. There should be systems for monitoring the prevalence of lameness by scoring locomotion and foot lesions every 3 to 6 months in all dairy herds. Because of the high risk of lameness in dairy cattle all dairy farmers should implement a lameness prevention programme. On farms with a high prevalence of recognisable locomotor difficulties, e.g. approaching 10%, there should be improvement of housing conditions, genetic strain and management practices. In addition to improved methods for genetic selection, the prevalence of mastitis should be reduced also through: treatment of clinical and subclinical disease, dry cow therapy, identification and elimination of carrier cows, prevention of transmission of infection from cow to cow or through the environment, and improvement of the immune system by minimising stress factors and by a controlled and nutritionally-balanced feed intake. Pain management should be part of the treatment of severe lameness and clinical mastitis. Farmers should be well trained in recognizing signs of disease at early stages and veterinary advice should be sought at an early stage of disease in dairy cattle. Recommendations in this opinion for disease prevention and management should be followed. The body of research on dairy cattle welfare should be incorporated into codes of practice and monitoring protocols that address potential hazards and incorporate animal-based measures of welfare outcomes
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- Anderson, Claes, et al.
(författare)
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Anticipatory behaviour in animals: A critical review
- 2020
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Ingår i: Animal Welfare. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0962-7286 .- 2054-1538. ; 29, s. 231-238
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- A number of studies have investigated anticipatory behaviour in animals as a measure of sensitivity to reward or as an expression o emotional state. A common feature of many studies is that they base inferences on seemingly arbitrary measures, for example, the frequency of behavioural transitions (ie number of times an animal switches between different behaviours). This paper critically reviews the literature and discusses various hypotheses for why specific behavioural responses occur in the anticipatory period between the signal and reward in conditioned animals. We argue that the specific behaviours shown may be the result of superstitious learning and thus highly variable, leaving behavioural transitions as the only response that can be scored consistently, and that sometimes these responses may relate more to frustration than to a positive emotional state. Finally, we propose new research approaches to avoid potential confounds and improve future studies on this topic.
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- Anderson, Claes, et al.
(författare)
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Behavioural expression of positive anticipation for food or opportunity to play in lambs
- 2015
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Ingår i: Behavioural Processes. - : Elsevier BV. - 0376-6357 .- 1872-8308. ; 113, s. 152-158
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anticipatory behaviours may serve a useful tool in studying positive emotional states in animals. This study aimed to investigate if lambs express anticipatory behaviours for opportunities to play or a food reward and if these behaviours would differ depending on the anticipated event. Forty-two male lambs were allocated into three treatment groups (control, play, food). Play and food lambs were conditioned to anticipate play or food in a holding pen for three minutes prior to accessing a reward arena containing toy objects or concentrate, respectively. Control lambs returned to their home pen following three minutes in the holding pen. Compared to the control lambs, both play and food lambs differed in several behaviours frequencies and durations, e.g. by an increased frequency of behavioural transitions and duration of walking. Following these observations, food lambs received the toy objects when entering the reward arena. The subsequent session in the holding pen resulted in a decrease in number of behavioural transitions, time spent walking and an increase in time standing still. In conclusion, anticipating a positive event resulted in differences in behaviour compared to a control group, and these behaviours are affected when the anticipated event does not fit with the lambs' expectations. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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- Axelsson, Helene, et al.
(författare)
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Behaviour in female mink housed in enriched standard cages during winter
- 2009
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Ingår i: Applied Animal Behaviour Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-1591 .- 1872-9045. ; 121, s. 222-229
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study evaluated whether adding environmental enrichments to a standard housing system during winter could decrease stereotypic behaviours in female mink. The study was conducted on two private farms (F1 and F2) in southern Sweden. In total, 75 farmed mink oil each farm were housed in standard cages, with either a wire net shelf, a plastic ball, a plastic cylinder or all three enrichments together. Standard cages without enrichments were used as a control. All animals in the study were born and raised in a standard cage system without enrichments. The animals were housed in the enriched cages from early December, at approximately 7 months of age, until the beginning of March. Behavioural observations were made in January-March during three observation periods (10 consecutive days each) on each farm. The behaviours were recorded using one-zero sampling during 2 h prior to feeding and 2 h afterwards. There were no significant differences in stereotypic behaviours between treatments at F1, but stereotypic behaviours decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in mink with access to wire net shelves at F2. Stereotypic behaviours were most often performed before feeding and differed in occurrence between periods (P < 0.001). The total number of interactions with the enrichments differed between treatments (P < 0.001), and was highest for the wire net shelf enrichment on both farms. In conclusion, our results indicate that a wire net shelf, plastic cylinder, ball or all these three enrichments together were not sufficient to decrease or interrupt stereotypic behaviours that had already developed in standard housing during winter. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 10. |
- Axelsson, Helene, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of group size on behaviour, growth and occurrence of bite marks in farmed mink
- 2017
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Ingår i: Applied Animal Behaviour Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-1591 .- 1872-9045. ; 194, s. 112-119
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aims of this study were to investigate the occurrence of stereotypic behaviours and the activity level in farmed mink when group housed in climbing cages and if group housing increase aggression by assessing the prevalence of bite marks. This was studied in juvenile mink of the colour types "demibuff" (n = 165) and "half sapphire" (n = 165). The animals were housed in standard cages (S2: one male, one female), or in climbing cages (C2: one male, one female; C3: one male, two females; C4: two males, two females). Behaviours were recorded for two hours beginning at sunrise and two hours before sunset during six periods of five days each from August-October. After pelting, the leather side of the undried skins were visually inspected for bite marks. Stereotypic behaviours were infrequent (0.1% of observations). Pair housed mink in climbing cages were more "inactive out in cage" than pair housed mink in standard cages (p < 0.0001), but cage type had no effect on the behaviours "being in nest box", "active out in cage", "interactions with enrichments" or "social interactions" (n.s.). Group sizes of three or four mink increased the behaviours "active out in cage" (P < 0.0001) and decreased "being in nest box" (P < 0.001) but had no effect on "interactions with enrichments", "inactive out in cage" or "social interactions" (n.s.). Males had lower growth when kept in groups of four compared to groups of three or pairs (P < 0.001), and shorter skin lengths when kept in groups of four compared to pairs (P < 0.001), but females did not differ in growth or skin lengths between group sizes (n.s.). Number of bite marks on the leather side of the skins did not differ between cage types (n.s.) or group sizes (n.s.). In conclusion, neither the cage design nor the group size affected the occurrence of stereotypies or the occurrence of bite marks, but activity levels increased and the use of a nest box and male growth decreased in larger groups.
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