As farm animal welfare is high on the political and societal agendas of many countries, considera... more As farm animal welfare is high on the political and societal agendas of many countries, considerable pressure exists to establish audit programs in which farm animal welfare is routinely monitored. On-farm assessment of animal welfare, however, is time-consuming and costly. A promising strategy to monitor animal welfare more efficiently is to first estimate the level of animal welfare on a farm based on routine herd data that are available in national databases. It is not currently known which variables of routine herd data (VRHD) are associated with dairy cattle welfare indicators (WI). Our aim was to identify VRHD that are associated with WI in a literature review. The 27 VRHD used in this review included the main types of data that are currently collected in national herd databases of developed countries, and related to identification and registration, management, milk production, and reproduction of dairy herds. The 34 WI used in this review were based on the Welfare Quality Assessment Protocol for Cattle. The search yielded associations in 146 studies. Twenty-three VRHD were associated with 16 WI. The VRHD that related to milk yield, culling, and reproduction were associated with the largest number of WI. Few associations were found for WI that referred to behavioral aspects of animal welfare, nonspecific disease symptoms, or resources-based indicators. For 18 WI, associations with VRHD were not significant (n=5 WI) or no studies were found that investigated associations with VRHD (n=13 WI). It was concluded that many VRHD have potential to estimate the level of animal welfare on dairy farms. As strengths of associations were not considered in this review, however, the true value of these VRHD should be further explored. Moreover, associations found at the animal level and in an experimental setting might not appear at the farm level and in common practice and should be investigated. Cross-sectional studies using integrated welfare scores at the farm level are needed to more accurately determine the potential of VRHD to estimate levels of animal welfare on dairy farms.
ABSTRACT The Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocols are increasingly used for assessing welfare of farm ... more ABSTRACT The Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocols are increasingly used for assessing welfare of farm animals. These protocols are time consuming (about one day per farm) and, therefore, costly. Our aim was to assess the scope for reduction of on-farm assessment time of the WQ protocol for dairy cattle. Seven trained observers quantified animal-based indicators of the WQ protocol in 181 loose-housed and 13 tied Dutch dairy herds (herd size from 10 to 211 cows). Four assessment methods were used: avoidance distance at the feeding rack (ADF, 44 min); qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA, 25 min); behavioural observations (BO, 150 min); and clinical observations (CO, 132 min). To simulate reduction of on-farm assessment time, a set of WQ indicators belonging to one assessment method was omitted from the protocol. Observed values of omitted indicators were replaced by predictions based on WQ indicators of the remaining three assessment methods, resources checklist, and interview, thus mimicking the performance of the full WQ protocol. Agreement between predicted and observed values of WQ indicators, however, was low for ADF, moderate for QBA, slight to moderate for BO, and poor to moderate for CO. It was concluded that replacing animal-based WQ indicators by predictions based on remaining WQ indicators shows little scope for reduction of onfarm assessment time of the Welfare Quality® protocol for dairy cattle. Other ways to reduce on-farm assessment time of the WQ protocol for dairy cattle, such as the use of additional data or automated monitoring systems, should be investigated.
As farm animal welfare is high on the political and societal agendas of many countries, considera... more As farm animal welfare is high on the political and societal agendas of many countries, considerable pressure exists to establish audit programs in which farm animal welfare is routinely monitored. On-farm assessment of animal welfare, however, is time-consuming and costly. A promising strategy to monitor animal welfare more efficiently is to first estimate the level of animal welfare on a farm based on routine herd data that are available in national databases. It is not currently known which variables of routine herd data (VRHD) are associated with dairy cattle welfare indicators (WI). Our aim was to identify VRHD that are associated with WI in a literature review. The 27 VRHD used in this review included the main types of data that are currently collected in national herd databases of developed countries, and related to identification and registration, management, milk production, and reproduction of dairy herds. The 34 WI used in this review were based on the Welfare Quality Assessment Protocol for Cattle. The search yielded associations in 146 studies. Twenty-three VRHD were associated with 16 WI. The VRHD that related to milk yield, culling, and reproduction were associated with the largest number of WI. Few associations were found for WI that referred to behavioral aspects of animal welfare, nonspecific disease symptoms, or resources-based indicators. For 18 WI, associations with VRHD were not significant (n=5 WI) or no studies were found that investigated associations with VRHD (n=13 WI). It was concluded that many VRHD have potential to estimate the level of animal welfare on dairy farms. As strengths of associations were not considered in this review, however, the true value of these VRHD should be further explored. Moreover, associations found at the animal level and in an experimental setting might not appear at the farm level and in common practice and should be investigated. Cross-sectional studies using integrated welfare scores at the farm level are needed to more accurately determine the potential of VRHD to estimate levels of animal welfare on dairy farms.
ABSTRACT The Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocols are increasingly used for assessing welfare of farm ... more ABSTRACT The Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocols are increasingly used for assessing welfare of farm animals. These protocols are time consuming (about one day per farm) and, therefore, costly. Our aim was to assess the scope for reduction of on-farm assessment time of the WQ protocol for dairy cattle. Seven trained observers quantified animal-based indicators of the WQ protocol in 181 loose-housed and 13 tied Dutch dairy herds (herd size from 10 to 211 cows). Four assessment methods were used: avoidance distance at the feeding rack (ADF, 44 min); qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA, 25 min); behavioural observations (BO, 150 min); and clinical observations (CO, 132 min). To simulate reduction of on-farm assessment time, a set of WQ indicators belonging to one assessment method was omitted from the protocol. Observed values of omitted indicators were replaced by predictions based on WQ indicators of the remaining three assessment methods, resources checklist, and interview, thus mimicking the performance of the full WQ protocol. Agreement between predicted and observed values of WQ indicators, however, was low for ADF, moderate for QBA, slight to moderate for BO, and poor to moderate for CO. It was concluded that replacing animal-based WQ indicators by predictions based on remaining WQ indicators shows little scope for reduction of onfarm assessment time of the Welfare Quality® protocol for dairy cattle. Other ways to reduce on-farm assessment time of the WQ protocol for dairy cattle, such as the use of additional data or automated monitoring systems, should be investigated.
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Papers by Marion de Vries