Exploring positive welfare measures: preliminary findings from a prototype protocol in loose housing dairy cattle farms
In: Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Jg. 11 (2024-06-01)
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academicJournal
Zugriff:
IntroductionFollowing the increasing interest about the development of indicators of positive welfare and affective state in farm animals, the aim of this research is to present some preliminary results on the application of a prototype protocol based exclusively on positive welfare measures and to suggest potential benefits that can promote positive welfare.MethodsThe protocol was applied in 20 loose housing dairy cattle farms (6 on deep litter with straw, 14 in cubicles) and included only indicators of positive welfare and emotional states: feeding and resting synchronization, rumination during resting, comfortable lying postures, no visible eye white, relaxed ear postures, percentage of cow contacts with humans in the Avoidance Distance test. Potential benefits in terms of housing, feeding and management were then related to these variables (Mann-Whitney U test). Qualitative Behavior Assessment (QBA) was also carried out and analyzed by Principal Component Analysis to explore the effect of factors that were not evenly distributed in our sample (number of feed distributions, access to pasture, presence of paddock or environmental enrichments, automatic milking systems).ResultsWhen hay was included in the diet, higher feeding synchronization (93.7 ± 1.6 vs. 52.2 ± 4.7%; p 1 (72.1 ± 9.9 vs. 53.8 ± 5.8%), although differences were not significant (p = 0.14). Deep litter had a more positive effect than cubicles on comfort at resting, with a significantly higher percentage of ruminating cows (65.8 ± 10.2 vs. 34.2 ± 3.7%; p 1, hay in the diet and access to pasture) to enhance dairy cattle welfare.
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Exploring positive welfare measures: preliminary findings from a prototype protocol in loose housing dairy cattle farms
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Mattiello, Silvana ; Celozzi, Stefania ; Federica Manila Soli ; Battini, Monica |
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Zeitschrift: | Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Jg. 11 (2024-06-01) |
Veröffentlichung: | Frontiers Media S.A., 2024 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 2297-1769 (print) |
DOI: | 10.3389/fvets.2024.1368363 |
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