A shorter on-farm dairy welfare assessment protocol that can provide useful feedback to producers

Authors

  • M. T. Jewell Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • M. Cameron Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • J. Spears Department of Biomedial Sciences, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • S. McKenna Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • M. S. Cockram Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • J. Sanchez Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada
  • G. P. Keefe Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3 Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20183247

Keywords:

welfare assessment, dairy cattle, modified protocol, Canada

Abstract

On-farm dairy welfare assessments are important tools for the dairy industry. There are several existing assessment protocols; however, these can be quite time-consuming to complete on-farm. The aim of our study was to modify an existing Canadian assessment protocol, the basis for the Dairy Farmers of Canada animal assessment program, to reduce the amount of time needed to complete an assessment on-farm. The original assessment required 2 separate visits to the farm, which took on average 8 to 9 hours and 4 hours to complete, respectively. The goal for the modified assessment protocol was to complete an assessment in a single 6 to 8 hour visit.

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Published

2018-09-13

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Section

Research Summaries

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