Abstract #501
Section: Animal Behavior and Well-Being
Session: Animal Behavior and Well-Being I
Format: Oral
Day/Time: Tuesday 4:00 PM–4:15 PM
Location: Sebastian I-3
Session: Animal Behavior and Well-Being I
Format: Oral
Day/Time: Tuesday 4:00 PM–4:15 PM
Location: Sebastian I-3
# 501
Do improvements in housing and management voluntarily applied by producers following a cow comfort assessment reduce cow injuries in tie-stall dairies?
Santiago Palacio*1, Renée Bergeron1, Jeff Rushen2, Anne Marie de Passillé2, Doris Pellerin3, Derek Haley4, Trevor DeVries5, Elsa Vasseur1, 1University of Guelph- Alfred Campus, Alfred, ON, Canada, 2University of British Columbia- Dairy Education and Research Center, Agassiz, BC, Canada, 3Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada, 4University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, 5University of Guelph-Kemptville, Kemptville, ON, Canada.
Do improvements in housing and management voluntarily applied by producers following a cow comfort assessment reduce cow injuries in tie-stall dairies?
Santiago Palacio*1, Renée Bergeron1, Jeff Rushen2, Anne Marie de Passillé2, Doris Pellerin3, Derek Haley4, Trevor DeVries5, Elsa Vasseur1, 1University of Guelph- Alfred Campus, Alfred, ON, Canada, 2University of British Columbia- Dairy Education and Research Center, Agassiz, BC, Canada, 3Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada, 4University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, 5University of Guelph-Kemptville, Kemptville, ON, Canada.
Cow welfare is an increasing concern for consumers. In Canada new standards on the care and handling of dairy cattle have been established and are currently being enforced. Injuries to hocks, knees, and neck are common in dairy cows and are accepted as being painful and a welfare concern. The objective if this study was to evaluate how voluntary improvements applied by producers in housing and management following a cow comfort assessment with recommendations would lead to improvements in cow welfare in tie-stall farms. The 4 most reported modification made to the tie-stall were: adding new rubber mats, adding or adjusting the brisket board, pushing up and/or out the tie-rail, and/or increasing the chain length. Hock and knee injuries were scored on a scale of 0–3 were scores 2 (swelling 1 – 2.5 cm and/or a lesion) and 3 (swelling >2.5 cm) represent major injuries. Neck injuries were scored on a scale of 0–2 were 2 represents swelling and/or lesions. Forty cows/farm from a total of 19 farms (2 groups: 10 that applied modifications, 9 that did not) visited in the summer were scored during 2 assessments (2011 and 2014). Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare, between farm groups, the difference in prevalence of injuries between both assessments. Both groups of producers who reported to have made modifications and those that did not had reduced prevalence of major hock injuries by 23.8 and 21.4% (SEM 3.14), major knee injuries by 27.0 and 25.3% (SEM 3.89) and major neck injuries by 32.9 and 34.8% (SEM 4.56) respectively. There were no differences observed in improvement of injury prevalence between both groups of producers (hock: X2 = 0.3, P < 0.1; knee: X2 = 0.2, P < 0.1; neck: X2 = 0.0, P < 0.1). Between the time producers received results of the assessment of their farm, and the new assessment, the level of cow injury decreased indicating that when equipped with knowledge, producers took action to improve cow comfort. Besides the ones reported, producers may have applied other modifications in cow housing or management that could explain the reduction in cow injuries between both assessments.
