Description of Animal Welfare and Feeding Management Parameters on Dairy Cattle Farms

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to describe animal-based, facility design and management practices measures of cow welfare. Observations were made once in 73 Galician farms while feeding management practices were collected from one year software records in 26 California dairies. In Galician farms, inadequate BCS to the lactation stage had a prevalence [median (range)] of 52% (13-90%), 40% (7-100%) for hock injuries, 9% (0-60%) for clinical lameness, and 73% (38-100%) for dirtiness of cows’ coat. These results may be a reflection of the located critical points at stocking density of the stalls and headlocks, the small front lunge space of the stalls, poor natural ventilation, and poor design of the milking area. In California farms, loading accuracy and precision was adequate on 5 farms; however, it was poor on 4 farms. At least 50% of the ingredients had a deviation allowed by the tolerance level above 2% (n=11). Recipe load preparation time ranged from 9 min 18 s to 27 min and consistency was IQR < 3 min (n=4) and IQR > 6 min (n=3). Time elapsed between ingredient loads was < 30 s at least 15% of the time (n=8), suggesting that the feeder may have improperly loaded the leftovers from these ingredients as the next ingredient. The wide range of variation in management practices suggested opportunities to improve in all farms.