Elsevier

Animal

To meet or not to encounter welfare upshot thresholds: a case-control study in dairy cow herds

Under a Creative Commons license

Open access

Highlights

Classifying dairy herds according to normative thresholds for welfare outcomes.

Utilise of cumulative logistic regression to identify associations with chance indicators.

No master take chances indicator was identified which adamant exceedance of thresholds.

Outcome-specific risk indicators affect categorisation of herds.

Identified hazard indicators may be considered in informational strategies.

Abstract

Recently published thresholds allow classifying dairy cattle herds according to target, caution and alert ranges for welfare outcomes. Such normative thresholds provide i fashion to transparently appraise production practices and are a straightforward communication tool with farmers. In an ordinal response case-command report, we investigated associations of animal, direction and resource-related indicators with the hazard of exceeding thresholds of prevalence for lameness, claw disorders, integument alterations and leg cleanliness. To this cease, we used cumulative logistic regression models on 264 tethered and 392 loose-housed Austrian dairy herds. In tethered herds, the risk indicator boilerplate lactation milk yield was positively associated with the probability to exceed thresholds for integument alteration prevalence just negatively regarding leg cleanliness. Associations were likewise institute for operation type regarding integument alterations (lower take a chance on organic vs conventional farms), for herd size regarding lameness (negative association) and dirty upper hind leg (positive association), and for per centum of fifth or higher parity cows in the herd regarding dirty lower hind leg (positive clan). Stall blazon was identified equally chance indicator regarding claw disorders (lower risk of long vs short stands). In loose housing systems, none of the analysed hazard indicators was associated with the probability to exceed thresholds for total lameness and claw disorder prevalence. Negative associations with the probability to exceed caution or alert thresholds were identified for lifetime milk yield (dirty upper hind leg), lactation milk yield (dingy upper and lower hind leg), percentage of cows in the herd with a fatty-poly peptide-ratio <1 (integument alterations), and percentage of cows in the herd with a fatty-protein-ratio >1.5 (dirty upper hind leg). Pasture access showed negative (severe lameness, integument alterations) and herd size positive associations (severe lameness) with the probability to exceed thresholds. Deep litter cubicles compared to raised cubicles with rubber mats showed a lower probability to exceed thresholds (integument alterations, dirty lower hind leg) likewise equally solid safety compared to concrete slatted flooring in alleyways (integument alterations). Assessments carried out during the pasture period compared to during winter housing were associated with a lower risk of exceeding thresholds for leg cleanliness measures in both, tethered and loose-housed herds, and for integument amending prevalence in tethered herds. In decision, no main risk indicator was identified which consistently adamant the probability of exceeding predefined thresholds of considered welfare outcomes. Nevertheless, outcome-specific factors show sufficient impact on the categorisation of farms according to prevalence ranges.

Keywords

Creature-based

Cumulative logistic regression

Husbandry system

Prevalence

Risk indicator

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