Welfare assessment of Danish dairy herds

Transcription

1 Welfare assessment of Danish dairy herds The Danish Animal Welfare Index Nina D. Otten, Marlene K. Kirchner, Björn Forkman, Matthew Denwood, Søren S. Nielsen, Anne M. Michelsen, Tine Rousing, Jan T. Sørensen, Hans Houe

2 2 The Danish Animal Welfare Index (DAWIN) Veterinærforlig II ( ) National indices for: dairy cattle and dairy calves (aged days) Slaughter pigs, weaners, piglets and sows Cooperating partners: University of Copenhagen Aarhus University Danish Veterinary and Food Administration

3 3 Animal welfare definition the hedonistic view ANIMAL WELFARE PRINCIPLES GOOD FEEDING GOOD HOUSING GOOD HEALTH APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

4 4 Materials and methods Random sample of 90 dairy herds ( 80 cows) Recruitment procedure (AU): Invitation by letter Follow-up and confirmation by phone call Final sample of 60 participating herds Geographically dispersed throughout DK

5 5 Materials and methods CONVENTIONAL N=51 ORGANIC N=9 N TOTAL =60 Size Breed HOL 27 5 RDM/DRH 2 1 N TOTAL =41 JER HOL 8 JER 2 1 >300 HOL 5 JER 3 N TOTAL =11 N TOTAL =8

6 6 On-farm welfare assessment COWS Animal-based measure: Avoidance distance at the feeding table Resources outside cow area: Length of feeding table/neck rail/no. feeding slots Sick and calving pens (number/water provision/bedding/total floorage) Animal-based measures Behaviour lying down and collisions, lying outside, pain face, getting up Clinical observations BCS, cleanliness, integument alterations, claws, lameness Gleerup et al Resources inside cow area: Total floorage, no. cubicles, bedding, water points (no./cleanliness),brushes

7 7 Animal-based measures BCS: Normal Lean Fat COWS Cleanliness (0/1): Low leg Hindquarter Udder Integument : Hairless patches Lesions Swellings Overgrown claws (0/1) Lameness: Non lame Moderate Severe

8 8 On-farm welfare assessment CALVES Animal-based measures: BCS Cleanliness Respiratory disorders Diarrhea Integument alterations Resource-based measures: Access to feed, water, other calves, brushes, sick pen Total floorage, bedding

9 9 Welfare challenges COWS CleanWater Good Feeding 85,2 Only 14 % of herds have sufficient water supply (compliance with given legislation WaterSupply 50,7 FeedBunkSpace BodyConditionScore 79,8 90,7 52 % of herds have sufficient feed bunk space per cow (compliance with given legislation

10 10 Welfare challenges COWS Mean of 46 % dirty udders TotalFloorageSickCalving AccessCalvingPen AccessSickPen Cubicles TotalFloorage CleanlinessUdder CleanlinessLowerHind CleanlinessHindQuarters BeddingMaterial GettingUpBehaviour CollidingWithEquipment TimeNeededToLieDown LyingOutsideLyingArea Tethering One herd with 100 % clean cows Mean of 43 % dirty lower legs Good Housing 15,1 58,7 58,7 93, ,9 80,3 78, , ,5 70,1 99, Mean of 44 % dirty hind quarters Only 22 % of herds have sufficient total area per cow (compliance with given legislation) As many as 70 % of herds have a high proportion of cows lying outside the lying area

11 11 Welfare challenges COWS HealedFractures (Abattoir data) LiverDisease (Abbatoir data) Pyemia (Abattoir data) ProperEuthasia PainFace Stillborn Mortality BulkTankSCC OvergrownClaws IntegumentAlterations Lameness Good Health 98,8 97,9 99, ,7 74,8 58,1 93,7 97,4 53,4 71, Hock lesions : 8 herds with no lesions, mean=19 % (0-46%) Carpal lesions: 15 herds with no lesions, mean= 5 % (0-12%) Non-lame: mean= 63.9 % ( %) Moderate: mean=28% ( %) Severe: mean=10.6 % ( %)

12 12 Welfare challenges COWS Appropriate Behaviour AvoidanceDistance 42,2 CowBrush 55 Only 3 % of herds have sufficient numbers of working cow brushes) compliance with given legislation)

13 13 Welfare challenges CALVES Clinical observations (N=3090 calves) Cleanliness: Mild = 22 % Very dirty (>25 % of body)= 6.6 % Integument alterations: hairless patches= 20 % Lesions/swellings= 1.1 %

14 14 Welfare challenges CALVES Resources Individual housed (N=3090 calves) No access to other calves: 19 % Insufficient water supply/no access: 26 % Insufficient space: 26 % Group housed (638 pens) Insufficient water supply/no access: 19 % Insufficient space: 17 %

15 15 Conclusion The DAWIN for dairy cows and calves is developed and ready for implementation so stay tuned Year 2018 is scheduled to be T0 Added value for stakeholders in terms of campaign planning Added value for farmers in terms of animal welfare issues on farm compared to the national population

16 16 Acknowledgements All participation herds and farmers AU ANIS (EMA) Jan Tind Sørensen, Tine Rousing, Pia Haun Poulsen, Mari Reiten, Victor H. Silva de Oliveira KU SUND (AWDC)- Björn Forkman, Marlene K. Kirchner, Anne Marie Michelsen, Franziska Hakansson, Vibe Pedersen Lund, Matthew Denwood, Søren S. Nielsen and Hans Houe The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration