INRA, UMR 1300 Biology, Epidemiology and Risk Analysis in Animal Health, CS 40706, F-44307 Nantes, France; LUNAM Université, Oniris, Nantes-Atlantic College of Veterinary Medicine, Food Sciences and Engineering, UMR BioEpAR, F-44307 Nantes, France.
Prev Vet Med. 2013 Nov 1;112(3-4):296-308. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2013.07.018. Epub 2013 Aug 9.
Extensive information is available in the literature on the specific risk factors of the main health disorders afflicting dairy cattle herds. However, it remains difficult to manage a herd's overall health because measures to control one risk factor can exacerbate the risk of another disease. To achieve and maintain good overall herd health, livestock systems and management practices need to simultaneously take into account all of the main health disorders. We aimed to identify the characteristics of systems and practices conducive to good herd health using the Welfare Quality(®) assessment protocol for cattle. This protocol allows an assessment of the level of health and welfare at the herd level according to the opinion of a selected group of 13 experts from animal sciences. Our objectives were to (i) describe the distribution of dairy herds' health scores in a representative sample of French dairy cattle herds, and (ii) to investigate systems (housing system, milking system, herd size, breed, farm location) and management practices associated with variations of the overall health score of dairy herds. This protocol was carried out on 130 farms between December 2010 and March 2011. A multivariable analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to investigate the factors of variation of the overall health score at the herd level. The overall health scores of the farms in the sample were classified as moderate for the vast majority of farms (95.4%) (mainly due to subclinical mastitis, dystocia and pain induced by disbudding/dehorning) and varied little between farms. Some livestock systems were associated with a higher overall health score: straw yards and milking parlors (P<0.0001), highland vs. lowland locations (P=0.013), Montbeliarde rather than Holstein breeds (P=0.006). Some management practices also were associated with a higher level of health: medium herd average parity (P=0.03), low proportion of dirty cows (P=0.002) and low proportion of cows with abnormal body condition (P=0.04). These results suggest that some systems contribute to better health and that improvement of health can be obtained in the short term by the modification of routine management practices.
大量文献详细介绍了影响奶牛群主要健康问题的具体风险因素。然而，由于控制一种风险因素的措施可能会加剧另一种疾病的风险，因此仍然难以管理牛群的整体健康状况。为了实现和保持良好的整体牛群健康，牲畜系统和管理实践需要同时考虑所有主要的健康问题。我们旨在使用奶牛福利质量（®）评估方案来确定有利于良好牛群健康的系统和实践特征。该方案允许根据动物科学领域的 13 位专家选择的专家组的意见，对牛群的健康和福利水平进行评估。我们的目标是：（i）根据法国奶牛场的代表性样本，描述奶牛场健康评分的分布；（ii）调查与奶牛场整体健康评分变化相关的系统（畜舍系统、挤奶系统、牛群规模、品种、农场位置）和管理实践。该方案于 2010 年 12 月至 2011 年 3 月在 130 个农场进行。采用多变量方差分析（ANOVA）对畜群水平整体健康评分的变化因素进行了分析。样本中农场的整体健康评分绝大多数为中等（95.4%）（主要是由于隐性乳腺炎、难产和去角/去势引起的疼痛），农场之间的差异很小。一些牲畜系统与更高的整体健康评分相关：干草场和挤奶厅（P<0.0001），高地与低地位置（P=0.013），蒙贝利亚尔品种而非荷斯坦品种（P=0.006）。一些管理实践也与更高的健康水平相关：中等牛群平均胎次（P=0.03）、低脏牛比例（P=0.002）和低异常体况牛比例（P=0.04）。这些结果表明，一些系统有助于改善健康状况，并且通过常规管理实践的修改可以在短期内获得健康的改善。
