Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,University of Cordoba,14014 Cordoba,Spain.
Department of Cellular Biology, Physiology and Immunology,University of Cordoba,14014 Cordoba,Spain.
J Dairy Res. 2019 May;86(2):165-170. doi: 10.1017/S0022029919000207. Epub 2019 Apr 30.
In this Research Communication we analyse the animal welfare status of dairy farms located in southern Spain and test the hypothesis that monitoring of wellbeing could increase the profitability of dairy herds by improving indices of reproduction. Twenty dairy farms were visited and a total of 1650 cows were assessed using the Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocol to determine their welfare status. These farms were selected as representatives of the main types of dairy farms found in the south of Spain. No farms attained a welfare status of 'excellent', but all obtained an adequate score for most parameters. Feeding assessment showed relatively low variability among farms, whereas housing and health assessments exhibited high variability. Significant correlations were found between a number of welfare parameter pairings: between percentage of collisions and time needed to lie down; between cleanliness of water points and cleanliness of various animal parts; between farms with access to an outdoor loafing area and an inadequate body condition score and with animal cleanliness; between the frequency of animals lying partly or completely outside of the lying area and the percentage of integument alterations and finally between the presence of respiratory problems and farm hygiene parameters. Furthermore, significant correlations between welfare parameters, reproductive indices and milk production were found. The percentage of cows exhibiting an inadequate body condition score and farms where cows took longer to lie down were correlated with the calving-first insemination interval. Animals showing a higher incidence of coughing and hampered respiration presented lower heat detection rates and milk production and finally farms with dirtier animals had lower milk production. This study is the first step towards including welfare in the recording of routine data in dairy cattle farms in southern Spain.
在本研究通讯中，我们分析了位于西班牙南部的奶牛场的动物福利状况，并检验了这样一个假设，即通过改善繁殖指数，对福利的监测可以提高奶牛场的盈利能力。我们对 20 个奶牛场进行了访问，对总共 1650 头奶牛使用福利质量（WQ）协议进行了评估，以确定它们的福利状况。这些农场被选为西班牙南部主要类型的奶牛场的代表。没有一个农场达到了“优秀”的福利状况，但所有农场在大多数参数上都获得了足够的分数。饲养评估显示农场之间的变化相对较小，而住房和健康评估则显示出较大的变化。发现了一些福利参数之间存在显著相关性：碰撞的百分比与躺下所需的时间之间；饮水点的清洁度与动物各部位的清洁度之间；有户外休闲区和动物清洁度的农场与身体状况评分不足和动物清洁度之间；动物部分或完全躺在躺卧区外的频率与皮肤变化的百分比之间；最后，呼吸道问题与农场卫生参数之间存在相关性。此外，还发现了福利参数、繁殖指数和牛奶产量之间存在显著相关性。身体状况评分不足的奶牛比例和奶牛躺下时间较长的农场与首次配种的产犊间隔有关。咳嗽和呼吸困难发生率较高的动物表现出较低的发情检测率和牛奶产量，最后，动物更脏的农场的牛奶产量较低。本研究是将福利纳入西班牙南部奶牛场常规数据记录的第一步。
