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Drescriptive study
Benchmarking welfare indicators in 73 free-stall dairy farms in northwestern Spain Yolanda Trillo, Luis Angel Quintela, Mónica Barrio, Juan José Becerra, Ana Isabel Peña, Marcos Vigo, Pedro Garcia Herradon
To cite: Trillo Y, Quintela LA, Barrio M, et al. Benchmarking welfare indicators in 73 free-stall dairy farms in north-western Spain. Veterinary Record Open 2017;4:e000178. doi:10.1136/ vetreco-2016-000178 Received 28 March 2016 Revised 2 July 2017 Accepted 25 July 2017
Department of Animal Pathology, Unit of Reproduction and Obstetrics, Veterinary Medicine of Lugo, University of Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain Correspondence to Yolanda Trillo; y trillovet@ gmail.c om
Abstract
The aim of this study was to describe the status of body condition score (BCS), hock injuries prevalence, locomotion and body hygiene score as animal welfare measures in 73 free-stall dairy cattle farms in Lugo (Spain). A benchmarking process was established across farms: (1) the animal-based indicators were ordered from low to high values; (2) The farms were classified into three categories based on the number of indicators within less than the 25th percentile, 25th to 75th percentile and above the 75th percentile. The median prevalence of unsuitable BCS, hock injuries and clinical lameness was (median (range)) 51.7 per cent (13.3 to 89.5 per cent), 40.0 per cent (7.0per cent to 100 per cent) and 9.0 per cent (0per cent to 60.0 per cent) respectively. The dirtiness of the cow’s coat had a high prevalence (73.0 per cent (37.5per cent to 100 per cent)). Most farms did not display consistently good or poor animal-based indicators and each farm had its own set of strong and weak points. Moreover, facilities design and management practices were described to understand source of the observations made of the cows. The incidence of overstocking was 31.5 per cent for stalls and 26.0 per cent for headlocks. The front lunge space was reduced (
Drescriptive study
Benchmarking welfare indicators in 73 free-stall dairy farms in northwestern Spain Yolanda Trillo, Luis Angel Quintela, Mónica Barrio, Juan José Becerra, Ana Isabel Peña, Marcos Vigo, Pedro Garcia Herradon
To cite: Trillo Y, Quintela LA, Barrio M, et al. Benchmarking welfare indicators in 73 free-stall dairy farms in north-western Spain. Veterinary Record Open 2017;4:e000178. doi:10.1136/ vetreco-2016-000178 Received 28 March 2016 Revised 2 July 2017 Accepted 25 July 2017
Department of Animal Pathology, Unit of Reproduction and Obstetrics, Veterinary Medicine of Lugo, University of Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain Correspondence to Yolanda Trillo; y trillovet@ gmail.c om
Abstract
The aim of this study was to describe the status of body condition score (BCS), hock injuries prevalence, locomotion and body hygiene score as animal welfare measures in 73 free-stall dairy cattle farms in Lugo (Spain). A benchmarking process was established across farms: (1) the animal-based indicators were ordered from low to high values; (2) The farms were classified into three categories based on the number of indicators within less than the 25th percentile, 25th to 75th percentile and above the 75th percentile. The median prevalence of unsuitable BCS, hock injuries and clinical lameness was (median (range)) 51.7 per cent (13.3 to 89.5 per cent), 40.0 per cent (7.0per cent to 100 per cent) and 9.0 per cent (0per cent to 60.0 per cent) respectively. The dirtiness of the cow’s coat had a high prevalence (73.0 per cent (37.5per cent to 100 per cent)). Most farms did not display consistently good or poor animal-based indicators and each farm had its own set of strong and weak points. Moreover, facilities design and management practices were described to understand source of the observations made of the cows. The incidence of overstocking was 31.5 per cent for stalls and 26.0 per cent for headlocks. The front lunge space was reduced (
