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Luigi Calamari presents Poster 40 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 5: Development and improvement of welfare assessment protocols
112
Poster 40
IMPROVEMENT OF ANIMAL WELFARE IN DAIRY FARMS USING A
MODEL TO HIGHLIGHT THE MAIN CRITICAL POINTS
L. Calamari 1 , S. Caré, R. Lombardelli
1 Istituto di Zootecnica, Facoltà di Agraria, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy
Many methods to assess animal welfare in dairy farms were developed in the last few years. Some
methods include, as goals, the diagnosis of welfare problems and provision of advice to the farmers.
The aim was to use our model of welfare assessment to improve animal welfare in dairy farms, and
to evaluate the response using the model in comparison to the basal plasma cortisol indicator. Our
model was used in two farms (A and B, 200 lactating cows each) with 3 series of visits during a
year per each farm. It considers indirect and direct indicators, included in three clusters
(environment, feeding and animal response), and calculates a standardized (0-100 scale) overall
welfare score (OW). For cortisol evaluation, blood samples were collected in each visit from 10
lactating cows (30-120 days in milk) using standardized procedure to avoid stress at sampling. The
data obtained with our model were analyzed and some advices were formulated. Substantial
refinements of stalls (neck rail height and floor comfort), diets and milking management were
suggested in farm B.
The OW in the first visit was greater in farm A (71.2) than B (68.2), together with lower level of
plasma cortisol (4.3±2.3 in A and 12.8±7.6 ng/ml in B). Only slight increase in OW was observed
in A (71.6 and 72.3 in the 2 nd and 3 rd visit respectively). In B a greater increase of OW was
observed (72.0 and 77.1 in the 2 nd and 3 rd visit respectively), not only as consequence of the
increased score of indirect indicators but also as greater score of some direct indicators (better
animal response). In this farm the cortisol decreased in the 2 nd visit (7.5±4.1 ng/ml), but later
increased (11.1±6.8 ng/ml).
In conclusion the proposed model seems promising to highlight some critical points in order to
improve animal welfare.
Contact information: Luigi Calamari or email luigi.calamari@unicatt.it
Complete address: Istituto di Zootecnica Facoltà di Agraria Via Emilia Parmense, 84 29100
Piacenza
Species: Dairy cattle