General principles and good animal welfare practices on dairy cattle farms
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Field experiences and scientific observations point out the need
to define a guide which would describe widely applicable general principles and
good practices for ensuring the welfare of dairy cattle. The key action areas in the
guide should be stockmanship, feed and water, living environment, husbandry
practices and health management. There is a set of principles in each of these key
action areas that should be used to further define the good practice of ensuring
dairy cattle welfare in farms. The most important issue for the implementation of
good welfare practices for dairy cows is stockmanship. Appropriate nutrition is a
basic requirement and it is considered to have a great role to ensure good dairy
cattle welfare. Environment, space, equipment, microclimatic and hygienic
conditions significantly influence the welfare of dairy cattle. Dairy cattle should be
treated with care and in a consistent manner, taking into account their natural
behaviour all the time, and in a...ny case minimizing the risk of injury and distress.
For the welfare of dairy cattle of particular importance are many health conditions
as: lameness, mastitis, injuries, acidosis, milk fever and other metabolic diseases,
diarrhoea and anaemia of calves, respiratory diseases, heat stress, arthritis and
many contagious diseases. It is necessary to introduce systematic training of
stockpersons in our country with special attention to stockmanship and
responsibility, feed and water, living environment, husbandry practices and health
management in order to achieve a stable system of ensuring good dairy cattle
welfare.
Keywords:
dairy cattle welfare / general principles / good welfare practiceSource:
Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium „Modern Trends in Livestock Production, 2019Publisher:
- Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun