Cargando…

Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets

The welfare status of cull cows going through livestock markets was assessed in 12 premises in Chile, using behavioral and health indicators observed during unloading, auction, and loading (once in winter and once in summer). Groups of cows were observed by the same observer and the following indica...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa, Bravo, Viviana, Gallo, Carmen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32851042
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00471
_version_ 1783570887079886848
author Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa
Bravo, Viviana
Gallo, Carmen
author_facet Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa
Bravo, Viviana
Gallo, Carmen
author_sort Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa
collection PubMed
description The welfare status of cull cows going through livestock markets was assessed in 12 premises in Chile, using behavioral and health indicators observed during unloading, auction, and loading (once in winter and once in summer). Groups of cows were observed by the same observer and the following indicators were recorded at each stage: slips, falls, balks, turns, jumps, and vocalizations of cows were considered as behavioral events and a proportion was calculated based on the number of observed events per group divided by the number of cows per group to give a behavioral event index (BEI). Health status of the cows was assessed during auction by recording the proportion of cows with low body condition, lameness, udder problems, tegumentary lesions, and tail abnormalities. Handler behavior was assessed using a count of negative tactile interactions (NTI) with the cows, like blows/hits, kicks, and pokes with the devices used to drive them, then a NTI index (NTII) was calculated as for BEI. Using the groups of cows as the statistical unit, statistical models were built and used to identify how NTII, some facilities features and comingling were associated with BEI registered during unloading, auction, and loading and also to calculate if the selling price was associated with the different health problems of cows, using the software MLwiN 3.03. A total of 1,103 groups of cows (n = 3,963 cows) were observed, finding a high percentage of slips and balks, whereas hitting and poking were frequent NTI. The highest mean BEI was observed during unloading in winter (1.10), whilst the lowest one was found during auction in summer (0.34). There was an increase of 0.11 in BEI for every extra unit increase in the NTII by the handlers. The BEI was negatively affected by the winter season compared to summer. Of 1,608 cows, 49.8% had a low body condition, 28.3% had udder problems, 24% were lame, 8.7% presented tegumentary lesions, and 3.1% tail abnormalities. It can be concluded that the health of the cull cows is already compromised when leaving the farms; cow behavior and handler tactile interactions with the cows are useful indicators to assess the welfare of cull cows at livestock markets.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7427490
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-74274902020-08-25 Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa Bravo, Viviana Gallo, Carmen Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science The welfare status of cull cows going through livestock markets was assessed in 12 premises in Chile, using behavioral and health indicators observed during unloading, auction, and loading (once in winter and once in summer). Groups of cows were observed by the same observer and the following indicators were recorded at each stage: slips, falls, balks, turns, jumps, and vocalizations of cows were considered as behavioral events and a proportion was calculated based on the number of observed events per group divided by the number of cows per group to give a behavioral event index (BEI). Health status of the cows was assessed during auction by recording the proportion of cows with low body condition, lameness, udder problems, tegumentary lesions, and tail abnormalities. Handler behavior was assessed using a count of negative tactile interactions (NTI) with the cows, like blows/hits, kicks, and pokes with the devices used to drive them, then a NTI index (NTII) was calculated as for BEI. Using the groups of cows as the statistical unit, statistical models were built and used to identify how NTII, some facilities features and comingling were associated with BEI registered during unloading, auction, and loading and also to calculate if the selling price was associated with the different health problems of cows, using the software MLwiN 3.03. A total of 1,103 groups of cows (n = 3,963 cows) were observed, finding a high percentage of slips and balks, whereas hitting and poking were frequent NTI. The highest mean BEI was observed during unloading in winter (1.10), whilst the lowest one was found during auction in summer (0.34). There was an increase of 0.11 in BEI for every extra unit increase in the NTII by the handlers. The BEI was negatively affected by the winter season compared to summer. Of 1,608 cows, 49.8% had a low body condition, 28.3% had udder problems, 24% were lame, 8.7% presented tegumentary lesions, and 3.1% tail abnormalities. It can be concluded that the health of the cull cows is already compromised when leaving the farms; cow behavior and handler tactile interactions with the cows are useful indicators to assess the welfare of cull cows at livestock markets. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7427490/ /pubmed/32851042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00471 Text en Copyright © 2020 Sánchez-Hidalgo, Bravo and Gallo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Sánchez-Hidalgo, Melissa
Bravo, Viviana
Gallo, Carmen
Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title_full Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title_fullStr Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title_full_unstemmed Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title_short Behavior and Health Indicators to Assess Cull Cow's Welfare in Livestock Markets
title_sort behavior and health indicators to assess cull cow's welfare in livestock markets
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32851042
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00471
work_keys_str_mv AT sanchezhidalgomelissa behaviorandhealthindicatorstoassesscullcowswelfareinlivestockmarkets
AT bravoviviana behaviorandhealthindicatorstoassesscullcowswelfareinlivestockmarkets
AT gallocarmen behaviorandhealthindicatorstoassesscullcowswelfareinlivestockmarkets