Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
(N/A)
BURLINGTON,VT 05405
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Nearly all dairy calves are separated from their dam within hours of birth and reared artificially by dairy producers. Despite cow-calf separation being a standard industry practice, it may have negative implications for animal welfare and is misaligned with social values about rearing agricultural neonate animals. Still, a knowledge gap exists regarding how keeping cow-calf pairs together after birth may affect welfare and risk factors to health. Multiple stakeholders are affected by cow-calf extended contact, especially dairy producers. Engaging producers during early stages of research decreases the risk of producers rejecting the adoption of new practices. Thus, our goal is to identify key animal and resource-based measure of welfare, including health, and understand producer perspectives on dairy farms that currently use cow-calf contact to rear calves. To achieve these aims, we will conduct an observational study on dairy farms in the United States. During farm visits we will perform exams on dairy cows and calves to record animal-based measures of welfare and signs of disease, record resource-based welfare measures, and collect farm records to retrospectively describe morbidity and mortality. We will also use semi-structured interviews to understand dairy producer perspectives on cow-calf contact. Results from this research will provide foundational knowledge about cow-calf contact and practical recommendations to improve cow and calf welfare during the critical weeks to months after calving. By investigating cow-calf contact, the dairy industry will be taking a proactive step toward reducing social concern over the quality of life of animals in their care.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Nearly all dairy calves are separated from their dams within hours of birth and are artificially reared on dairy farms. However, a subset of farms keep calves with their dams for extended periods of time after birth (e.g., days to months) and/or remove calves from their dams to be reared by nurse cows. There is limited information regarding the impact of alternative cow-calf management practices on the health and welfare of dairy cows and calves. Our goal is to provide foundational information that describes the impact of various practices of extended cow-calf contact on the welfare, including health, of dairy cows and preweaned calves, and characterize dairy producer perspectives on extended cow-calf contact. We will address our project goals with three specific objectives. Objective 1: Characterize animal and resource-based measures of cow and calf welfare on dairy farms that utilize extended cow-calf contact. Objective 2: Investigate herd-level risk factors of disease on extended cow-calf contact. Objective 3: Describe dairy producer attitudes toward cow-calf contact using semi-structured interviews.
Project Methods
To achieve Objectives 1 and 2, an observational study will be performed on dairy farms in the United States during Years 1 and 2. Data will be collected on 12 cow-calf contact dairy farms. Each farm will be visited 3 times:once in the spring, summer, and fall to reflect seasonal differences. Farms will be eligible for inclusion if calves are kept with their dam for at least 1 month after calving and are fed milk soley from their dam. All pre-weaned calves (i.e., still fed milk) and their damswill be assessed at each farm at each visit.Approach to Reach Objective 1. Describe animal and resource-based measures of cow and calf welfare on dairy farms that utilize extended cow-calf contact. At each farm visit, the researchers will document animal care and herd management practices, and record animal and resource-based measures of welfare.Animal-based measures of welfare. To determine the prevalence of common animal-based measures of welfare, a visual assessment will be performed on the selected calves and their dams. Assessments will include evaluation of body condition, locomotion, and hygiene scores. Breed, parity, cow days in milk, and calf age will be recorded.Resource-based measures of welfare. To identify resource/management-based measures of welfare, a questionnaire will be developed which researchers will complete with producers on each farm during the first farm visit. General management practices will be recorded, including operation type (i.e., pasture, grass fed, or other), herd size, parlor type, calf housing (i.e., freestall, bedded pack, pasture), amount of time calves spend with cows (whole-day or partial day), cow housing (i.e., tie-stall, freestall, pack barn, pasture), and preventive health protocols (i.e., dry cow therapy, calf vaccinations, etc.). Feeding management will be recorded for cows (i.e., TMR, extensive grazing, rotational grazing), calves (e.g., milk replacer, suckling from cow, concentrate provided, pasture access), colostrum protocol (e.g., suckle dam for colostrum, bottle fed), and water access.Determining the impact of cow-calf contact on health and welfare is the main objective of this project. As such, we will record management specific to calving and cow-calf contact. Calving measures will include pre-partum environment (e.g., indoors, indoors with outdoor access, rotational grazing, extensive grazing), calving pen type (e.g., individual, group, pasture), calving pen cleaning frequency, and length of time spent in pen after calving. Post-calving measures will include days in milk cows rejoin the herd after calving, length of cow-calf contact, social group composition (e.g., preweaned heifers, weaned heifers, cows, male and female calves), cow-calf separation method (e.g., abrupt, gradual), and calf access to milk parlor.Approach to Reach Objective 2. Investigate herd-level risk factors of disease on farms that utilize extended cow-calf contact. Animal health assessments and herd records will be recorded to determine herd-level risk factors of morbidity and mortality for cows and calves.Cow and calf health. At the time of farm visits, a health exam will be performed on the animals assessed in Objective 1. Cow health exams will include locomotion score, body condition score, hygiene, vulvar discharge, and somatic cell count. Health exams will be performed on the calves using the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (2015) scoring system. Calves will be respiratory, fecal, navel, and attitude scored. Farm records from the previous year will be collected and the questionnaire from Objective 1 will be further developed to discuss animal health with the dairy producers. Questions will include the number of cows currently being treatment for lameness and under a mastitis withholding period, and most recent bulk milk SCC. Additionally, producers will be asked to refer to herd records to determine the number of mastitis cases within 30 days of calving, metritis cases, retained placenta, culling within 60 days after calving, down cows requiring treatment, displaced abomasum, and mortality. Calf records will also be requested to determine the number of calves that were treated for disease, died, or were euthanized. Main causes of death and euthanasia methods will be recorded.Approach to Reach Objective 3. Describe cow-calf contact dairy producer attitudes toward cow-calf contact using interviews. Producers will be interviewed using a semi-structured guide to investigate their attitudes towards the benefits and challenges of cow-calf contact and its role in the larger dairy industry.Producer Interviews. Dairy producers enrolled in the study will be interviewed during the second farm visit using a semi-structured interview guide that includes questions regarding their perceptions and experiences with cow-calf contact, including its benefits, challenges, their willingness to continue, public perception of cow-calf contact, and how it fits within the dairy industry. Interviews will be organized to last 30 to 60 minutes, will be audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim.Data Analysis. Inductive thematic analysis will be applied to the interviews. Codes for analysis will be developed through iterative analysis, constant comparison, and axial coding. Inter-coder reliability will be established between two coders. Differences in coding will be discussed until consensus is reached. A Selection of quotations will be selected for inclusion in the manuscript based on how effectively