Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds
Animal welfare assessments that measure welfare outcomes, including behavior and health, can be highly valid. However, the time and skill required are major barriers to their use. We explored whether feasibility of welfare outcome assessment for dairy herds may be improved by rationalizing the numbe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Animal Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2021.703380/full |
| _version_ | 1798034763777310720 |
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| author | Sophie Collins Charlotte C. Burn Christopher M. Wathes Jacqueline M. Cardwell Yu-Mei Chang Nicholas J. Bell |
| author_facet | Sophie Collins Charlotte C. Burn Christopher M. Wathes Jacqueline M. Cardwell Yu-Mei Chang Nicholas J. Bell |
| author_sort | Sophie Collins |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animal welfare assessments that measure welfare outcomes, including behavior and health, can be highly valid. However, the time and skill required are major barriers to their use. We explored whether feasibility of welfare outcome assessment for dairy herds may be improved by rationalizing the number of measures included. We compared two approaches: analyzing whether strong pairwise associations between measures existed, enabling the subsequent exclusion of associated measures; and identifying possible summary measures—“iceberg indicators”—of dairy herd welfare that could predict herd welfare status. A cross-sectional study of dairy herd welfare was undertaken by a single assessor on 51 English farms, in which 96 welfare outcome measures were assessed. All measures showed at least one pairwise association; percentage of lame cows showed the most (33 correlations). However, most correlations were weak–moderate, suggesting limited scope for excluding measures from protocols based on pairwise relationships. A composite measure of the largest portion of herd welfare status was then identified via Principal Component Analysis (Principal Component 1, accounting for 16.9% of variance), and linear regression revealed that 22 measures correlated with this. Of these 22, agreement statistics indicated that percentage of lame cows and qualitative descriptors of “calmness” and “happiness” best predicted Principal Component 1. However, even these correctly classified only ~50% of farms according to which quartile of the Principal Component 1 they occupied. Further research is recommended, but results suggest that welfare assessments incorporating many diverse measures remain necessary to provide sufficient detail about dairy herd welfare. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:48:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0e47ccc9c11345d3ae8eca8fd7ae3b3d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-6225 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:48:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Animal Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-0e47ccc9c11345d3ae8eca8fd7ae3b3d2022-12-22T04:03:55ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Animal Science2673-62252021-11-01210.3389/fanim.2021.703380703380Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy HerdsSophie CollinsCharlotte C. BurnChristopher M. WathesJacqueline M. CardwellYu-Mei ChangNicholas J. BellAnimal welfare assessments that measure welfare outcomes, including behavior and health, can be highly valid. However, the time and skill required are major barriers to their use. We explored whether feasibility of welfare outcome assessment for dairy herds may be improved by rationalizing the number of measures included. We compared two approaches: analyzing whether strong pairwise associations between measures existed, enabling the subsequent exclusion of associated measures; and identifying possible summary measures—“iceberg indicators”—of dairy herd welfare that could predict herd welfare status. A cross-sectional study of dairy herd welfare was undertaken by a single assessor on 51 English farms, in which 96 welfare outcome measures were assessed. All measures showed at least one pairwise association; percentage of lame cows showed the most (33 correlations). However, most correlations were weak–moderate, suggesting limited scope for excluding measures from protocols based on pairwise relationships. A composite measure of the largest portion of herd welfare status was then identified via Principal Component Analysis (Principal Component 1, accounting for 16.9% of variance), and linear regression revealed that 22 measures correlated with this. Of these 22, agreement statistics indicated that percentage of lame cows and qualitative descriptors of “calmness” and “happiness” best predicted Principal Component 1. However, even these correctly classified only ~50% of farms according to which quartile of the Principal Component 1 they occupied. Further research is recommended, but results suggest that welfare assessments incorporating many diverse measures remain necessary to provide sufficient detail about dairy herd welfare.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2021.703380/fullanimal welfarefarm animalson-farm welfare assessmentdairy cattlelamenessqualitative behaviour assessment |
| spellingShingle | Sophie Collins Charlotte C. Burn Christopher M. Wathes Jacqueline M. Cardwell Yu-Mei Chang Nicholas J. Bell Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds Frontiers in Animal Science animal welfare farm animals on-farm welfare assessment dairy cattle lameness qualitative behaviour assessment |
| title | Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds |
| title_full | Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds |
| title_fullStr | Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds |
| title_short | Time-Consuming, but Necessary: A Wide Range of Measures Should Be Included in Welfare Assessments for Dairy Herds |
| title_sort | time consuming but necessary a wide range of measures should be included in welfare assessments for dairy herds |
| topic | animal welfare farm animals on-farm welfare assessment dairy cattle lameness qualitative behaviour assessment |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2021.703380/full |
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