Scientificity and feasibility study of non-invasive central arterial pressure...
Animal Welfare in mega dairies
1. ‘Welfare of Cattle’
in Commercial Dairy Operations
Khushboo Gupta & Dr.M.L.Kamboj
Coordinator-Farm Senior Scientist
Animals, LPM, NDRI
FIAPO
2. What is Animal Welfare?
• The ability of an animal to cope
physiologically, behaviorally, cognitively and emotionally
with its physiochemical and social life
environment, including the animal‟s subjective
experience of its condition
(Gonyou, 1993; Duncan & Fraser,1997;Scott,2004)
• State of well-being, in which at least basic needs are met
and suffering is minimized
(Spedding, 2000)
3. Oie- Office International Des Epizooties
on Animal Welfare
“Animal welfare means how an animal is coping with the conditions
in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as
indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well
nourished, safe, able to express innate behaviour, and if it is not
suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress”
Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary
treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition and humane
handling
4. Why Animal Welfare?
• Animals are sentient beings: Emotional
aspect of using animals
• The reality of dairy industry is different
from what is shown in advertisements for
publicity of animal products
• Consumer awareness
• “Well managed and gently handled
animals are productive than anxious
animals , or those handled roughly”
(Pawelek &
Croney,2003)
5. Indian dairy industry- A brief overview
• India has a population of 199.1 Million cows
and 105.3 Million buffalos(2007 Census)
• Prevalence of cross bred cows & various
breeds of buffalo
• Dairying as a tool for rural empowerment-
livelihood & food security
• Specially for small farmers
• Shift in nature of dairying: from household to
commercial
• Completely production oriented
• Dairy industry superficially regulated
6. Prevailing Milk Production Systems
{Typologies}
• Large commercial dairy
• Urban & peri- urban dairy
• Small holder backyard farmers
• Government farms & breeding centres
• Gaushalas
7. Milk production to be doubled by 2020
• Strengthening of present small holder
in the country
OR
• Start large commercial units with
numerous milk producing cows
11. Freedom from
thirst, hunger
and
Freedom malnutrition
Freedom to
from express
discomfort normal
due to behavior for
environment the species
The
5
Freedoms
Freedom
Freedom
from
from fear
pain, injury
and distress
and disease
12. Freedom statement What it entails
Freedom from Hunger and Thirst Ready access to fresh water and a diet to
maintain full health and vigour
Freedom from Discomfort Providing an appropriate environment
including shelter and a comfortable resting
area.
Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease Prevention or rapid diagnosis and
treatment.
Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour Providing sufficient space, proper facilities
and company of the animal's own kind.
Freedom from Fear and Distress Ensuring conditions and treatment which
avoid mental suffering.
13. Indicators of Reduced
Animal Welfare
Bar biting Milk
Tongue rolling Reduced feed production
Wind sucking intake, decreased,
Cut
Inter/Cross- Immune Body Weight
Injury
sucking suppression, decreased,
Body damage
Eye rolling Adrenal activity Reproduction
Tail biting altered impaired,
15. Production & Reproduction
• Growth hormones
- bST
• Diet related/ nutritional problems
- challenge feeding, milk fever ( calcium
intake vs milk extraction) etc
• „One calf an year‟
- Metabolism of animal & male calves
- Longevity
- Effect on consistent productivity
16. Housing
• Tie stalls
“Mammary infections and/or teat injuries have been found into be
more common in cows kept in tie stalls compared to cows kept in
free stalls or straw yards”
(Hultgren J.2002)
• Lying space
“Lying behaviour plays a critical role in the production potential,
profitability and welfare status of intensively managed dairy cattle.
When cows are deprived of adequate lying time, their welfare may
be reduced”
(Fregonesi & Leaver (2001) & Cooper et al. (2008) )
• Freedom of movement
17. Typical daily time budget for a lactating
dairy cow
Activity Time devoted to activity per day
Eating 3 to 5 h (9 to 14 meals/d)
Lying/resting 12 to 14 h
Social interactions 2 to 3 h
Ruminating 7 to 10 h
Drinking 30 min
Outside pen (milking, travel
2.5 to 3.5 h
time)
Grant and Albright, 2000
18. Cows have a strong behavioral need to rest
Relationship between resting time and milk yield in dairy cows
Grant, 2004
19. Cows will take more rest when
• Microclimate inside the house is comfortable
• Comfortable resting place is available
• They are not over crowded
• Surface of the floor is conducive for rest
- not hot in summers
- not cool in winters
- not slippery
20. In order to maximize milk production, a cow should
spend over 12 hours, or more than 50% of her
day, lying in a stall or a pasture
Ryan A., 2010
21. Flooring
• Concrete floors
“ The presence of excreta on walking surfaces causes discomfort to
cows and predisposes them to developing leg and foot problems”
(Wells et al. 2008)
• The greater use of free stall housing with concrete floors may be
contributing to reproductive loss.
(Phillips and Morris, 2001)
• Concrete flooring has also been blamed for a higher incidence of
lameness in modern dairy cows
Lame cows with claw lesions (approximately 18% of the herd) were
half as likely to conceive when compared to healthy cows
(Hernandez et al., 2001)
22.
23. Concrete
floor
Stress Lameness Diet
Decline in
performance
24. Calf Rearing
• Separation from mother
(Day old weaning)
• Feed to calves
-Biased feeding
-Male in
buffalos, female in local &
draught breeds
• Male calves (young &
adult)
- Disposal in young and
adult mainly in cross bred
cows
-
Unwanted, uncared, unno
25.
26. Other problems…
• Inadequate feeding
-Increased aggression in the feeding area when
cows are overcrowded has been noted by a number
of researchers (Olofsson, 1999; DeVries et al., 2004; DeVries and
von Keyserlingk, 2006,Huzzey et al., 2006)
• Frequent re -grouping
• Locomotion and activity
• Physical- Lameness, mastitis, tail docking, de
horning
• Branding
• Handling, transport & slaughter
27. Are current dairy production systems
ethical?
Considerations:
– Animal welfare
• Is the animal harmed?
• Are the animals‟ needs met?
– Human obligations
• Are the animals being used responsibly?
• What is the impact on the environment?
(Croney,
2004)
28. Dairy operators’ approach to welfare
• Many would like to spend more on
improving cow health and welfare
– But variation in attitudes
• Not always clear return on investment for
health / welfare matters
29. Fears in adopting animal welfare
• Unclear about what it entails
• Avoid making large, expensive
changes
• Unaware of the impacts of poor
animal welfare
• Misconception that animal welfare is
being taken care of
31. YOU can make a difference to lives of
thousands of animals at dairies!
By enhancing your knowledge on animal
welfare
By introducing your students to this concept &
By including AW in course curricula- UG & PG
level
By encouraging research in this area
By publishing scholarly articles on
‘harmonizing animal welfare in dairy
operations’
By vocalizing animal welfare at scientific fora
By advising commercial dairy operators to
adopt welfare practices
32. FIAPO’s efforts….
• Developing scientific scaling methods
to assess welfare of dairy cows
across different typologies of milk
production units in India
• Development of strategy to promote
animal welfare of dairy animals
33. Possible Strategy to promote AW
• Development of a national code of dairy standards
• Incorporation of dairy standards in the Bureau of
Indian Standards
• Up gradation of Registration of cattle premises rules
• Work with Animal Husbandry departments to adopt
dairy code
• AH depts. to include animal welfare indicators such
as housing and waste disposal as eligibility for dairy
promotion schemes
34. Strategy continued…..
• Invoke India’s commitment to international covenants
and treaties
• IEC to farmers
• Capacity building of cooperatives to ensure
functionaries to ensure compliance of animal welfare
practices by their members.
• NIAW to run training programme on animal welfare best
practices in dairy operations
• Consumer outreach & public awareness
• Network of dairy scientists & progressive dairy farmers
35. Applying good animal welfare can be
as simple as applying good
husbandry practices on consistent
basis
36. Good animal welfare
EQUALS
Better health
Improved productivity
Quality products
Increased overall profitability
37. I can be reached at-
Email: khushboo@fiapo.org
Contact: 09717867045
THANK YOU!
www.fiapo.org
Editor's Notes
Animal Rights: a belief system that animals intrinsically have the same rights to life and liberty as afforded to humans (Getz and Baker, 1990)
World organization for animal health
Animals are sentient being who fell pain, thirst, hunger, fear…Animal have always been part of living and cows specially have a religious sentiment attached for a large number of people in India. Advertisements show cows in lush green pastures, blue water in streams, and clear blue skies .Pastoral images that portray the wholesomeness of the environment where cows produce milk - healthy cows, healthy environment, and a healthy food. We all know that the reality is different.Increased consumer awareness- about how food animals are treated , cared for and what happens to them?Research reference:Understanding and addressing issues related to well being of livestock, R.Pawelek and C.Croney, March 2003
Livestock census, 2007
There are two possible ways to meet this milk demand-Strengthen the present small holder system…which calls for intensive work with the farmer, giving appropriate door step services to the farmer, strengthening veterinary services, ensuring capacity of the farmer to feed its livestock, educating him about various diseases and by enhancing his traditional knowledge by introducing the best husbandry practices to him…….and increase milk production while preserving symbiotic relationship between man & animal..and let dairying be the tool for rural empowermentThe other way is to let private entrepreneurs set up factories to produce milk and conquer market in no time… The noticeable trend in the country is rise of commercial dairy farming in order to meet milk demands of the country..No lets look at what’s animal welfare?
The concept of Five Freedoms originated with the Report of the Technical Committee to Enquire into the Welfare of Animals kept under Intensive Livestock Husbandry Systems, the Brambell Report, December 1965 (HMSO London, ISBN 0 10 850286 4). This stated that farm animals should have freedom “to stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves and stretch their limbs
Innate problems in commercial dairy operations
Growth hormones: 25% mastitis increase (Bovine SomatoTrophicharmone), lameness & other problems, diminished body conditionRepeated pregnancy: Faulty AI, quacks in AI services, self medication ‘One calf an year’ - In order to continue to produce milk, dairy cows must calve yearly and will typically become pregnant again three months after calving.
Many health problems are associated with use of tie stalls. Lying space
In indoor systems, flooring is customarily concrete, as it is inexpensive, easy to clean and maintain. However, it can cause harm to cows as it is hard, abrasive and slippery due to urineBecause lame cows typically walk at the back of the herd they are more affected by an impatient handler; they are crowded together and cannot see where to place their feet (Ref: The welfare of cattle in dairy production, farm sanctuary)
Further problems when they become bulls
> Naturally cows are active animals who love to forage, explore, lick each other, sniff and groom. Commercial dairy operations do not provide them opportunity to express their natural behaviour and needs such as walking and exercise.> Researchers in France found out that cattle move up the hierarchy because of such traits. Cattle live inhierarchically ranked groups and begin to order themselves at a young age. Physical communication and grooming helpto establish this social ranking.
Explain typologies and on going work and invite contributors
