Behaviour of cattle has a strong relation with its welfare and physical condition. Healthy animals show less stress and perform better. Political power also stimulates better treatment of animals, in order to improve welfare and food quality. In this section, you can find articles about behaviour and welfare management.
Behaviour and welfare
Latest article
Is dietary choice important to animal welfare?
Scientific interest in farm animal welfare has grown rapidly in recent years because consumers increasingly demand that farm animals are reared, transported, and slaughtered in a humane way. Additionally, nutrition emerges as an important aspect of welfare since in most codes of recommendations for the welfare of animals, adequate nutrition is one of the primary requirements to be satisfied. We submit that in many cases domestic animals are provided with diets that, even when abundant and nutritious, are not necessarily adequate to foster the welfare of animals.
The monotonous diets fed in confinement (total mixed rations) and on pasture (monocultures) often contain excesses of nutrients, nutrient imbalances, and toxins that adversely influence... read more »
More articles
Interactions between housed dairy cows during feeding, lying, and standing
Three experiments examined the extent of behavioral interactions between housed dairy cows. In Experiment 1, 6 different cows were selected every other day from a dairy herd and allocated to 3 pairs for recording of feeding, standing, lying, and leg-raising behaviors. read more >
A Note on Estrous Response in Cows Induced With or Without the Application of Estrogens, and Their Effect in Nontreated Herdmates
To determine if providing estrogen with a control internal drug (progesterone) releasing device (CIDR) increases the number of cows showing estrus but not ovulating, and if there is synchronization of estrus in nontreated cows, 54 Brahman cows with no calf present were synchronized sequentially with CIDR on days 1, 7, 13, and 22. read more >
The cow has changed, now the farmer
Average milk production of dairy cows has increased significantly in the last decades, but it seems that other production traits have not been managed accordingly. Bruce Woodacre questions whether the focus on milk yield has not driven cow management in the wrong direction. read more >
What do you want to know about dairy cows?
The Dairy Center at Oregon State University is finalizing the installation of a state-of-the-art telemetric monitoring system for dairy cows. The system has been donated in part by the manufacturer, S.A.E. Afimilk (Kibutz Afikim, Israel). It includes several elements such as pedometers, in-line milk probes and a scale that monitor every cow at every milking. read more >
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