Dairy animal welfare: current and needed research

The Value of ‘Cow Signs’ in the Assessment of the Quality of Nutrition on Dairy Farms

The aim of this review is to provide dairy farm advisors, consultants, nutritionists, practitioners, and their dairy farmer clients with an additional toolkit that can be used in the assessment of the quality of their dairy cattle nutrition. Cow signs are behavioral, physiological, and management parameters that can be observed and measured. They are detected by examining and observing the cattle. Other physiological parameters such as fecal scoring, rumen fill, and body condition scoring are also included in ‘cow signs’. The assessment should be both qualitative and quantitative; for example, is the cattle individual lame and what is the severity of lameness. The ‘diagnosis’ of a problem should be based on establishing a farm profile of ‘cow signs’ and other relevant information. Information gathered through assessment of cow signs should be used as an advisory tool to assist and improve decision making. Cow signs can be used as part of an investigation and or farm audit.

Long non‑coding RNA OIP5‑AS1 facilitates the progression of ovarian cancer via the miR‑128‑3p/CCNG1 axis

Long non‑coding RNA (LncRNA) o‑phthalaldehyde-interacting protein 5 antisense transcript 1 (OIP5‑AS1) serves major roles in the progression of various types of cancer. The present study investigated its biological function in ovarian cancer (OC) and its mechanisms. The levels of OIP5‑AS1, microRNA‑128‑3p (miR‑128‑3p) and cyclin G1 (CCNG1) were examined by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. Cell viability, apoptosis, migration and invasion were detected to analyze cellular progression. Glycolytic metabolism was assessed by detecting the levels of glucose consumption and lactate production. CCNG1 and hexokinase 2 protein levels were measured by western blotting. Dual‑luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA pull‑down assays were performed to affirm the interaction between two molecules. OIP5‑AS1 was found to be upregulated in OC tissues and cells. Knockdown of OIP5‑AS1 suppressed cell viability, migration, invasion and glycolysis while promoting apoptosis in OC cells. OIP5‑AS1 interacted with miR‑128‑3p and functioned as an oncogene by sequestering miR‑128‑3p. In addition, CCNG1 was a target gene for miR‑128‑3p and miR‑128‑3p regulated the CCNG1‑induced effects on OC cells by downregulating CCNG1. OIP5‑AS1 upregulated the expression of CCNG1 via targeting miR‑128‑3p. OIP5‑AS1 knockdown also inhibited tumor growth of OC in vivo by modulating the expression of miR‑128‑3p and CCNG1. Collectively, these data illustrated that the oncogenic role of OIP5‑AS1 in OC was associated with the miR‑128‑3p/CCNG1 axis at least in part. OIP5‑AS1 might be a probable diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker for the treatment of OC patients.

Comportamento ingestivo de bovinos leiteiros alimentados com farelo de crambe

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar os efeitos da utilização de farelo de crambe em substituição ao farelo de soja sobre o comportamento ingestivo de bovinos leiteiros. Foram utilizados quatro machos castrados Holandês x Zebu, fistulados no rúmen, com peso vivo médio de 664kg, distribuídos em delineamento quadrado latino 4 x 4. Os tratamentos consistiram em quatro dietas isoproteicas e isoenergéticas, formuladas com relação volumoso:concentrado 60:40 com base na matéria seca (MS). O volumoso foi composto de silagem de milho (51% MS) e feno de Tifton (49% MS), e o concentrado formulado com níveis crescentes de substituição do farelo de soja pelo farelo de crambe em 0%, 2,8%, 6,4% e 11,0% na MS da dieta. O comportamento ingestivo foi avaliado por meio do método direto de avaliação visual, em intervalos de 10 minutos, durante períodos de 24 horas. Registraram-se a frequência de alimentação, a ruminação e o ócio, bem como a posição do animal (em pé ou em decúbito). As variáveis em pé e em decúbito não diferiram entre os tratamentos, assim como os tempos gastos em alimentação, ruminação e ócio. O consumo de matéria seca e de FDN expressos em g/dia e gFDN/dia, respectivamente, a eficiência de ruminação expressa em gMS/min, a eficiência de ruminação expressa em gFDN/dia e o tempo de mastigação total não diferiram significativamente. No entanto, a eficiência de alimentação (gMS/min) variou de forma linear decrescente com a inclusão do farelo de crambe. Os períodos do dia influenciaram todas as atividades. O maior tempo de alimentação foi observado nos períodos após o fornecimento da dieta, e a maior atividade de ruminação foi verificada no período noturno. A substituição de farelo de soja por farelo de crambe não afetou o comportamento ingestivo, exceto para o parâmetro eficiência de alimentação. Nesse sentido, considerando o comportamento ingestivo, recomenda-se a substituição do farelo de soja por farelo de crambe para alimentação de bovinos leiteiros.

The effect of management system on mortality and other welfare indicators in Pennsylvania dairy herds

The objective of this study was to identify farm characteristics that were associated with cow (Bos taurus) welfare outcomes, including mortality rate, culling by 60 days of lactation, survival to ≥ 6 years of age and ≥ 5th parity (aged cows), somatic cell score, milk yield, and milk composition. Data were collected on housing systems, feeding systems, pasture strategies, bedding type, labour management practices and other farm characteristics in face-to-face interviews with 314 Pennsylvania dairy herd owners where performance records were available. Five herd management systems were identified in the sample: free-stalls with complete confinement (n = 37); free-stalls that allowed outdoor access (n = 76); tie-stalls with complete confinement (n = 52); tie-stalls with outdoor access and that fed a total mixed ration (n = 72); and tie-stalls with outdoor access and that did not feed a total mixed ration (n = 77). Welfare outcomes were evaluated with multivariable linear regression models and marginal means were estimated for herd management system. Tie-stalls that allowed outdoor access and that did not feed total mixed rations had the lowest mortality rate (2.0%), culling in the first 60 days of lactation (5.1%), and the highest proportion of aged cows (13.8%). Those herds also had high lifetime-to-date milk yield, a low proportion of fat-protein inversions, and low somatic cell scores. Free-stalls with complete confinement had significantly higher levels of mortality (8.3%), culling in the first 60 days of lactation (9.7%), and fewer aged cows (6.4%). It was concluded that shifts toward more efficient herd management systems have not benefited cow health and welfare. This suggests that cow welfare has been compromised to facilitate the economic survival of dairy farms.

Time budgets and adrenocortical activity of cows milked in a robot or a milking parlour: interrelationships and influence of social rank

Adrenocortical activity and time budgets in a robotic milking system in two variants of cow traffic (partially forced, free) were compared with a conventional milking system, focusing on the relationships between adrenocortical activity, time budgets, and social rank of the cows. Both groups were housed in identical conditions and consisted of 30 cows each. Within each experiment, direct observations of social behaviour and 24-hour video recordings were conducted during six two-day blocks. We calculated the dominance value and the time budget (‘lying’, ‘feeding’, ‘other activity’) of each cow. Faeces from each cow were collected to determine the concentration of cortisol metabolites (CCM) as an indicator of baseline adrenocortical activity and possible chronic stress. Analysis of CCM and time budgets did not indicate any adverse effects of the robotic milking system, with one exception: under partially-forced cow traffic, cows of low social rank had longer waiting times in front of the robot. Considering the fact that the number of cows milked by the robot was less than half of that recommended by the manufacturers, our results do not exclude the possibility that a higher stocking rate may lead to further adverse effects.

The effect of two traffic situations on the behavior and performance of cows in an automatic milking system

Two cow traffic situations were tested sequentially in an automatic milking system (AMS) for effects on cow behavior, effective use of the barn, and milking capacity. The first situation was forced cow traffic: 63 cows had to pass through the AMS to go from the lying area to the feeding area. The second was semiforced cow traffic: 67 cows (60 cows from before) had free access to a forage feeding area at one end of the barn but could only access an area with concentrate feeders by passing through the AMS. Behavior of all cows was monitored as well as for two subsets of cows present in both situations: 8 cows with low frequency vs. 7 cows with high frequency of visits to the AMS. In each situation, cows were observed for 72 h. Cow locations and behavior were noted at 10-min intervals for all cows and individually for the selected cows. In semiforced traffic, the herd readily used the freely accessible forage feeding area, ate longer (17.4% of the day vs. 15.1 +/- 0.59%), and stood less in freestalls (9.0 vs. 11.8 +/- 0.30%) than when cow traffic was forced. Nonmilking visits to the AMS tended to decrease, whereas milking visits remained unchanged in the semiforced situation. The subset of cows that visited the AMS more often had fewer nonmilking visits (1.8 vs. 4.2 +/- 0.7) in the semiforced traffic situation whereas cows with low frequency of visits to the AMS had a nonsignificant increase (1.5 vs. 1.0) in nonmilking visits. Cows that visited the AMS frequently used the forage feeding area and the lying area next to it more than low frequency cows and use of those areas increased further during the semiforced situation. The semiforced cow traffic was deemed more desirable than forced cow traffic both for cows and for the capacity of the automatic milking system.

Effects of milking frequency on lying down and getting up behaviour in dairy cows

The objective of this study was to investigate if cows milked twice per day have more difficulty lying down and getting up and spend less time lying than cows milked three times per day. Seventeen cows of the Swedish Red and White Cattle Breed were studied, seven of which were milked twice daily (2M) and ten were milked three times (3M) daily. They were kept in individual cubicles, that were closed in the rear end with a rope. They had free access to a mixture of silage, hay and concentrate. The individual cows were video-recorded for 24h every fourth week, starting four weeks after calving for four times. The 2M cows stood significantly longer, 128.11min, than the 3M cows, 64.88min, (P<0.01) during the 4h before morning milking. The 2M cows also had a tendency for longer duration of standing rumination (P=0.059) as well as significantly more bouts of standing rumination (P<0.01) during these hours than the 3M cows. The cows in the 3M group spent less time on the getting up movement (P<0.05) during the 4h before morning milking. The distribution of the lying bouts during these 4h differed significantly between the groups, where the 3M cows had fewer lying bouts shorter than 15min and more lying bouts longer than 90min. The results indicate that milking three times a day contributes to increased comfort in high-producing dairy cows.

Discrimination of people by dairy cows based on handling

This study examined whether dairy cows could distinguish among people based on the treatment received, whether cows used color as a cue to make this discrimination, and whether cows generalized their discrimination to other locations. Twelve cows were each repeatedly treated in a special treatment stall by two people wearing red or yellow overalls. One person always treated the cows aversively, and the other always treated them gently. The distance between each person and each cow in the home stall and in the treatment stall was scored during tests. Before treatment, the distances that cows maintained from the two people were uncorrelated, and the distances that they maintained in the treatment stall were uncorrelated with those in the home stall. Before and after treatments, the cows stood further from the handlers in the treatment stall than in the home stall, regardless of color of the overalls. Defecation and urination were more frequent during aversive treatments. After treatment, the cows stood further from the aversive handler than from the gentle handler in both stalls, and distance from the aversive handler was positively correlated with distance from the gentle handler. The cows did not discriminate when the aversive and gentle handlers wore blue overalls (as worn by the usual barn handlers), when two unfamiliar people wore the same color overalls as the handlers, or when the cows were shown photographic slides of the two handlers. In conclusion, the cows learned to discriminate among the handlers, partially based on the color of the clothes worn. This discrimination was generalized to another location.

Blood, growth, and other characteristics of special-fed veal calves in private cooperator herds

The objectives of this study were to determine the mean values for mortality, blood, and growth traits and the correlations among blood and growth traits on privately owned farms producing special-fed veal. Mortality percentages were available on 13 groups of special-fed veal calves (n = 1403) from four farms; growth and some blood traits were available on 9 groups from four farms (n = 975). Mean mortality percentages for periods 0 to 2, 2 to 7, and 7 to 16 wk, and over 16 wk were 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, and 3.1%, respectively. Means for average daily gain for 2 to 7 wk were 1.37 +/- .008 kg and for 7 to 16 wk were 1.52 +/- .001 kg. When calves arrived at the veal farm, total plasma protein averaged 6.2 +/- .05 g/dl. Examination of total plasma protein upon arrival of calves indicated that 81% of the calves had received colostrum. The base level indicating colostral deficiency was < 5.5 g/dl of total plasma protein; 51% of the calves had total plasma protein > 6.0 g/dl at arrival. Mean hemoglobin concentrations at arrival and at 2, 7, and 16 wk were 11.1 +/- .15, 10.6 +/- .18, 9.2 +/- .14, and 7.8 +/- .13 g/dl, respectively. Means for hemoglobin were generally higher than previously reported for special-fed veal calves reared in individual stalls. Hemoglobin and red blood cell counts were correlated positively with 16-wk average daily gain and body weight, and midtrial white blood cell counts were correlated negatively with average daily gain and body weight from 2 to 7 wk; there were no other significant relationships between blood traits and growth performance measures.

Effect of particle size of forage and rumen cannulation upon chewing activity and laterality in dairy cows

Three ruminally cannulated Holstein dairy cows housed in free stalls (with .7% slope) were fed three total mixed rations, differing in silage particle size, in a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Observations on cow behavior were made every 5 min during 24 h for each of three periods. Additional observations of six cows (three intact, three cannulated) housed under identical conditions yielded information concerning recumbent rumination activity and laterality. Results indicated that decreasing particle size of forage reduced time spent ruminating, whether standing or recumbent, and had no effect upon rumination rate or number of rumination bouts per 24-h period. Eating time was unaffected by treatment. Effect of forage particle size upon baseline rumination activity appeared to be most pronounced from 0800 to 2000 h, although maximum rumination activity occurred during nighttime hours. Ruminally cannulated cows demonstrated increased right-side laterality (70%) compared with intact cows (47%), but the cows tend to ruminate while lying on their left side. The percentage of time spent ruminating while recumbent on the left side was similar (55%) for intact and cannulated cows.