Animal welfare and herd health focuses on understanding and providing for animals’ behavioral needs, promoting positive human-animal interactions and assessing animal welfare and improving animal-environment fit.
Access: Animal Welfare and Science @ UW-Madison, The Labs of Dr. Jennifer Van Os and Sarah Adcock
Dr. Jennifer Van Os’ research focuses on understanding and improving dairy animal welfare, particularly by identifying low-barrier solutions.
Superior calf performance begins during the birthing process in the maternity pen. Based on the 2017 USDA NAHMS Survey, five to seven percent of all newborn calves are stillborn or die within the first 48 hours. To improve calf survival after birth, we must follow practical, consistent calving protocols and provide a clean, dry calving environment.
One of the simplest best management practices we can do for the newborn calf is navel care. Previous University of Minnesota research showed in a controlled study that umbilical cord care significantly reduced the risk of developing umbilical cord infections.
As operations grow, or focus more on the milking herd, it has become a necessary component in moving newborn calves from the farm to a separate calf raising facility, some being out of state. Handling and transporting these calves can be stressful. However, there is limited research on the impact of long-distance travel on a newborn calf’s welfare.
Hoof health is essential for not only the overall health of the animal, but also for her welfare. Digital dermatitis (DD), or hairy heel warts, is an extremely painful condition for dairy cattle, reducing their ability to walk to and from the milking parlor, or to the feed bunk. Based on USDA NAHMS 2017 data, 16.8% of all cows and 2.6% of bred heifers have lameness on a dairy operation.
By Donald C. Sockett, DVM, MS, PHD, DACVIM (large animal); Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, UW-Madison It is important for livestock barns, calf pens, and calf feeding equipment to be properly cleaned before the disinfectant is applied. If surfaces are not properly cleaned, the disinfection step is much less effective at killing disease-causing microorganisms. Many disinfectants […]
English | Spanish El tiempo caliente puede traer una larga lista de problemas para las productoras lecheras. Cuando las vacas están sobrecalentadas, se comen menos, producen menos leche, tienen función inmune reducida y recuento de células somáticas levantado y muestran fertilidad reducida. Un aumento en vacas cojeras frecuentemente sigue la temporada de calor. En olas […]
English | Spanish A medida que aumentan las temperaturas de verano, las vacas lecheras corren un mayor riesgo de sufrir el sobrecalentar. Las vacas sobrecalentadas sufren de una ingesta reducida de pienso seco, lo que lleva a una producción de leche reducida. Los agricultores también pueden ver una reducción de la fertilidad o la pérdida […]
Below is a visual representation of what to enter in the report screen to generate charts similar to what is shown in the companion factsheet: “Using Bovisync Reports to Assess Potential Impact of Heat Stress on a Dairy”. Milk Production Butterfat Percent Reproduction Milk Quality Clinical Mastitis and Transition Cow Health Download Article
How Can You Find the Tell-Tale Signs of Heat Stress in Your Records? Here are a few of the key areas to watch for: Reduced milk production. Butterfat depression. Declines in reproductive performance. Increases in clinical and sub-clinical mastitis. Increased morbidity in transition cows. Following are examples of the resulting data you can use to […]
Want to learn about the latest research on calf housing? Two heads are better than one: A starter guide to pairing dairy calves This series of articles is a seven-part starter guide for pairing or group-housing pre-weaned dairy calves. Throughout this guide, we cover best practices to promote good health and welfare in calves raised […]
