The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

Figures & data

Figure 1. Classification of the farms with loose and tie-stall housing in different welfare categories, based on the final score.

Table 1. Principles, criteria and parameters of the Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for dairy cows (Welfare Quality Consortium, 2009).

Welfare principles	Welfare criteria	Measures
Good feeding	Absence of prolonged hunger	Body condition score
	Absence of prolonged thirst	Water provision; cleanliness of water points; water flow; functioning of water points
Good housing	Comfort around resting	Time needed to lay down; animals colliding with housing equipment during lying down; animals lying partly or completely outside the lying area; cleanliness of udders, flank/upper legs, lower legs
	Thermal comfort	As yet, no measure is developed.
	Ease of movement	Presence of tethering; access to outdoor loafing area or pasture
Good health	Absence of injuries	Lameness; integument alterations
	Absence of disease	Coughing; nasal discharge; ocular discharge; hampered respiration; diarrhoea; vulvar discharge; milk somatic cell count; mortality; dystocia; downer cows
	Absence of induced pain	Disbudding/dehorning; tail docking
Appropriate behaviour	Expression of social behaviours	Agonistic behaviours – assessed by observation of head butts; displacements; chasing; fighting; chasing-up
	Expression of other behaviours	Access to pasture
	Human-animal relationship	Avoidance distance
	Positive emotional state	Qualitative behaviour assessment – by observation of the cows’ body language regarding 20 behavioural terms (active, relaxed, fearful, agitated, calm, content, indifferent, frustrated, friendly, bored, playful, positively occupied, lively, inquisitive, irritable, uneasy, sociable, apathetic, happy, distressed)

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for animal based measures related to the principles of good feeding, housing and health in LHS (n=30) vs THS (n=30) and significance of differences between the two housing systems.

Measure	LHS			THS			P
	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range
Very lean cows, %	13.12±3.68	3.54	60.97	10.22±1.96	8.16	37.14	0.533
Duration of lying down movements, s	5.12±0.10	5.15	1.95	6.07±0.19	5.99	5.01	<0.001
Lying down movements with collisions, %	1.15±0.38	0.00	6.78	30.99±4.75	30.61	83.67	<0.001
Cows which lie partly outside lying area, %	0.48±0.19	0.00	3.39	3.19±1.13	0.00	26.92	0.162
Cows with dirty lower legs, %	50.72 ± 1.93	51.79	46.16	33.47±2.75	30.61	85.72	<0.001
Cows with dirty udder, %	20.54±1.18	19.51	26.23	27.45±2.22	26.97	63.06	0.008
Cows with dirty flank and upper legs, %	25.23±1.44	24.39	32.05	43.31±1.89	42.85	55.71	<0.001
Lame cows,° %	32.69±4.27	27.78	68.29	20.67±1.21	21.725	21.43	0.243
Cows with at least one hairless patch, %	12.71±1.44	12.76	35.32	47.74±2.34	48.92	63.46	<0.001
Cows with at least one lesion, %	20.70± 3.42	15.38	67.80	18.71±1.80	20.18	36.73	0.610
Frequency of coughing, per cow per 15 min	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.21±0.20	0.00	6.25	0.317
Cows with nasal discharge, %	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.38±0.29	0.00	8.16	0.154
Cows with ocular discharge, %	0.11±0.10	0.00	3.22	1.09±0.38	0.00	6.25	0.019
Cows with increased respiratory rate, %	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.17±0.57	0.00	11.54	0.040
Diarrhoea, %	0.47±0.29	0.00	7.31	2.98±1.04	0.00	23.07	0.023
Vulvar discharge, %	0.98±0.38	0.00	7.41	1.36±0.54	0.00	14.00	0.675
Mastitis, %	8.57±0.94	8.00	18.00	11.58±1.02	12.00	19.00	0.034
Mortality, %	1.35±0.21	1.00	4.00	2.26±0.28	2.00	5.50	0.011
Dystocia, %	1.59±0.22	1.00	4.00	2.47±0.34	2.00	6.00	0.034
Downer cows, %	1.08±0.10	1.00	2.00	0.43±0.13	0.00	2.00	<0.001
Dehorned cows, %	67.87±5.57	77.00	100.0	80.65±5.61	100.00	100.0	0.021

LHS, loose housing system; THS, tie-stall housing system; ° in LHS the measure lame cows include the percentage of the moderately and severely lame cows.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the behavioural measures in LSH (n=30) vs THS (n=30) and significance of differences between the two housing systems.

Measure	LHS			THS			P
	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range
Frequency of butts, per cow per hour	0.95±0.14	0.615	2.91	0.43±0.05	0.395	0.87	0.010
Frequency of displacements, per cow per hour	0.69±0.13	0.35	2.63	0.08±0.01	0.07	0.016	<0.001
Cows that can be touched, %	35.59±2.13	36.58	41.00	75.15±3.91	63.85	83.75	<0.001
Cows that can be approached by 50 cm but not touched, %	26.63±2.48	25.90	54.91	33.37±3.66	28.33	61.15	0.134
Cows that can be approached between 50 cm and 1 m, %	31.77±2.99	31.00	63.43	6.30±1.55	3.06	35.00	<0.001
Cows that cannot be approached, %	7.63±1.25	7.31	30.64	3.11±0.96	0.00	25.00	0.002
QBA	1.68±0.30	1.68	5.73	-5.01± -0.24	-5.17	5.55	<0.001

LHS, loose housing system; THS, tie-stall housing system; QBA, qualitative behaviour assessment.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics for welfare principle and criteria scores in farms with LHS (n=30) vs THS (n=30) and significance of differences between the two housing systems.

Principles and criteria	LHS			THS			P
	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range	Mean ±SEM	Median	Range
1^st principle Good feeding	55.36±3.69	61.75	91.80	37.50±4.48	45.05	59.70	0.014
Criterion: APH	66.12±6.52	74.55	92.00	60.77±5.52	52.50	82.30	0.605
Criterion: APT	67.43±3.83	60.00	97.00	39.10±5.10	60.00	57.00	<0.001
2^nd principle Good housing	70.71±1.19	70.90	31.50	26.51±1.72	23.90	24.40	<0.001
Criterion: CAR	53.54±1.88	53.80	38.80	33.18±2.34	30.30	53.00	<0.001
Criterion: EM	100.0±0.00	100.00	0.00	23.23±1.74	15.00	19.00	<0.001
3^rd principle Good health	44.81±2.01	44.750	59.40	41.32±2.96	35.05	38.10	0.334
Criterion: AI	56.27±4.31	58.85	54.50	52.37±2.52	49.50	71.20	0.440
Criterion: AD	86.87±3.50	100.00	59.50	71.11±4.21	74.40	72.70	0.003
Criterion: APIMP	33.40±5.29	22.00	87.00	30.10±4.91	13.00	87.00	0.217
4^th principle Appropriate behaviour	36.96±3.21	30.10	43.10	7.78±2.59	19.40	58.10	0.030
Criterion: ESB	91.56±2.43	98.80	3.40	99.88±0.11	100.00	41.90	<0.001
Criterion: EOB	14.80±5.51	0.00	77.20	31.51±6.71	0.00	80.00	0.076
Criterion: GHAR	46.89±2.43	44.60	69.00	72.0±2.73	73.20	53.30	<0.001
Criterion: PES	67.39±2.81	71.0	33.10	14.57±1.43	13.05	51.60	<0.001

LHS, loose housing system; THS, tie-stall housing system; APH, absence of prolonged hunger; APT, absence of prolonged thirst; CAR, comfort around resting; EM, ease of movement; AI, absence of injuries; AD, absence of diseases; APIM, absence of pain induced by management procedures; ESB, expression of social behaviours; EOB, expression of other behaviours; GHAR, good human-animal relationship; PES, positive emotional state.

Welfare Quality Consortium, 2009. Welfare Quality assessment protocol for cattle. Welfare Quality Consortium Publ., Lelystad, The Netherlands.

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