Risk-based model for dairy herd welfare: Field data collection

Background and Objective

The project, which aims to collect data on the animal welfare situation on 500 European dairy farms, is being carried out in collaboration with partner institutions in Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Greece and Romania. This survey data will be used to test a risk-based model for assessing the welfare of dairy cows at farm level, published by EFSA in 2023 (EFSA Journal 21). In Germany, the model will be tested by visiting and assessing 80 dairy farms.

EFSA AHAW Panel (EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt CG, Herskin M, Michel V, Miranda Chueca MA, Padalino B, Roberts HC, Spoolder H, Stahl K, Velarde A, Viltrop A, De Boyer des Roches A, Jensen MB, Mee J, Green M, Thulke H-H, Bailly-Caumette E, Candiani D, Lima E, Van der Stede Y and Winckler C, 2023. Scientific Opinion on the welfare of dairy cows. EFSA Journal 2023; 21(5):7993, 177 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7993

The EFSA project aims to test the risk-based model for assessing the welfare of dairy cows at farm level and, if necessary, to adapt it so that it can form the basis for a future animal welfare assessment of dairy cows in the EU.

Target Group

• EU Commission
• Politics

Approach

In order to test and optimise the risk-based model for assessing the welfare of dairy cows, five regions with six defined, specific production methods in dairy cow husbandry are taken into account in the seven participating countries¹:

• Northern Europe: Sweden – temporary grass systems with seasonal grazing on temporary or arable grassland, intensive concentrate feeding and high milk yield. In these systems, land use is characterised by the highest proportion of temporary grassland (around 30 %). In Scandinavian regions, milk yields are particularly high (more than 9000 kg/cow/year), the farms are medium‐sized with 40‐90 cows and 60‐150 ha and a high proportion of concentrates is produced on the farm (around 50%). These farms are also characterised by low profitability and high livestock subsidies.
• Western Europe: Ireland – intensive grass systems with seasonal grazing on permanent pasture in combination with intensive management (high nitrogen input, high livestock density, large herds).
• Central Europe: Germany – green maize systems, relatively intensive production systems, with a high proportion of silage maize in the dairy cows' feed ration. These systems appear to be the most widespread in the European Union. In these systems, cows are grazing for a part of the year on temporary and/or permanent grasslands and are partly fed with maize silage which can be combined with grass silage. The farms of these regions are medium‐large with around 100 ha, and the farms present also high milk yields. Cows are fed mainly with maize silage as well as grass silage and with concentrates. In summer, the cows are grazing particularly on temporary grasslands.
• Central Europe: Austria – mountainous systems in the Alpine region, the proportion of permanent grassland is high (from 64 to 99% at regional level) and livestock numbers are low (less than 1 LU/ha UAA). The milk yield is medium-high (around 6,000 kg/cow/year). The farms are smaller, and the labour is mainly provided by the family.
• South-East Europe: Romania – semi-subsistence systems. In these systems, the farm density is comparatively high, the milk yield is low to medium (around 4,000 kg/cow/year) and the proportion of permanent grassland is rather high, but variable. These farms are very small, owning around 10 ha and keep few dairy cows (around 7 cows). These farms use a high percentage of home-grown concentrates (50% on average). This system faces financial difficulties and requires a lot of labour with extra labour provided by the family.
• Southern Europe: Italy and Greece – Mediterranean systems. In these systems, the farms are larger (100 ha and 100 cows on average) with high milk yields and a low proportion of home-grown-concentrates. The labour is mainly employed. These systems do not use grazing for lactating cows. In these high inputs systems, the high milk production is based on a high quantity of concentrates (>400 gr/litre of milk) (>3 tonnes/cow/year). The mostly Holstein cows are fed with a high proportion of maize silage as well as grass silage and hay.

In a stratified sampling procedure, a total of at least 500 farms are to be recruited for participation, which adequately represent the farm types and enable the animal welfare assessment model to be tested. The stratification will initially be based on sub-regions/production systems which, as far as feasible within the consortium, reflect the relative importance of milk production of the individual systems and thus the target population of all EU dairy farms:

• Germany (green maize systems) 80 farms
• Austria (mountainious systems) 80 farms
• Italy (Mediterranean systems) 70 farms
• Greece (Mediterranean systems) 30 farms
• Ireland (intensive grass systems) 100 farms
• Romania (semi-subsistence systems) 70 farms
• Sweden (temporary grass systems) 70 farms

¹ The classification of production systems is based on a preliminary analysis as part of the Horizon 2020 project PATHWAYS (https://pathways-project.com/ ).

Data and Methods

The farm surveys are carried out after extensive familiarisation with the recording methods. For data collection with regard to farm characteristics written SOPs ensure reliable assessments. For the animal-related indicators in particular, training tools online and a physical meeting will be used for testing inter-observer agreement.

The following risk factors were identified for animal welfare at farm level and were therefore taken into account in the model:

• Overstocking: Cow to cubicle ratio > 1:1
• limited space: < 7 m² per cow
• unsuitable box dimensions: only a maximum of 90% of the recommended box length or width for the animal size
• No grazing: no pasture grazing offered for at least two months of the year

The farms on which the model is tested are selected on the basis of these farm characteristics. In addition to control farms that do not exhibit any of the above-mentioned risk factors, test farms are visited that are likely to exhibit certain combinations of the risk factors:

1. Test farms "overstocking": do not have any of the above-mentioned risk factors, except a cow to cubicle ratio > 1:1
2. Test farms "limited space and insufficient cubicle dimensions": c
3. Test farms "no access to pasture": Farms that do not have any of the above risk factors but only keep cows indoors, i.e. do not offer them access to pasture.
4. Control farms have none of the above risk factors

On these 80 farms in Germany (or 500 in total in the project), the following animal-related indicators for the assessment of animal welfare on the farms are assessed using defined methods:

• Mortality
• Lameness
• Injuries
• Dirtiness,
• Rising behaviour
• Agonistic behaviour

The data is then analysed and the determine the extent to which the risk-based model for animal welfare assessment at farm level, based on the above-mentioned risk factors, is associated with the exceeding of certain thresholds for animal-related welfare indicators, i.e. a low level of animal welfare.

Our Research Questions

Test of the risk-based model for animal welfare assessment of dairy cows (EFSA Journal 21 (2023)).

EFSA AHAW Panel (EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt CG, Herskin M, Michel V, Miranda Chueca MA, Padalino B, Roberts HC, Spoolder H, Stahl K, Velarde A, Viltrop A, De Boyer des Roches A, Jensen MB, Mee J, Green M, Thulke H-H, Bailly-Caumette E, Candiani D, Lima E, Van der Stede Y and Winckler C, 2023. Scientific Opinion on the welfare of dairy cows. EFSA Journal 2023; 21(5):7993, 177 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7993

Preliminary Results

The project started in April 2024, so no results are available yet.