Table of Contents:

1. What is animal welfare?

1.1 Characteristics of animal welfare

1.2 The Five Freedoms

1.3 Beyond the Five Freedoms

Bibliography

2 How can animal welfare be assessed?

2.1 Environment-based and animal-based measures

2.1.1 The Welfare Quality® protocols

2.2 Performance measures

2.3 Health measures

2.4 Physiological measures

2.5 Behavioural measures

Bibliography

3. Welfare issues related to feeding

3.1 Factors regulating feeding behaviour

3.2 Health and welfare problems derived from feeding

3.2.1 Chronic hunger and state of negative energy balance

3.2.2 Prevention of negative energy balance

3.2.3 Obesity

3.3 Impact of feeding behaviour on animal welfare and productivity

3.4 Feeding behaviour indicators

3.5 Sorting behaviour

3.6 Recommendations

3.6.1 Access to water

3.6.2 Access to feed

Bibliography

4 Welfare issues related to housing

4.1 Lying behaviour

4.1.1 Importance of lying behaviour

4.1.2 Main welfare problems related to housing

4.2 Thermal stress

4.2.1 Economic impact of heat stress

4.2.2 What does thermal stress mean?

4.2.3 How does heat stress affect high yield dairy cows?

4.2.4 Recommendations to reduce heat stress

Bibliography

5 Welfare issues related to health

5.1 General aspects of health

5.1.1 Identification of sick dairy cows

5.1.2 Hospital pens

5.2 Lameness

5.2.1 Lameness is a painful disease

5.2.2 Lameness causes production and economic losses

5.2.3 How to identify lameness

5.2.4 Prevention of lameness

5.3 Mastitis

5.3.1 Mastitis causes production and economic losses

5.3.2 Mastitis is a painful disease

5.3.3 Prevention and husbandry recommendations

5.4 Painful husbandry practices: dehorning and disbudding

5.4.1 Dehorning and disbudding are painful practices

5.4.2 Minimizing or managing pain when disbudding

Bibliography

6 Welfare issues and related to behaviour

6.1 Mixing animals and hierarchy

6.2 Competition for resources

6.3 Fear and the human-animal relationship

6.3.1 What is fear?

6.3.2 Prevention of fear through good human-cow interactions

6.3.3 Assessment of fear towards humans

Bibliography

7 Welfare at milking

7.1 Health problems related to milking

7.2 Indicators of stress during milking

7.3 Preventing stress during milking through good management routines

7.3.1 Moving the cows towards the waiting area

7.3.2 In the milking parlour

Bibliography

8 Welfare at drying-off and during the dry period

8.1 Pain and discomfort caused by udder engorgement at drying-off

8.1.1 Factors affecting pain and discomfort at drying-off

8.1.2 Indicators of pain and discomfort at drying-off

8.1.3 Methods of measuring udder engorgement and udder pressure

8.2 Increased risk of mastitis

8.3 Restricted access to feed and water at drying-off

8.4 Aggressive interactions and competition between dry-cows

8.5 Recommendations on husbandry and pain management

Bibliography

9 Welfare during the peripartum period

9.1 Calving is a painful and stressful process

9.2 Behavioural changes during normal calving

9.3 Difficult calving

9.3.1 Behavioural changes during difficult calving

9.4 Health and productive consequences of calving

9.4.1 Consequences for the cow

9.4.2 Consequences for the calf

9.5 Prevention and management recommendations

Bibliography

10 Welfare of calves until weaning

10.1 Importance of sucking behaviour

10.2 Problems related to housing

10.3 Problems related to feeding

10.3.1 Colostrum

10.3.2 Milk

10.3.3 Water

10.3.4 Starter concentrate and fibre

10.4 Problems related to health

10.4.1 Diarrhoea

10.4.2 Pneumonia

10.4.3 Prevention and treatment

10.5 Stress at weaning

Bibliography

Index