The development of a tool to assess cow quality of life based on system-level attributes across pastoral dairy farms

Abstract

Progress has been made in developing cow welfare assessment protocols that focus on the cow; however, system-level assessment has received less attention. This paper presents a process undertaken to develop a tool to identify opportunities and risks for cow quality of life at the system level across pastoral dairy farms and piloting the tool in New Zealand. The Farm System Welfare Assessment Tool incorporates elements from the Five Domains Model and is based on four domains (nutrition, health, physical environment, and behavioural interactions) and a fifth area ‘people’ with 21 system attributes captured under these areas that are assessed through on-farm visits. Overall, 222 farms were visited, and attributes were allocated a score based on the degree of risk posed to cow welfare at the system level. Results were summarised to provide an overall score for New Zealand dairy farm systems for each attribute within season. An attribute was defined as low risk when opportunities for neutral or positive experiences were provided, while negative experiences were minimised; moderate risk when some opportunities for neutral or positive experiences were provided, but negative experiences may still exist, and; high risk when opportunities for neutral or positive experiences were restricted and negative experiences exist. Overall, 85% of attributes (n = 66/78) across all seasons (19 attributes assessed across four seasons, plus one attribute which was only relevant in spring and one scored year-round) were classified as low risk, 10% were classified as moderate risk (n = 8/78) and 9% were classified as high risk (n = 7/78). From the 15 attributes that scored moderate or high risk, physical environment (40%; n = 6/15), people (27%; n = 4/15), and behavioural interactions (20%; n = 3/15) were the highest-risk areas followed by nutrition and health (both 7%; n = 1/15). Six attributes including health prevention, provision of quality feed, adequate space, good ventilation, natural lighting, and well-designed infrastructure were scored low risk across all seasons indicating neutral experiences are likely. Higher risk attributes with the potential to restrict opportunities for positive experiences included inadequate staffing, exploration and grooming during winter, and expression of maternal behaviour, while lower risk attributes with the possibility to provide opportunities for positive experiences included foraging, daily routine, and social contact. The tool was able to identify aspects of New Zealand farm systems that are likely to provide opportunities for neutral or positive experiences, where opportunities for positive experiences are restricted, and where negative experiences may occur. Future research could investigate the wider application of our approach within other dairy farm systems and countries.