Assessing animal welfare in dairy farming is a crucial aspect at the interface of veterinary science, animal behavior, ethics, and agricultural practices. How can we ensure that dairy cows are living in conditions that promote their health and wellbeing as well as related productivity? What are the indicators of good welfare, and how can they be measured accurately? How can farming practices be adapted to improve the quality of life for dairy animals? Animal welfare science attempts to address these questions both experimentally and theoretically. In recent years, notable progress has been made in the field, for example, by developing new welfare assessment protocols, advancing our understanding of animal behavior and stress responses, and implementing innovative farming practices that prioritize the wellbeing of dairy cows.
The collection ‘Assessing Animal Welfare in Dairy Farming’ in Dairy Science and Management will showcase and highlight recent developments in key areas of animal welfare science, including but not limited to the development of welfare assessment tools, the study of animal behavior and stress indicators, and the implementation of welfare-friendly farming practices. We hope that the Collection will additionally serve to enhance the field’s visibility within the wider community.
Assessing Animal Welfare in Dairy Farming is led by Nicola Blackie, Royal Veterinary College, and Thomas Zanon, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen. The collection accepts original research, reviews, methodologies and commentaries. As a new open access journal, we are able to cover the article processing charges for publications.
Thomas Zanon, PhD, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
Dr. Thomas Zanon is a Junior Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences at the Free University of Bolzano. Dr. Zanon has substantial experience in phenotypic trait recording in farm animals with focus on functional health traits. He mainly studied dairy production systems focusing on their impact on behavior, health, and health indicators. Moreover, he analyzed milk quality traits including fatty acids and protein profiles mainly from local dual-purpose cattle breeds and additionally addressed associations with further breeding goal traits and economy. Over the last years he performed several studies in the past to evaluate the environmental impact of different livestock production systems witch special emphasis on mountain livestock farming.
Nicola Blackie, PhD, Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom
Dr Nicola Blackie is a Senior lecturer in Production Animal Science at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). She has a strong interest in the use of technology to detect disease and to assess welfare in farmed animals. Her PhD research utilized accelerometers and computer gait analysis to detect changes caused by lameness in dairy cows. Current areas of interest include the use of accelerometers and thermal imaging to measure behavior, welfare and productivity in cows and calves. She is also interested in resource use of cattle and how it relates to positive animal welfare. Good housing has a huge impact on the behavior and welfare of dairy cattle and calves. As well as this being a research interest, she is also a CowSignals master trainer.
Published on behalf of Thomas Zanon.