doiSerbia

Dairy cows welfare quality in loose vs tie housing system

Ostojić-Andrić D. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Hristov S. (Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade-Zemun)
Novaković Ž. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Pantelić V. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Petrović M.M. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Zlatanović Z. (Higher Agricultural-food processing school, Prokuplje)
Nikšić D. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)

The subject of this research was to determine the effect of the housing system on quality of welfare of dairy cattle in Serbia. Study was realized on six farms, capacity of 30 to 900 cows, with loose and tie housing system. Assessment of the welfare quality parameters was done by using the Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Cattle, 2009. Results of the research show that the welfare quality of dairy animals is under the significant effect of housing system, and that loose system has the advantage when it comes to comfort around resting, easy of movements and health condition of cows. Share of not lame cows (81%) and cows with no lesion (86%) was significantly higher (p<0.01) in loose system. Indicator values: duration of lying down movements (6.53 sec), lying down movements with collisions (18.7%) and lying outside lying area (28.4%) in tie system were significantly higher (p<0.01) compared to loose system indicating the inadequacy of the housing and lack of comfort. Analysis of indicators associated with cow hygiene (dirty legs and udder) and diseases (dystocia) points to significant gaps in management in both housing systems which represent significant threat to cow welfare quality.

Keywords: welfare, quality, dairy cows, housing system