Main critical factors affecting the welfare of beef cattle and veal calves raised under intensive rearing systems in Italy: a review

This review describes the principal causes of poor welfare in beef cattle and veal calves raised in intensive husbandry systems in Italy. Nowadays there are no specific regulations in force for beef cattle welfare. However, a document produced in 2001 by the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare of the European Commission on Health and Consumer Protection identified the main causes of inadequate welfare levels in the different cattle rearing systems in Europe. In Italy and in the Po Valley in particular, the beef cattle farms are mainly finishing units characterised by animals kept at high density in multiple pens and fed high starch diets. Under these rearing conditions the limited space allowance is one of the most important issues impairing animal welfare. Other risk factors for poor welfare related to the housing structures are type of floor, space at the manger, number of water dispensers and lack of specific moving and handling facilities. Microclimatic conditions can be critical especially during the summer season when cattle can experience heat stress. The feeding plan adopted in the Italian beef farms may be another factor negatively affecting the welfare of these animals due to the low content of long fibre roughage which increases the risk of metabolic acidosis. In the veal calf rearing systems there has been a mandatory introduction of the new system of production according to the European Council Directives 91/629/EEC and 97/2/EC. Farms had to adopt group housing and to provide calves with an increasing amount of fibrous feed in addition to the all-liquid diet. Despite this specific legislation, several risk factors for calves' welfare can still be identified. Some of them are related to the housing system (type of floor, air quality, feed and water supply equipment and lack of loading facilities) and some others to the feeding plan (type and amount of roughage, quality of milk replacers). Recent studies have shown that the welfare of veal calves and beef cattle can be severely affected by the quality of the stockmanship and particularly by negative human-animal interaction

Citizens’ View on Veal Calves’ Fattening System in Italy and Animal Welfare

Aims of this study were to assess citizens’ view on the current veal calves’ fattening system in Italy and on animal welfare, and to find relationships with veal meat consumption. Socio-demographic characteristics, veal meat consumption habits, knowledge of veal calves rearing system and animal welfare attitudes of 100 citizens were investigated through a questionnaire submitted on a voluntary base in supermarkets/butcher shops. Results showed that 61 respondents were veal meat consumers and the remaining 39 were non-consumers. A large proportion of respondents were aware of the modern veal calves rearing system but their knowledge as such did not affect veal meat consumption. Non-consumers declared they didn’t like veal meat organoleptic characteristics, opposed the production system or considered it too expensive. Most citizens sustained animal welfare but no correlations were found between concerns for animal welfare and veal meat consumption/purchase (rs 0.05). Citizens conceptualized animal welfare through the aspects of care animals received by the farmer and veterinarian and of healthy feed for animals. It could be concluded that consumers don’t really think of animal welfare while buying or having meat, and they still have idealised notions of naturality, traditional farming, free-range and small scale production linked to farm animal production

Citizens’ View on Veal Calves’ Fattening System in Italy and Animal Welfare

Aims of this study were to assess citizens’ view on the current veal calves’ fattening system in Italy and on animal welfare, and to find relationships with veal meat consumption. Socio-demographic characteristics, veal meat consumption habits, knowledge of veal calves rearing system and animal welfare attitudes of 100 citizens were investigated through a questionnaire submitted on a voluntary base in supermarkets/butcher shops. Results showed that 61 respondents were veal meat consumers and the remaining 39 were non-consumers. A large proportion of respondents were aware of the modern veal calves rearing system but their knowledge as such did not affect veal meat consumption. Non-consumers declared they didn’t like veal meat organoleptic characteristics, opposed the production system or considered it too expensive. Most citizens sustained animal welfare but no correlations were found between concerns for animal welfare and veal meat consumption/purchase (rs 0.05). Citizens conceptualized animal welfare through the aspects of care animals received by the farmer and veterinarian and of healthy feed for animals. It could be concluded that consumers don’t really think of animal welfare while buying or having meat, and they still have idealised notions of naturality, traditional farming, free-range and small scale production linked to farm animal production

Physiological and productive response of lactating dairy cows to the alpine transhumance at the end of the summer grazing*

The study aimed at verifying if the prolonged walking and fasting of the driving down transhumance from an alpine pasture to the farm of origin at the end of the summer grazing may impair health and productive response of lactating cows belonging to two specialised dairy breeds. The study considered a herd of 380 dairy cows and heifers of Italian Holstein and Italian Brown breeds that faced a driving down transhumance with a vertical drop of about 1050 m. The animals walked for about 40 km completing the journey in 23 h, including three resting periods. Ten Holstein and nine Brown lactating cows were selected and monitored before and after the driving down transhumance taking individual blood samples and recording milk yield. The prolonged physical exercise and the limited water and energy intake during the driving down transhumance impaired cows' metabolic profile resembling a status of ketosis. A significant drop in milk yield was observed in all the monitored animals regardless of the breed. The production loss was more severe (49.4%) in cows with high milk yield and less days in milk. These animals required also a prolonged time to recover from the milk drop due to the driving down transhumance and, based on these findings, they should be excluded from this practise

Effects of pen floor and class of live weight on behavioural and clinical parameters of beef cattle

The study compared behaviour and clinical parameters of beef cattle housed on two different types of floor (fully slatted vs. deep litter) considering animals belonging to 2 live weight classes (less vs. more than 350 kg). The assessment of behavioural and clinical parameters was carried out in 20 intensive farms, all rearing imported bulls. Floor type had no effect on cattle behaviour except for the duration of the lying down sequence, which lasted more for bulls kept on slats. Slatted floor increased also the likelihood of occurrence of hair and skin lesions and lameness. On the other hand, bulls cleanliness was more likely to be impaired on bedded floor. Regarding the class of live weight, behavioural observation showed lighter animals performing more antagonistic interactions, while horning resulted more frequent in heavier bulls. Avoidance distance test indicated that bulls >350 kg were more fearful of humans. About health status, light animals were more affected by respiratory disease and hairless patches, likely because they are more sensitive to the stressful situations imposed by their transfer and adaptation to the new housing environment of the fattening unit. The risk of skin lesions and dirtiness increased instead in heavier bulls

towards the creation of a welfare assessment system in intensive beef cattle farms

This study aimed to develop an assessment scheme for the evaluation at farm level of beef cattle welfare in the intensive rearing system that is capable of both identifying weak points in animal welfare and grading farms to such extent. The basic principle of the method was the avoidance of animal handling and the prolonged observation of cattle using animal-based and resource provision measures grouped in four classes of parameters: 1) Housing systems and facilities; 2) Health and cleanliness; 3) Animal behaviour and reactivity; 4) Quality of management and stockmanship. Each parameter was graded giving the highest scores to the best option for animal welfare, and the threshold value for distinguishing good from poor welfare conditions was set primarily on the results of scientific reports and investigations. An overall Welfare Index was calculated summing the scores of the 4 classes of parameters to formulate a general judgement of the farm and to allow comparison among them. The protocol was applied to 102 Italian intensive beef cattle farms rearing more than 300 young bulls/year. Regarding housing and facilities, the study showed that space allowance and space at the manger were the most frequent critical points. Within the “poor welfare” farms, more than 80% provided less than 3.5 m2/head to bulls weighing more than 500 kg, and none adopted a feeding frontage of at least 60 cm/head. Negatively judged farms compared to those ranked in the good welfare area for health and cleanliness showed a higher incidence of emergency slaughter (score 1.7: >1% vs score 3: 0.5-1%, P<0.05) and lameness (score 1.9: 1.5-3% vs score 3.3: <1.5%, P<0.05). Animal behaviour and reactivity parameters showed that in the “poor welfare” farms, bulls had a quicker flight reaction to the presence of both farmer and observer (P<0.01) likely due to a negative human-animal interaction. The quality of stockmanship was the category in which the highest number of farms failed to reach the acceptable threshold. Animal welfare was mainly impaired by the practice of tail docking and reduced feed availability. Although none of the farms included in the survey reached the maximum overall score, less then 30% were graded in the poor welfare area, penalized mainly by low management quality. The protocol was shown to be effective in detecting specific critical points for animal welfare, even if further development should be addressed to testing repeatability at different fattening stages

Prevalence of gastrointestinal, liver and claw disorders in veal calves fed large amounts of solid feed through a cross-sectional study.

Abstract The impact of the current practice of feeding veal calves with large amounts of solid feed (SF) on the prevalence of specific disorders on rumen, abomasum, liver and claws was investigated through a post-mortem inspection at the abattoir. Forty-one batches ("batch" referred to a group of calves of the same breed, coming from the same farm and belonging to the same slaughter group) of crossbred male calves from dairy breed were randomly inspected at 213.6 days old. On average 16.0 rumens, 15.6 abomasa, 15.1 livers, and 30.5 hind claws were checked per batch. Rumens were evaluated for the presence of hyperkeratosis and plaques; abomasa for the presence of lesions in the pyloric area; livers for the presence of lipidosis, abscess or fibrous adherence; and claws for the presence of sole hemorrhages. More than 60% of rumens per batch had signs of hyperkeratosis and plaques, and 80 to 100% of abomasa per batch showed at least 1 lesion in the pyloric area. On average 24% of livers per batch were diseased and about 65% of claws per batch had sole hemorrhages. Affected abomasa were positively correlated to rumens with plaques. Claws with sole hemorrhages tended to be positively correlated to rumens with hyperkeratosis. Calves of inspected batches were fed 311 ± 31 kg DM/cycle of milk-replacer and 158 ± 44 kg DM/cycle of SF containing more than 85% of corn grain. Based on the recorded prevalence of alterations, this feeding strategy should be reconsidered in order to improve veal calves' welfare

Investigation of a standardized qualitative behaviour assessment and exploration of potential influencing factors on the emotional state of dairy calves

open4siopenMarta Brscic , Nina Dam Otten , Barbara Contiero , Marlene Katharina KirchnerBrscic, Marta; Dam Otten, Nina; Contiero, Barbara; Katharina Kirchner, Marlen

Citizens’ view on veal calves fattening system

Summary Aims of this study were to assess citizens&apos; view on the current veal calves&apos; fattening system in Italy and on animal welfare, and to fi nd relationships with veal meat consumption. Socio-demographic characteristics, veal meat consumption habits, knowledge of veal calves rearing system and animal welfare attitudes of 100 citizens were investigated through a questionnaire submitted on a voluntary base in supermarkets/butcher shops. Results showed that 61 respondents were veal meat consumers and the remaining 39 were non-consumers. A large proportion of respondents were aware of the modern veal calves rearing system but their knowledge as such did not aff ect veal meat consumption. Non-consumers declared they didn&apos;t like veal meat organoleptic characteristics, opposed the production system or considered it too expensive. Most citizens sustained animal welfare but no correlations were found between concerns for animal welfare and veal meat consumption/purchase (r s &lt; |0.17|; P &gt; 0.05). Citizens conceptualized animal welfare through the aspects of care animals received by the farmer and veterinarian and of healthy feed for animals. It could be concluded that consumers don&apos;t really think of animal welfare while buying or having meat, and they still have idealised notions of naturality, traditional farming, free-range and small scale production linked to farm animal production