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Bulk tank milk quality data is unlikely to give useful information about dairy cow welfare at herd level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2020

Jessica Ginestreti ,
Rosa Maria Strano ,
Valentina Lorenzi ,
Francesca Fusi ,
Alessandra Angelucci ,
Giandomenico Ferrara ,
Giorgio Galletti ,
Stefania Bergagna ,
Giuseppe Bolzoni  and
Giorgio Zanardi
...Show all authors
Jessica Ginestreti*
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Rosa Maria Strano
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Valentina Lorenzi
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Francesca Fusi
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Alessandra Angelucci
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Giandomenico Ferrara
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Giorgio Galletti
Affiliation:
Sorveglianza Epidemiologica Emilia Romagna (SEER), Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, via P. Fiorini 5, 40127Bologna, Italy
Stefania Bergagna
Affiliation:
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta, Via Bologna 148, 10154Torino, Italy
Giuseppe Bolzoni
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Bovine Milk Quality, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Giorgio Zanardi
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Bovine Milk Quality, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Elena Buffoli
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Bovine Milk Quality, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Antonio Marcolini
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Bovine Milk Quality, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
Luigi Bertocchi
Affiliation:
Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna ‘Bruno Ubertini’, Via A. Bianchi 9, 25124Brescia, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: Jessica Ginestreti, Email: jessica.ginestreti@izsler.it
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Abstract

This research communication explores the value of routinely collected bulk tank milk quality data for estimating dairy cattle welfare at herd level. Selected bulk tank milk quality parameters (somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea, protein and fat contents) recorded during the years 2014–2016 in 287 Italian dairy farms were compared with the animal welfare data of each farm. The welfare assessment data were extracted from the database of the Italian Reference Centre for Animal Welfare (CReNBA), which includes the outputs of the application of the CReNBA welfare assessment protocol for dairy cows, used at national level for on-farm controls. The statistical analysis was carried out using the correlation coefficient for Kendall's Tau ranks, in order to investigate the presence of a categoric relationship between the selected bulk tank milk quality parameters and the overall animal welfare score or the scores of the single areas A (farm management and staff training), B (housing) and C (animal-based measures). Somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea and proteins demonstrated only a few statistically significant and very weak correlations with farm animal welfare data, while no significant correlations were obtained for milk fat content. Given the weak correlations found, the selected bulk tank milk parameters seems to be able to provide only limited information about the welfare level of the herd, thus it could be difficult to use them for drawing up a pre-screening model for identifying herds at risk of poor welfare.

Keywords

Animal welfare assessmentdairy cowindicatorsmilk quality
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Dairy Research , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , May 2020 , pp. 208 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hannah Dairy Research Foundation

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