Resumo

ALEJOS-DE LA FUENTE, José Isidro et al. Assessment of animal welfare in dairy cows in a farm of Comarca Lagunera, México. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2024, vol.11, n.spe4, e4122.  Epub 08-Abr-2025. ISSN 2007-901X.  https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a11niv.4122.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the animal welfare status of dairy cows in an intensive production unit, using the Welfare Quality protocol. A total of 315 lactating and dry cows were evaluated, based on four principles: adequate feeding, housing, health and behavior. To achieve this, animal-based, management-based and housing-based measures were recorded. As indicated in the protocol, most of them contain a three-point scale ranging from zero to two, 0: welfare is good, 1: there is some compromise in welfare and 2: welfare is insufficient and unacceptable. The critical variables found for cow welfare were: absence of thirst; cleanliness of quarters (46.62%), udder (13.42%) and flanks (38.34%); time to lie down (5.24 s); dystocia (24%), eye discharge (6.27%) and diarrhea (100%). It is concluded that the production unit has important areas of opportunity to improve the animal welfare of its cows, according to the standards proposed by the Welfare Quality protocol.

Palavras-chave : Animal welfare; dairy cows; intensive system.

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