Correlations of Animal Welfare Scores with First Lactation Milk Yield of Dual Purpose Cows

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between animal welfare scores (AWS) and milk production in dairy cattle. AWS traits on locomotion ability (LA), social interaction (SI), flooring (F), indoor conditions (IC) and stockmanship effect (SE) were scored by a 100 points scale in a total of 51 farms in Samsun region of Turkey. First lactation milk yield (FLMY) records of Brown Swiss and Simmental cows were used as milk production trait. All components were assessed by t-test to determine the effects of the welfare traits on FLMY. The overall mean of AWS was calculated to be 74.05±1.69, and therefore the farms were founded within a “suitable” class. It was estimated moderate correlations among the parameters except for AWS and SI, however, no statistically significant difference was estimated between AWS and FLMY of the cows. SE was revealed the most important factor on AWS of the farms. Finally, routine scoring cattle farms to decide their suitability for animal needs is advised to herd owners for managing rentable populations in the farms.

Keywords

• animal needs index
• animal welfare
• cattle
• herd management
• milk production