Volume 99, Issue 3, March 2016, Pages 1695–1715
- * Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University, Rehovot 76100, Israel
- † Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford House, Langford, University of Bristol, Bristol BS18 7DU, United Kingdom
- Received 27 May 2015, Accepted 29 November 2015, Available online 13 January 2016
Abstract
In
recent years, an increasing number of farmers are choosing to keep
their cows indoors throughout the year. Indoor housing of cows allows
farmers to provide high-yielding individuals with a nutritionally
balanced diet fit for their needs, and it has important welfare benefits
for both cows and their calves, such as protection from predators,
parasites, and exposure to extreme weather conditions. However, it also
confronts cows and calves with a wide range of environmental challenges.
These include abiotic environmental sources of stress (e.g., exposure
to loud and aversive sound) and confinement-specific stressors (e.g.,
restricted movement and maintenance in abnormal social groups). Cows and
calves that live indoors are also faced with the challenge of occupying
long periods with a limited range of possible behavioral patterns.
Environmental enrichment can improve biological functioning (measured as
increased lifetime reproductive success, increased inclusive fitness,
or a correlate of these such as improved health), help animals to cope
with stressors in their surroundings, reduce frustration, increase the
fulfillment of behavioral needs, and promote more positive affective
states. Here, we review recent findings on the effect of social,
occupational, physical, sensory, and nutritional enrichment on dairy
cows and calves, and we assess the appropriateness and practicality of
implementing different enrichment practices on commercial dairy farms.
Some of the enrichment methods reviewed here may also be applied to
those more extensive cattle-raising systems, where similar challenges
occur.
Key words
- social enrichment;
- zero grazing;
- animal welfare;
- low resilience behaviors
Copyright © 2016 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
