Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T20:05:56.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Availability and use of designated hospital pens in Danish dairy herds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

H Houe ,
PT Thomsen ,
C Amdi ,
MS Herskin ,
B Forkman  and
MB Jensen
H Houe*
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
PT Thomsen
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
C Amdi
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
MS Herskin
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU-Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
B Forkman
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 8, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
MB Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU-Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: houe@sund.ku.dk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The objective of this study was to describe the availability and use of designated hospital pens in Danish dairy herds and to analyse the association between availability and use of hospital pens and the herd-level incidence of reported disease treatments. Hospital pens were divided into either ‘individual hospital pens’ designed for only one animal or ‘group hospital pens’ designed for two or more animals. Questionnaires were sent to 350 dairy cattle herd owners. These questionnaires focused on four animal categories: dairy cows, heifers, males six months or older, and calves younger than six months. Depending on the category of animal, between 50 and 82% of the herds had access to individual hospital pens and between 39 and 65% of the herds had access to group hospital pens. Between nine and 24% of the herds did not have access to any type of hospital pens. The availability of hospital pens was generally higher for dairy cows than the other animal groups. There were significantly more reported treatments for hoof/leg disorders in herds with one or more cows in hospital pens at the day of visit.

Keywords

animal welfaredairy cattleDenmarkdisease incidencehoof/leg disordershospital pen
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 69 - 71
Copyright
© 2016 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Anonymous 2014 Law nr 520, 26/05/2010; Ministerial order num-ber 470 of 15/5/2014. https://www.retsinformation.dk/pdfPrint.aspx?id=162875Google Scholar
Aubert, A 1999 Sickness and behaviour in animals: a motivation-al perspective. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 23: 1029–1036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(99)00034-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennedsgaard, TW, Jensen, MB and Sørensen, JT 2014 Nulpunktsundersøgelsen i kvægbesætninger i 2013. Annual Report from Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark pp 18–23. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration: Glostrup, Denmark.[Title translation: The baseline investigation of cattle herds in 2013]Google Scholar
Dantzer, R and Kelley, KW 2007 Twenty years of research on cytokine induced sickness behavior. Brain Behavior and Immunity 21: 153–160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2006.09.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elbers, ARW, de Koeijer, AA, Scholamacchia, F and van Rijn, PA 2010 Questionnaire survey about the motives of com-mercial livestock farmers and hobby holders to vaccinate their animals against Bluetongue virus serotype 8 in 2008–2009 in the Netherlands. Vaccine 28: 2473–2481. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.01.047CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogsgaard, KK, Røntved, CM, Sørensen, P and Herskin, MS 2012a Sickness behavior in dairy cows during Escherichia coli mas-titis. Journal of Dairy Science 95: 630–638. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2011-4350CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogsgaard, KK, Herskin, MS, Gorden, PJ and O’Connor, AM 2012b Survey of management and design of hospital pens at Iowa dairy farms. Proceedings of the First Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium p 2. 24-26 October 2012, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaGoogle Scholar
Huzzey, JM, Veira, DM, Weary, DM and von Keyserlingk, MAG 2007 Behavior and intake measures can identify cows at risk for metritis. Journal of Dairy Science 90: 3320–3233. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2006-807CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jensen, MB, Herskin, MS, Thomsen, PT, Forkman, B and Houe, H 2015 Preferences of lame cows preferences for type of surface and level of social contact in hospital pens. Journal of Dairy Science 98: 4552–4559. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2014-9203CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laven, RA, Huxley, JN, Whay, HR and Stafford, KJ 2009 Results of a survey of attitudes of dairy veterinarians in New Zealand regarding painful procedures and conditions in cattle. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 57: 215–220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2009.36904CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Proudfoot, KL, Jensen, MB, Weary, DM and von Keyserlingk, MAG 2014 Dairy cows seek isolation at calving and when ill. Journal of Dairy Science 97: 2731–2739. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2013-7274Google ScholarPubMed
Thomsen, PT, Anneberg, I and Herskin, MS 2012 Differences in attitudes of farmers and veterinarians towards pain in dairy cows. The Veterinary Journal 194: 94–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2012.02.025CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weary, DM, Huzzey, JM and von Keyserlingk, MAG 2009 Using behavior to predict and identify ill health in animals. Journal of Animal Science 87: 770–777. http://dx.doi.org/10.2527/jas.2008-1297CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed