Heart Rate Variability as an Indicator of Chronic Stress Caused by Lameness in Dairy Cows
Most experimental studies on animal stress physiology have focused on acute stress, while chronic stress, which is also encountered in intensive dairy cattle farming-e.g. in case of lameness-, has received little attention. We investigated heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) as indicators of the autonomic nervous system activity and fecal glucocorticoid concentrations as […]
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND WELL-BEING SYMPOSIUM: Optimizing outcome measures of welfare in dairy cattle assessment
In most countries producing milk, industry-or other stakeholder-driven initiatives are in place to improve welfare and overall dairy farming sustainability. Those initiatives typically include a system of verification of reaching targets and progress over time. Reliable indicators are a fundamental requirement to provide public assurance and allow improvement on farms. Assessing dairy cattle welfare through […]