Assessment of indicators dairy cattle welfare in conventional and biological systems: a comparative approach

• Grant number: 14/04344-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: May 12, 2014
• End date: August 11, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Mateus José Rodrigues Paranhos da Costa
• Grantee: Lívia Carolina Magalhães Silva
• Supervisor: Antonio Velarde Calvo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias, Barcelona (IRTA), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/00388-3 - Assessing the benefits of adoption of good practices of handling to promote dairy calves welfare, BP.DR

Abstract

The aims of this research are to follow the IMPRO project (2012-2016) for to provide results, recommendations and appropriate tools to improve the welfare of dairy cows in organic production in Spain. Furthermore, this research aims to evaluate the welfare of calves kept in these systems to compare them to animals evaluated in Brazil (Phd Scholarship in Brazil), with the purpose of developing another chapter of the thesis in the form of manuscript for future publications. The methodology of IMPRO project, search in progress, is based on the evaluation of measures for a diagnosis of the health system with a focus on animal welfare in biological system (N=200) by matrix impact analysis, and the identification of the most relevant measures for this purpose. The survey will be conducted on farms in Spain, where they identify variables for inclusion of these measures in developing tools for diagnosing the health of herds to compose the application of good practices of handling protocols. From the arrival of the student, there will be monitoring of ongoing activities, collaboration in the development these protocols and writing literature reviews relating to IMPRO. Besides, for the comparative study on the levels of calves' welfare, there will be visits to the farms producing for evaluating the health them using the same protocol used in data collection in Brazil for conventional systems. (AU)