TY - JOUR
T1 - A descriptive study of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before transport to slaughter
AU - Dahl-Pedersen, Kirstin
AU - Herskin, Mette S.
AU - Houe, Hans
AU - Thomsen, Peter T.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Despite its high relevance for fitness for transport, the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before they are sent to slaughter has received very little scientific attention. Here, we report descriptive clinical data from cull Danish dairy cows, examined on-farm in the hours before transport to slaughter. A total of 411 cows, with a median parity of 3 (range: 1–10), from 20 Danish dairy herds, and slaughtered over a 1 year period, were included in the study. Almost 75% of the cows deviated from normal in at least one clinical measure, 31% were lame, 20% showed signs of mastitis and 22% had wounds, of which none were considered severe. Only few of the cows showed signs leading to direct decision of being unfit for transport, but many of them could be considered ‘slightly ill or injured’ as defined in the European Regulation, thus raising concern for the thresholds for fitness for transport in these animals.
AB - Despite its high relevance for fitness for transport, the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before they are sent to slaughter has received very little scientific attention. Here, we report descriptive clinical data from cull Danish dairy cows, examined on-farm in the hours before transport to slaughter. A total of 411 cows, with a median parity of 3 (range: 1–10), from 20 Danish dairy herds, and slaughtered over a 1 year period, were included in the study. Almost 75% of the cows deviated from normal in at least one clinical measure, 31% were lame, 20% showed signs of mastitis and 22% had wounds, of which none were considered severe. Only few of the cows showed signs leading to direct decision of being unfit for transport, but many of them could be considered ‘slightly ill or injured’ as defined in the European Regulation, thus raising concern for the thresholds for fitness for transport in these animals.
KW - Clinical condition
KW - Dairy cow
KW - Slaughter
KW - Transport
U2 - 10.1016/j.livsci.2018.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.livsci.2018.11.001
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85056473464
VL - 218
SP - 108
EP - 113
JO - Livestock Science
JF - Livestock Science
SN - 1871-1413
ER -