Animal welfare and beef cattle

production systems
Criteria for the welfare of beef cattle
General principles discussed earlier

1. Behavior: Certain behaviors could indicate an animal welfare

problem.
• These include
 decreased feed intake,
 increased respiratory rate or panting,
 demonstration of stereotypic,
 aggressive,
 depressive or other abnormal behaviors.
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 Cont…

2. Morbidity rates: Morbidity rates, including disease, lameness, post-

procedural complication and injury rates may be direct or indirect
indicators of the animal welfare status of the whole herd. So,
• Understanding the etiology of the disease or syndrome is important
for detecting potential animal welfare problems.
• Both clinical and post-mortem examination are useful to establish
causes of death in cattle.

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 Cont…

3. Mortality rates: Mortality rates, like morbidity rates, may be direct or

indirect indicators of the animal welfare status.
• Depending on the production system, estimates of mortality rates can
be obtained by analyzing
 causes of death and the rate and
 tempro-spatial pattern of mortality.
• Mortality rates should be recorded regularly, i.e. daily, monthly,
annually.
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 Cont…
4. Changes in weight and body condition: In growing animals,
weight gain may be an indicator of animal health and animal welfare.
• Poor body condition and significant weight loss may be an
indicator of compromised welfare.

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 Cont…

5. Reproductive efficiency: Reproductive efficiency can be an indicator

of animal health and animal welfare status.
• Poor reproductive performance can indicate animal welfare problems.
Examples may include:
– anoestrus or extended post-partum interval,
– low conception rates
– high abortion rates
– high rates of dystocia
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 Cont…
6. Physical appearance: Physical appearance may be an indicator of animal health
and animal welfare, as well as the conditions of management.
• Attributes of physical appearance that may indicate compromised welfare include:
– presence of ectoparasites,
– abnormal coat colour or texture or excessive soiling with faeces, mud or dirt,
– dehydration,
– emaciation.

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 Cont…
7. Handling responses: Improper handling can result in fear and distress
in cattle. Indicators could include:
– percentage of animals slipping or falling,
– percentage of animals striking fences or gates,
– percentage of animals injured during handling, such as broken horns,
broken legs, and lacerations,
– percentage of animals vocalizing during restraint.

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 Cont…
8. Complications due to routine procedure management:
• Surgical and non-surgical procedures are commonly performed in
beef cattle for different purposes.
• However, if these procedures are not performed properly, animal
welfare can be compromised. Examples include:
– post procedure infection and swelling,
– myiasis (Infestation of the body by the larvae of flies)
– mortality.
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Measures to be taken for optimal animal welfare

1. Biosecurity and animal health

a) Biosecurity and disease prevention: Biosecurity means a set of
measures designed to maintain a herd at a particular health status and to
prevent the entry or spread of pathogenic agents.
• These biosecurity plans should address the control of the major
sources and pathways for spread of pathogenic agents:
i) cattle, ii) other animals, iii) people, iv) equipment, v) vehicles, vi) air,
vii) water supply, viii) feed.
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Measures to be taken …

b) Animal health management: Animal health management means a

system designed to optimise the physical and behavioural health and
welfare of the cattle herd.
• It includes the prevention, control and treatment of diseases and
conditions affecting the herd,
Eg. recording of illnesses, injuries, mortalities and medical treatments where
appropriate.

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Measures to be taken …

• Those responsible for the care of cattle should be aware of the signs of
ill-health or distress, such as
 reduced feed and water intake,
 changes in weight and body condition,
 changes in behaviour
 abnormal physical appearance.
• Vaccinations and other treatments administered to cattle should be
undertaken by people skilled in the procedures.
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Measures to be taken …
2. Environment
a) Thermal environment: sudden fluctuations in weather can cause heat or cold stress against cattle.
i) Heat stress
• The risk of heat stress for cattle is influenced by environmental factors and animal factors.
• If the risk of heat stress reaches very high levels, the animal handlers should institute an
emergency action plan that could include
 reduction of stocking density,
 provision of shade,
 free access to drinking water, and
 cooling by the use of sprinkled water that penetrates the hair coat.

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Measures to be taken …
ii) Cold stress: Animal handlers should also ensure that cattle have access to
adequate feed and water during cold stress.
• During extreme cold weather conditions, animal handlers should institute
an emergency action plan to provide cattle with shelter.
B) Air quality: Good air quality is an important factor for the health and
welfare of cattle.
• It is affected by air constituents such as gases, dust and micro-organisms,
and is strongly influenced by management, particularly in intensive
systems. Ephrem A.
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January 20, 2025
Measures to be taken …

• The air composition is influenced by the stocking density, the size of

the cattle, flooring, bedding, waste management, building design and
ventilation system.
• Proper ventilation is important for effective heat dissipation in cattle
and preventing the buildup of NH3.
• Poor air quality and ventilation are risk factors for respiratory
discomfort and diseases.

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 Measures to be taken …

C) Noise: Cattle are adaptable to different levels and types of noise.

• However, exposure of cattle to sudden or loud noises should be
minimised where possible to prevent stress and fear reactions
D) Nutrition: Energy, protein, mineral and vitamin contents
of the diet are major factors determining the growth, feed efficiency,
reproductive efficiency, and body composition of cattle.
• Cattle should be provided with access to an appropriate quantity and
quality of balanced nutrition that meets their physiological needs
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Measures to be taken …
E) Flooring, bedding, resting surfaces and outdoor areas
• In all production systems cattle need a well-drained and comfortable place to rest.
• All cattle in a group should have sufficient space to lie down and rest at the same
time.
• Pen floor management in intensive production systems can have a significant
impact on cattle welfare.
• Where there are areas that are not suitable for resting such as excessive water and
faecal accumulation, they compromise welfare of the cattle.
• Slopes of pens should be maintained to allow water to drain away from feed
troughs and not pool excessively in the pens.
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Ephrem A.
Measures to be taken …

F) Social environment
• Management of cattle should take into account the social environment
particularly in intensive systems.
• Problem areas include: agonistic and mounting activity, mixing of
heifers and steers, feeding cattle of different size and age in the same
pens, high stocking density, insufficient space at the feeder, insufficient
water access and mixing of bulls.

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Measures to be taken …
3. Management
a) Genetic selection
b) Reproductive management
• Dystocia can be a welfare risk to beef cattle.
• Heifers should not be bred before they are physically mature
enough to ensure the health and welfare of both dam and calf at
birth.
• The sire has a highly heritable effect on final calf size and as such
can have a significant impact on ease of calving.
• Sire selection should therefore account for the maturity and size
of the female.
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Measures to be taken …
C. Colostrum
• Receiving adequate immunity from colostrum generally depends
on the volume and quality of colostrum ingested, and how soon
after birth the calf receives it.
• Where possible, animal handlers should ensure that calves
receive sufficient colostrum within 24 hours of birth.

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Measures to be taken …
D. Weaning
• Weaning means the transfer of the calf from a milk-based diet to a
fibrous diet.
• In beef cattle production systems, weaning can be a stressful time
in the calf's life.
• Calves should be weaned only when their ruminant digestive
system has developed sufficiently to enable them to maintain
growth and welfare.
• There are different weaning strategies utilised in the beef cattle
production systems. These include abrupt separation, fence line
separation and the use of devices placed in the nose of the calf to
discourage suckling.
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Ephrem A.
 Measures to be taken …
E. Painful husbandry procedures: Husbandry practices that have the
potential to cause pain are routinely practiced on cattle for reasons of
production efficiency, animal health and welfare and human safety.
• Example of such interventions include: castration, dehorning,
ovariectomy (spaying), tail docking, identification.
F. Handling and inspection: Beef cattle should be inspected at intervals
appropriate to the production systems.
• In intensive farming systems, cattle should be inspected at least once a
day.
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 Measures to be taken …
G. Personnel training
• All people responsible for beef cattle should be competent in
accordance with their responsibilities and should understand
 cattle husbandry,
 behaviour,
 biosecurity,
 general signs of disease, and
 indicators of poor animal welfare such as
 stress,
 pain and discomfort, and
 their alleviation.

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 Measures to be taken …
H. Humane killing
• Reasons for humane killing may include:
i) severe emaciation, weak cattle that are non-ambulatory or at risk of becoming
downers;
ii) non-ambulatory cattle that will not stand up, refuse to eat or drink, have not
responded to therapy;
iii) rapid deterioration of a medical condition for which therapies have been
unsuccessful;
iv) severe, debilitating pain;
v) compound (open) fracture;
vi) spinal injury;
vii) central nervous system disease; and
viii) multiple joint infections with chronic weight loss.
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 Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare

• Animal welfare is often contrasted with the animal rights which hold that
animals should not be used by humans, and should not be regarded as their
property.
• Animal welfare wants to ensure a good quality of life and humane death.
• Animal rights denote that animals should have rights, including the right to
live their lives free of human intervention.
• Animal rightists are philosophically opposed to the use of animals by
humans.

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 Animal Welfare Vs Animal Right
The Welfare Position The Rights Position
Morality Using animals is morally Using animals is morally wrong.
right.
Benefits We can use animals to We should not use animals to
benefit ourselves. benefit ourselves.
Interests Our interests are always We should not invariably
more important than the overrule the interests of
interests of animals. animals with human interests.
Pain We should not cause animals We should not inflict pain or
‘unnecessary’ pain or death. death on animals.

Humane We should treat animals as We should always treat animals

treatment humanely as convenient to humanely and eliminate the
us. human made causes of animal
suffering.

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 Animal Conservation vs. Animal Welfare

The key difference between animal conservation and animal

welfare is that conservation cares about species and extinction
whereas animal welfare cares about the individual animal and its
suffering.

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 THANK YOU!

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