A descriptive study of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before transport to slaughter

Kirstin Dahl-Pedersen; Mette S. Herskin; Hans Houe; Peter T. Thomsen

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2018.11.001

A descriptive study of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before transport to slaughter

Kirstin Dahl-Pedersen, Mette S. Herskin, Hans Houe, Peter T. Thomsen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	Livestock Science
Volume	218
Pages (from-to)	108-113
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1871-1413
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.11.001
Publication status	Published - 2018

Keywords

Clinical condition
Dairy cow
Slaughter
Transport

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10.1016/j.livsci.2018.11.001

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title = "A descriptive study of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before transport to slaughter",

abstract = "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 {\textquoteleft}slightly ill or injured{\textquoteright} as defined in the European Regulation, thus raising concern for the thresholds for fitness for transport in these animals.",

keywords = "Clinical condition, Dairy cow, Slaughter, Transport",

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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

SN - 1871-1413

VL - 218

SP - 108

EP - 113

JO - Livestock Science

JF - Livestock Science

ER -

A descriptive study of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows before transport to slaughter

Abstract

Keywords

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