Better methods for drying off dairy cows
Cows are healthiest when they are given some downtime between lactations. When human mothers stop breastfeeding, they typically do it gradually, but standard practice on many dairy farms is to dry off cows abruptly. In a new study just published in the Journal of Dairy Science, UBC Animal Welfare Program researchers compared methods and found […]
Plenary presentation on animal suffering
The Animal Welfare Program’s Dan Weary gave a plenary presentation at the 47th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. Dan’s presentation was entitled ‘A new science of animal suffering’. Click here to read more about the ideas presented.
Dan & Nina Win Award for Bovine Welfare
The Canadian Association of Bovine Veterinarians has recently announced Drs. von Keyserlingk and Weary will receive the 2013 Metacam 20 Bovine Welfare Award!
Ph.D. student Gosia Zobel wins prize for best presentation
Gosia Zobel, a PhD student in UBC’s Animal Welfare Program, took home the coveted award for best student presentation at the University of Guelph’s 6th Annual Animal Welfare Symposium. Gosia’s presentation discussed emerging health and welfare issues for dairy goats. Her energetic and simple presentation style earned the audience’s approval.
AWP research on lameness featured in Hoard’s Dairyman
Recent results from benchmarking research on cow lameness and hock injuries were featured in this article in the current issue of Hoard’s Dairyman. Hoard’s is one of the most influential magazines serving the dairy industry.
Hock injuries in dairy cows
Lameness, mastitis and transition-cow diseases are widely recognized as serious animal welfare and production-limiting issues. Hock injuries should raise similar concerns, though they’ve received much less attention, say Dan Weary, University of British Columbia dairy scientist and cow behavior expert and fellow animal welfare expert Marina (Nina) von Keyserlingk in Vancouver, Canada. Read more: http://www.agriview.com/news/dairy/hock-injuries-animal-welfare-concern-deep-bedded-maintained-stalls-best/article_33f91dd6-b356-11e2-820b-001a4bcf887a.html
Dairy crew gathers to wish Katy farewell
Katy Proudfoot is completing her PhD research and leaving the UBC Dairy Farm. Last week Katy gave a farewell seminar at the UBC Dairy Centre. Team members (photo below) gathered to wish her well. In the photo (starting at the left side of the front row): Rolnei Rua Daros, Cristiano Ramos, William Costa, Augusto Madureira, Eraldo Drago Filho, Kathrin Louise Proudfoot […]
AWP Students Split First Prize in Student Competition
For the first time ever students were able to give short, practical talks about their research at Western Canadian Dairy Seminar. These talks were judged by a panel of experts who decided to award the first place prize to both Gosia Zobel and Katy Proudfoot – two PhD students in the UBC Animal Welfare Program!
AWP Students Chosen to Present at Western Canadian Dairy Seminar
PhD students Katy Proudfoot and Gosia Zobel are two of only four students selected from across Canada to compete in the Western Canadian Dairy Seminar’s first ever graduate student oral competition. The aim of these talks is for students to present their research in a way producers will find applicable and meaningful to their daily […]
AWP review article identified as one 5 most highly downloaded papers in Dairy Science
One way to track how well our research is reaching a wide audience is the number of times papers are downloaded. The Journal of Dairy Science recently released figures for all downloads in 2012, and our paper entitled “The welfare of dairy cattle: Key concepts and the role of science” was listed as number 5 […]