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NSERC/Novalait/Dairy Farmers of Canada/Valacta Industrial Research Chair in Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle

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Project Overview

With the Dairy Farmers of Canada and Novalait as key partners, and with funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Valacta, Dr. Elsa Vasseur, Chairholder of the Industrial Research Chair (IRC) on the Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle, led from 2016 to 2022, a comprehensive research program oriented around three core objectives:

  1. Cow Comfort and Management: Exploring how changes to housing configuration and management can improve animal welfare.
  2. Cow Longevity: Improving longevity and profitability through early identification of animals at risk for reduced productivity.
  3. Environment and Sustainability: Enhancing industry sustainability by assessing the potential impact of cow comfort, management, and longevity changes has on the environmental and social sustainability of dairy.

What Did the Research Team Do?

To achieve the objectives set forth under the three major research themes of this project, the research team aimed to:

  1. Explore how changes to housing configuration and management can improve animal welfare
  2. Provide novel and updated recommendations on appropriate management practices (with no preconceptions regarding housing systems, e,g., tie-stalls vs free-stalls) for improved animal welfare 
  3. Demonstrate the advantages of said recommendations, specifically with regards to longevity and profitability
  4. Improve longevity and profitability through early identification of animals at risk for reduced productivity
  5. Assess the potential impact of these solutions on the environmental and social sustainability aspects
  6. Enhance industry sustainability by assessing the potential impact of cow comfort, management, and longevity changes has on the environmental and social sustainability of dairy

What Did the Research Team Find?

Comfortable stalls:

  • Housing cows in stalls with longer chains appears to give cows better opportunities for movement.
  • Neck injuries are found on areas of the neck corresponding to the height of the tie-rail, and more creative approaches are needed to reduce contact points between the neck and tie-rail.
  • Cows are more comfortable in wider stalls, such that the current recommendation should represent a minimum to be provided in stall-based housing systems.
  • Cows in longer stalls had an overall increase in lying times, and increased bedding depth led cows to be more comfortable, with a further improvement in comfort in the long stalls.
  • Both stall base and a proper use of bedding (i.e., more than 3 inches of bedding) are important in ensuring a good level of comfort for the cows. Bedding is particularly important, as it is a more compressible stall surface that better absorbs the force when cows are transitioning between lying and standing postures, thus acting as a protective factor for cow comfort (e.g., improving resting time, reducing body injuries).
  • While dry cows in loose pens did not lie down for longer than their tie-stall-housed counterparts, they increased the variety of lying postures they employed, as well as the frequency of postural changes during lying down. Housing dry cows in loose pens led to benefits for the cows’ rest and locomotor recovery.

Outdoor access:

  • Cow motivation to access the outdoors is impacted by paddock size or animal density (showing more frustration in higher density paddocks), by the duration, but also, and very importantly, by the way cows are handled during the outing.
  • When paddocks have a lower animal density and cows are provided longer outings (two hours instead of one hour), there was a 50% increase in the number of steps taken.
  • A one-point improvement was seen in the gait score of cows provided with outdoor access on a five-point scale, with no detrimental impact on hoof health.

Longevity:

  • The occurrence of diseases in early life was associated with greater longevity, performance and profitability, likely due to a better recovery in animals properly diagnosed and treated compared to undiagnosed or misdiagnosed counterparts.
  • Cows only begin to turn a profit in their third lactation, so treatment of early diseases such as mastitis and lameness is often more profitable than culling in the long run.

Throughout its existence, this IRC supported the training of 7 postdoctoral fellows, 14 Ph.D. students, 28 M.Sc. students and 16 undergraduates who have jointly accumulated experience and knowledge that will ensure they can take part in tackling issues the dairy industry currently faces and will face in the future.
 

Principal Investigators

Elsa Vasseur
McGill University 

Key Words

  • Longevity, Cow Comfort, Animal Management, Sustainability

Period: 2016-2022
Budget: $1,620,000

Last Updated: July 03, 2024

Funding Partners

As per research agreements, DFC has no decision-making role in the conduct of the studies, data collection, and analysis or interpretation of the data. Researchers are independent in conducting their studies, own their data, and report the outcomes regardless of the results. The decision to publish the results rests entirely with the researchers.

PROJECT COMMUNICATION OUTPUTS

Keeping profitable dairy cows in the herd

Animated Video

Keeping profitable dairy cows in the herd

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Managing the bedding for more comfort

Live Action Video

Managing the bedding for more comfort

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Cow comfort at L. Roy inc. Farm

Live Action Video

Cow comfort at L. Roy inc. Farm

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Opportunity for movement

Live Action Video

Opportunity for movement

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How do cow longevity, profitability and welfare complement each other?

TRADE PUBLICATION

How do cow longevity, profitability and welfare complement each other?

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Comment se complètent longévité, profitabilité et bien-être des vaches?

TRADE PUBLICATION

Comment se complètent longévité, profitabilité et bien-être des vaches? (in French only)

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Nouvelles avancées de la chaire sur la vie durable des bovins laitiers : miser sur le confort!

TRADE PUBLICATION

Nouvelles avancées de la chaire sur la vie durable des bovins laitiers : miser sur le confort! (in French only)

READ MORE
Update on the industrial research chair in the sustainable life of dairy cattle

TRADE PUBLICATION

Update on the industrial research chair in the sustainable life of dairy cattle

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PROJECT PUBLICATIONS

  • Warner, D., Dallago, G.M., Dovoedo, O.W., Lacroix, R., Delgado, H.A., Cue, R.I., Wade, K.M., Dubuc, J., Pellerin, D., and Vasseur, E. 2022. Keeping profitable cows in the herd: A lifetime cost-benefit assessment to support culling decisions. Animal 16(10): 100628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2022.100628    
  • Dallago, G.M., Mauyenova, N., Warner, D., Cue, R.I., and Vasseur, E. 2022. Using the Herd Status Index to remotely assess the welfare status of dairy herds based on prerecorded data. Animal 16(10): 100641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2022.100641 
  • Zambelis, A., and Vasseur, E. 2022 Testing the ability of contact mats to identify problematic stall configurations. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 102(2): 317-324. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2021-0109 
  • Dallago, G.M., Cue, R.I., Wade, K., Lacroix, R., and Vasseur, E. 2022. Birth conditions affect the longevity of Holstein offspring. Journal of Dairy Science 105(2): 1255-1264. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2021-20214 
  • Shepley, E., and Vasseur, E. 2021. The effect of housing tiestall dairy cows in deep-bedded pens during and 8-week dry period on gait and step activity. Journal of Dairy Science Communications 2(5): 266-270. https://doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2021-0091 
  • Aigueperse, N., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Providing and Outdoor Exercise Area Affects Tie-Stall Cow Reactivity and Human-Cow Relations. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7: 597607. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.597607 
  • St John, J., Rushen, J., Adam, S., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Making tie-stalls more comfortable: I. Adjusting tie-rail height and forward position to improve dairy cows’ ability to rise and lie down. Journal of Dairy Science 104: 3304-3315. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2021-17665 
  • Boyer, V., de Passillé, A.M., Adam, S., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Making tie-stalls more comfotable : II. Increasing chain length to improve the ease of movement of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 104: 3316-3326. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-17666 
  • Boyer, V., Edwards, E., Guiso, M.F., Adam, S., Krawczel, P., de Passillé, A.M., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Making tie-stalls more comfortable: III. Doubling stall width to improve the resting capacity and the comfort of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 104: 3327-3338. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-17667 
  • McPherson, S.E., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Making tie-stalls more comfortable: IV. Increasing stall bed length and decreasing manger wall height to heal injuries and increase lying time in dairy cows housed in deep-bedded tie-stalls. Journal of Dairy Science 104: 3339-3352. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-17668 
  • Zambelis, A., Saadati, M., Stecko, P., Boyer, V., Parent, J-P. Pedersoli, M., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Automation of a Video-Based Location Tracking Tool for Dairy Cows in their Housing Stalls Using Deep Learning. Smart Agricultural Technology 1: 100015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atech.2021.100015 
  • Dallago, G.M., Wade, K.M., Cue, R.I., McClure, J.T., Lacroix, R., Pellerin, D., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Invited paper: Keeping Dairy Cows for Longer: A Critical Literature Review on Dairy Cow Longevity in High Milk Producing Countries. Animals 11(3): 808. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030808 
  • Puerto, M., Shepley, E., Cue, R., Warner, D., Dubuc, J., and Vasseur, E. 2021. The hidden cost of disease: I. The impact of the first incidence of mastitis on production and economic indicators of primiparous dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 104(7): 7932-7943. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-19584 
  • Puerto, M., Shepley, E., Cue, R., Warner, D., Dubuc, J., and Vasseur, E. 2021. The hidden cost of disease: II. The impact of the first incidence of lameness on production and economic indicators of primiparous dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 104(7): 7944-7955. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-19585 
  • Bahadi, M., Ismail, A., and Vasseur, E. 2021. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy as a Tool to Study Milk Composition Changes in Dairy Cows Attributed to Housing Modifications to Improve Animal Welfare. Foods 10(2): 450. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020450 
  • Karoui, Y., Boatswain Jacques, A., Baniré Diallo, A., Shepley, E., and Vasseur, E. 2021. A Deep Learning Framework for Improving Lameness Identification in Dairy Cattle. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 35(18): 15811-15812. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v35i18.17902 
  • Warner, D., Vasseur, E., Adam, S., Villettaz Robichaud, M., Pellerin, D., Lefebvre, D., and Lacroix, R. 2020. Development of a benchmarking tool for dairy herd management using routinely collected herd records. Animals 10(9): 1689. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10061689 
  • Warner, D., Vasseur, E., Lefebvre, D., and Lacroix, R. 2020. A machine learning based decision aid for lameness in dairy herds using farm-based records. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 169: 105193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.105193 
  • Freinberg, C., Zambelis, A., and Vasseur, E. 2020. Invited paper: Validation of Contact Mats to Monitor Dairy Cow Contact with Stall Partitions. Animals 10: 999. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10060999 
  • Shepley, E., Lensink, J., and Vasseur, E. 2020. Invited paper: A Cow in Motion: A review of the impact of housing systems on movement opportunity of dairy cows and implications on locomotor activity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 230: 105026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105026 
  • Villettaz Robichaud, M., Pic, A., Delgado, H., Adam, S., Lacroix, R., Pellerin, D., and Vasseur, E. 2020. Short Communication: Use of the Clegg hammer measure as an indicator of stall-surface compressibility in tie-stall housing and its relationship with stall comfort. Journal of Dairy Science 103(1): 871-876. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2019-16308 
  • Shepley, E., Lensink, J.B., Leruste, H., and Vasseur, E. 2020. The effect of free-stall versus strawyard housing and access to pasture on dairy cow locomotor activity and time budget. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 226: 104928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2019.104928 
  • Zambelis, A., Gagnon-Barbin, M., St John, J., and Vasseur, E. 2019. Development of scoring systems for abnormal rising and lying down by dairy cattle, and their relationship with other welfare outcome measures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220: 104858. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.applanim.2019.104858
  • Zambelis, A., Wolfe, T., and Vasseur, E. 2019. Technical note: Validation of an ear-tag accelerometer to identify feeding and activity behaviors of tiestall-housed dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 102(5):4536-4540. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-15766
  • Shepley, E., Obinu, G., Bruneau, T., and Vasseur, E. 2019. Housing tiestall dairy cows in deep-bedded pens during and 8-week dry period: Effects on lying time, lying postures, and rising and lying-down behaviors. Journal of Dairy Science 102(7): 6508-6517. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-15859