Effect of Animal Welfare on the Reproductive Performance of Extensive Pasture-Based Beef Cows in New Zealand.

Yolande Baby Kaurivi,Kevin Stafford,Rebecca Hickson,Richard Laven,Tim Parkinson

doi:10.3390/vetsci7040200

Abstract

One key area where animal welfare may relate to productivity is through reproductive performance. This study assesses welfare on 25 extensively managed pastoral New Zealand beef farms, and explores the relationship between welfare and reproductive performance. Relationships between welfare measures and key reproductive performance indicators (pregnancy rate, weaning rate, mating period and bull: cow ratio) are investigated using an exploratory principal components analysis and linear regression model. Seven welfare measures (thinness, poor rumen fill, dirtiness, blindness, mortality, health checks of pregnant cows and yarding frequency/year) showed a potential influence on reproductive performance, and lameness was retained individually as a potential measure. Mean pregnancy rates, in both 2018 (PD18) and 2017 (PD17), were ~91% and mean weaning rate was 84%. Of the welfare measures, only lameness had a direct association with pregnancy rate, as well as a confounding effect on the association between mating period and pregnancy rate. The bull: cow ration (mean 1:31) and reproductive conditions (dystocia, abortion, vaginal prolapse) did not influence pregnancy and weaning rates. In the study population, there was no clear association between welfare and reproductive performance, except for the confounding effects of lameness.

Highlights

Beef productivity has generally been regarded as the outcome of genetic selection for production traits, such as growth rate and maternal milk yield, and management of nutrition and reproduction.Reproductive efficiency is a critical component of the overall performance of cow-and-calf beef cattle enterprises, for which the key performance indicators (KPI) of reproductive efficiency are pregnancy rate, calving and weaning rates, and calving to conception interval [1,2,3]
This study investigated the relationship between animal welfare and the reproductive performance of extensive pasture-based beef cows in New Zealand
The key findings were that feasible KPI across the cow-calf farms were pregnancy and weaning rates, which coincided with results from previous studies

Summary

Introduction

Reproductive efficiency is a critical component of the overall performance of cow-and-calf beef cattle enterprises, for which the key performance indicators (KPI) of reproductive efficiency are pregnancy rate, calving and weaning rates, and calving to conception interval [1,2,3]. Many of the factors that affect these KPIs have been extensively studied, including, for example, macro- and micro-nutrition, changes in cow bodyweight, the effects of topography and climate, the presence of disease, and the bull to cow ratio [1,4,5]. Indicators of good animal welfare, such as low incidences of disease, excellent nutrition, environmental comfort and good stockpersonship are all expected to give a direct or indirect association with reproductive performance of cattle, including beef cows in extensive production systems [6]. The proportion of herds achieving this KPI is relatively low [8], so a significant number of studies have examined the

Methods

Results

Conclusion