Pain and suffering aspects held by podopathies in dairy cattle welfare

Abstract

Pain and suffering are present in all systems of exploitation of dairy cattle and podopathies, associated or not with lameness, represents one of the most important health problems that compromises the welfare of this animal category. From medical point of view, pain and suffering are complex nosological entities and their diagnosis, control and treatment involve factors that interact not only with animals, but with man as well, which represents the central problem. In this context, society is increasingly becoming sensitive to pain and animal suffering, demonstrating a feeling that is not limited only to cruelty. There are several factors on which this problem persists in breeding environments and, has been ignored in most of the times. However, some of these factors are overwhelmingly subordinated to livestock strictly conditioned to the economic value of these animals, transforming euthanasia, death or early slaughter as refuge to escape from unnecessary pain and suffering. In this scenario, dairy cattle farming has essentially extractive characteristics, not only from the economic point of view, but also from the scientific point of view. This review aims to discuss pain and suffering aspects of dairy cattle affected by podopathies and to generate a conceptual model of evaluation of this and other pathologies in the context of welfare issues, pertinent legislation, ethics committees and animal protecting societies.