Creator/Principal investigator(s)
Karin Alvåsen
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences
Description
Interest in keeping dairy calves with adult cows for a period of time after calving is increasing among consumers and dairy farmers. At present, however, it is largely unexplored how dairy farmers implement cow-calf housing on their farms. This survey therefore investigated how dairy farms with cow-calf contact managed their animals during the time that cows and calves are in contact. In addition, it evaluated which aspects of management were perceived as most challenging, and how farmers dealt with these challenges. Interviews were conducted on 104 dairy farms from six European countries. The farms kept cows and calves together for at least 7 days, and sold milk to dairies. The respondent could be either the owner or the farm manager. Cow-calf farming was practised on farms with a wide range of management systems, from small farms that kept their animals outdoors throughout the year and milked cows by hand or in mobile clamp milking machines to robotic farms. Calves could be kept with the dam or foster cow for part or all of the milking period. Daily contact time varied between farms, from 15
... Show more..Language
English
Research principal
Principal's reference number
SLU.kv.2022.IÄ-3
Responsible department/unit
Department of Clinical Sciences
Contributor(s)
Data contains personal data
Yes
Type of personal data
Pseudonymised information (names) of respondents
Code key exists
Yes
Unit of analysis
Population
European dairy farmers with cow-calf contact
Time Method
Sampling procedure
It is difficult to identify dairy farms with cow-calf farming from central registers. Therefore, to recruit farms, outreach activities were carried out through existing cooperation networks, personal contacts and advertising.
Research area
Plants and animals
(CESSDA Topic Classification)
Agricultural and Veterinary sciences
(The Swedish standard of fields of research 2011)
Farming
(INSPIRE topic categories)
H. Eriksson, N. Fall, S. Ivemeyer, U. Knierim, C. Simantke, B. Fuerst-Waltl, C. Winckler, R. Weissensteiner, D. Pomiès, B. Martin, A. Michaud, A. Priolo, M. Caccamo, T. Sakowski, M. Stachelek, A. Spengler Neff, A. Bieber, C. Schneider, K. Alvåsen, 2022, Strategies for keeping dairy cows and calves together – a cross-sectional survey study, Animal, Volume 16, Issue 9,
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2022.100624
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Associated documentation
Description
Structured questionnaire-based interviews regarding the management and feeding of cows and calves were conducted on 104 European dairy farms where calves were kept with adult lactating cows for at least 7 days after calving. The study collected mainly quantitative data, which allowed the inclusion of a larger number of farms. As it is not possible to identify farms with cow-calf contact in central databases, the included farms represent a non-probability sample. However, this study is currently
... Show more..Data format / data structure
Numeric
Text
Creator/Principal investigator(s)
Karin Alvåsen
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences
Time period(s) investigated
2018-12-10 – 2019-06-25