Wednesday, 31 March 2021 06:55

Sensitive cows

Written by  Peter Burke
New research out of Queens University in Belfast suggests that a lack of access to pasture could be affecting cows' emotional wellbeing. New research out of Queens University in Belfast suggests that a lack of access to pasture could be affecting cows' emotional wellbeing.

Dairy cows with no access to outside pasture may have damaged emotional wellbeing.

That's the conclusion that researchers at Queen's University in Belfast in Northern Ireland have come to in a report just published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Over the past year, Dr Gareth Arnott, senior lecturer in animal behaviour and welfare at Queens says their research shows the psychological damage that lockdown can have on human wellbeing, but notes that "livestock lockdown" may also damage emotional wellbeing in dairy cows.

"In humans, negative moods are linked to pessimistic judgements, such as depression and anxiety sufferers tend to expect fewer positive outcomes in life. By contrast, happy emotions and moods are linked to more optimistic judgements.

"This study is the first of its kind to investigate whether dairy cows also have this judgement bias, and whether optimistic judgements can be used as an indicator of psychological wellbeing, which is important for animal welfare," he says.

Arnott says animal welfare scientists and dairy consumer have long been concerned that depriving dairy cattle of pasture access harms their welfare. He says pasture access can promote natural behaviour, improve cows' health, and cows given the choice spend most of their outside.

"However, the effects of pasture access on dairy cows' psychological wellbeing have been poorly understood."

More like this

Mastitis can jump from cow to cow - claim

Hawke's Bay dairy farmer Rose Galloway rejects any suggestion that mastitis in cows isn't contagious. A trained nurse, Galloway and her family milk 550 cows near Norsewood and says mastitis is caused by pathogens entering the cow's udder through the teat canal and can pass onto other cows. She explains:

Cows out; sheep in!

In a move that illustrates the current parlous state of the dairy industry, the country's biggest farmer is pulling out of dairy and moving into sheep milking.

No, we won’t!

Scientists at Massey University have confirmed what farmers have known for years: cows do not like to walk uphill.

US cows happy in compost

Cows can dance for joy or stretch right out in deep, peaceful sleep because of the comfort of compost-bedding pack barns, says Maury Cox of the Kentucky Dairy Development Council.

Cow freebies

Continuously doling out freebies and subsidies to various sections of society, the Punjab government in India has now decided go a step further and provide free-of-charge power to cows.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter