On behalf of the UCVM’s lameness team: Michelle van Huyssteen, Makaela Douglas and Karin Orsel
Lameness is the third most common health problem and
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On behalf of the UCVM’s lameness team: Michelle van Huyssteen, Makaela Douglas and Karin Orsel
Lameness is the third most common health problem and
By Gosia Zobel (Scientist, AgResearch, Animal Welfare Team), Heather Neave (
Commercial livestock systems, regardless of the species, are typically geared towards promoting good health and production of the animals. Other factors that might be important to the animals, such as
Horns of livestock, particularly, cattle, sheep, and goats are sometimes removed for safety and economic reasons (1). Producers routinely remove the horns of beef and dairy cattle to decrease
All livestock will be handled in some way throughout their lifetime while in production. The way in which livestock are handled has a major impact on animal welfare and productivity (1). Positive interactions with handlers will improve animal well-being and productivity while improper interactions will negatively impact the animal’s welfare by causing stress and fear (1,2). Stress and fear increase the safety risks to both animals and stock people, and decrease meat quality (e.g. “dark cutters” for beef; pale, soft, exudative (PSE) and dry, firm, dark (DFD) for pork; 2). (more…)
Castration is a common practice in modern Canadian agriculture and around the world. Castration involves the removal or destruction of the testicles in male animals (1,2). Castration is divided into 3 major groups: physical, chemical and hormonal, with physical being most common (3). Methods of castration include surgical removal (knife), burdizzo (clamp used for physical crushing of testicular cord), elastrator/banding (damage scrotal and testicular blood supply) and (more…)