Measuring Welfare of Egyptian Buffaloes in Different Management Systems | ||
| Journal of Animal and Poultry Production | ||
| Article 1, Volume 9, Issue 10, October 2018, Pages 407-414 PDF (7.63 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jappmu.2018.41153 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Elham M. Ghoneim; S. Omar; E. El-Dahshan | ||
| Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Menufia University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Farms stay environmentally sustainable by mimicking natural processes and ecosystem function. The term "animal well-being" can be understood as avoiding animal abuse and exploitation by maintaining adequate levels of housing, nutrition and public care, prevention and treatment of the disease and ensuring freedom from harassment. 163 dairy buffaloes belonging to 15 farms represent 3 production systems distributed in Menufiya Province were studied to assess its on-farm welfare according to some assessment protocol for Cattle. The systems including faculty farm, traditional farms and commercial farm. 35% of the animals in the Faulty farm had regular body condition score (BCS) versus 48% and 59% in traditional and commercial farms respectively. Very lean buffaloes represent 65 % and 47 % of animals in Faculty and traditional farms, respectively. However no “very lean” animals was found in the commercial farm which represents the majority of “very fat” animals (41%). It should be emphasize that this scoring methods are not suitable for buffaloes under Egyptian condition. Faculty farm animals lied down within 11 sec. however, time needed to lie down were 9 and 6 sec. in traditional and commercial farm respectively. When animals were laid down 40%, 8% and 25% of them collided with housing equipment in Faculty, traditional and commercial farms respectively. According to body cleanliness, Faculty farm had higher values of cleanness (65 %, 60 % and 70) in lower hind legs, hind quarters and udder respectively, due to concrete bedding available. However the muddy buffalo skin considered positively for the animals. Loose housing animals in commercial farm be have normal than the tied animals in the other systems. However traditional systems allow animals to move to field daily with axes to pasture available. Animals in Faculty farm system did not have any opportunity to move outdoor and/or to pasture. The percentages of severely lame animals were very slight in general (10%, 0% and 5%) for Faculty farm, traditional farm and commercial farm respectively. It is remarkable that pathological conditions affecting buffaloes feet are rare thus using lameness score to assessing buffalo welfare could be unsuitable. The percentages of animals with severe integument alterations was highest in Faculty farm (40 %) where concrete bidding was constructed and the lowest in traditional farm where animals move to field daily (12 %). Commercial farm had intermediate mean value of 21 % integument alterations. Displacements and head butts as an indication of animal's agonistic behaviour were elevated in commercial farm with free barn stalls (3.00 and 1.70 respectively). However agonistic behaviour was lower in Faculty farm (1.38 and 0.87 respectively) and traditional farm (1.24 and 0.75 respectively) with tie stalls.All investigated disease had lower values than that illustrated by the Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Cattle (2009) for warning thresholdin the three studied farms. This may be due to high immunity level of Egyptian buffaloes than cows. Farms stay environmentally sustainable by mimicking natural processes and ecosystem function. The term "animal well-being" can be understood as avoiding animal abuse and exploitation by maintaining adequate levels of housing, nutrition and public care, prevention and treatment of the disease and ensuring freedom from harassment. 163 dairy buffaloes belonging to 15 farms represent 3 production systems distributed in Menufiya Province were studied to assess its on-farm welfare according to some assessment protocol for Cattle. The systems including faculty farm, traditional farms and commercial farm. 35% of the animals in the Faulty farm had regular body condition score (BCS) versus 48% and 59% in traditional and commercial farms respectively. Very lean buffaloes represent 65 % and 47 % of animals in Faculty and traditional farms, respectively. However no “very lean” animals was found in the commercial farm which represents the majority of “very fat” animals (41%). It should be emphasize that this scoring methods are not suitable for buffaloes under Egyptian condition. Faculty farm animals lied down within 11 sec. however, time needed to lie down were 9 and 6 sec. in traditional and commercial farm respectively. When animals were laid down 40%, 8% and 25% of them collided with housing equipment in Faculty, traditional and commercial farms respectively. According to body cleanliness, Faculty farm had higher values of cleanness (65 %, 60 % and 70) in lower hind legs, hind quarters and udder respectively, due to concrete bedding available. However the muddy buffalo skin considered positively for the animals. Loose housing animals in commercial farm be have normal than the tied animals in the other systems. However traditional systems allow animals to move to field daily with axes to pasture available. Animals in Faculty farm system did not have any opportunity to move outdoor and/or to pasture. The percentages of severely lame animals were very slight in general (10%, 0% and 5%) for Faculty farm, traditional farm and commercial farm respectively. It is remarkable that pathological conditions affecting buffaloes feet are rare thus using lameness score to assessing buffalo welfare could be unsuitable. The percentages of animals with severe integument alterations was highest in Faculty farm (40 %) where concrete bidding was constructed and the lowest in traditional farm where animals move to field daily (12 %). Commercial farm had intermediate mean value of 21 % integument alterations. Displacements and head butts as an indication of animal's agonistic behaviour were elevated in commercial farm with free barn stalls (3.00 and 1.70 respectively). However agonistic behaviour was lower in Faculty farm (1.38 and 0.87 respectively) and traditional farm (1.24 and 0.75 respectively) with tie stalls.All investigated disease had lower values than that illustrated by the Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Cattle (2009) for warning thresholdin the three studied farms. This may be due to high immunity level of Egyptian buffaloes than cows. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Measuring welfare; Egyptian buffalo; animal behaviour; Production systems | ||
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