On a dairy the three biggest animal welfare concerns are abuse of newborn calves, lameness and handling of downer non-ambulatory cows.

1. Downer Non-Ambulatory Cattle - Dragging of non-ambulatory cows onto vehicles or along the ground is forbidden. The only exception of this rule would be dragging for a few feet to remove a cow that had fallen in the milking parlor. Non-ambulatory cattle that have a poor prognosis for recovery should be euthanized on the farm. This will motivate dairymen to prevent downers. Ninety percent of downers are preventable by either better management or genetic selection of cows for good feet and legs.
2. Euthanasia - Permitted methods are gunshot, captive bolt or other methods that are approved by the American Association of Bovine Practitioner's.
3. Lameness - Score lameness on a yes/no basis as cows walk into the milking parlor. Score yes if the animal walks with an obvious limp. Five percent obvious limp is excellent. Over 10% with an obvious limp not acceptable. Lameness is caused by a combination of poor management and failure to select breeding stock with good feet and legs. Score 50 to 100 cows.
4. Body Condition Score - Ninety percent of the cows must have a body condition score of more than 2 and less than 3% with a score of less than 2. (See Elanco Body Scoring Chart for Dairy Cattle.) Cows in poor body condition are more likely to become non-ambulatory. A score of 2 is the minimum acceptable body condition score. The auditor should also look in the sick pen to find cattle which have been allowed to deteriorate to an unacceptable condition.
5. Care of Newborn Calves - Calves must be fed colostrum within a few hours of birth. Calves must be dry and able to walk easily and stand without assistance from a person before they are transported off the premises. The only exception to this guideline is transport of calves to a local calf raising facility that is less than 2 hours away by road.
6. Non-Slip Flooring - Score 100 cows going through the milking parlor. Fail if 1% fall down.
7. Clean Water - This is required for both welfare and food safety reasons.
8. Dehorning - Calves should be dehorned before 4 months of age. Older calves will require an anesthetic for dehorning. (American Humane Assoc. 2000)
9. The routine practice of tail docking should be discouraged (Stull, C.L. et al. 2002. J. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc. Vol. 220: 1298-1303).

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