ASPA_imp01_02_03_xp6-modif
15-09-2005
16:19
Pagina 278
Qualitative assessment of dairy cattle welfare F. Napolitano1, A. Girolami1, A. Carlucci2, G. Caporale2, M. Musto1, A. Braghieri1 1
Dipartimento Scienze delle Produzioni Animali, Università della Basilicata, Italy 2 Smell & Taste Association, C.A.T. Confesercenti, Italy
Corresponding author: Fabio Napolitano. Dipartimento Scienze delle Produzioni Animali. Via dell’Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy – Tel: +39 0971 205078 – Fax: +39 0971 205099 – Email:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT The present study was aimed to apply a methodology recently developed for the qualitative assessment of animal behaviour to the evaluation of dairy cattle welfare. Six farms (2 tie stall - TS, 2 straw yard - SY and 2 cubicle systems - CU) were filmed to produce six 3.5 min videos. Each of them contained 4 clips: - overall view of the barn (1 min); - feeding (1 min); - milking (1 min); - zoom on individual animals (30 sec). Ten University students were selected on the basis of their sensitivity to animal welfare issues and instructed to provide qualitative assessment of videos using Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology. Data gathered from FCP were subjected to Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA). GPA showed a significant consensus among observers (P
