The influence of housing and management of young dairy cattle on their welfare and behavioural development

My research project is focused on the influence of housing and management of dairy cattle, especially calves, on their welfare and behavioural development. This includes research investigating the importance of a calves’ social and physical environment on their emotional states (e.g. fear, boredom or positive emotions), health and subsequent production and longevity on farm. Prior research indicates that individual housing of calves, which is a common practice on many farms, can cause learning difficulties and increased fear of novelty. To date limited research on physical environments or other forms of stimulation has been conducted with cattle.

The research will be conducted at the University of Reading’s Centre for Dairy Research (CEDAR), a state of the art research facility for applied and strategic research concerning milk, meat, and egg production in farmed animals, including aspects of milk composition and consumer health, ruminant nutrition, dairy cattle reproduction, animal health and welfare, and environmental impacts of animal-derived food production. The commercial dairy herd includes 560 Holstein dairy cows milked through a 50 point rotary parlour, calving year round with milk sales of over 10,000 litres per cow annually. The UoR is a world leading research-intensive UK Higher Education Institute, ranked in the top 1% world-wide. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 confirms the excellence of the University’s research in Agriculture and Food Science, ranking 4th in the UK by Research, with a score of 100% for research environment.