Welfare of the dairy cow around the time of calving

Ensuring high standards of welfare of the dairy cow atcalving is vital, but the area has not received much research focus. Since thetime of calving oftendeviatesconsiderably from expected,there is a need toidentifyobjective meansof determining when cows are about to calve. Recent work indicates that behavioural changes show much promise, for example the number of lying bouts increases and peak during the final hours beforecalving as uterine contractions intensify. Thesechangesin posturecan be collected automaticallyusing accelerometer technology, and thus these types ofmeasurescollected using automated technologies warrants further investigation. Parturitionis normallysubdivided into 3 stages, including the onset of labour (1), the birth of the calf(2) and, expelling of the foetal membranes(3). Cows are often moved to a maternity pen immediately before the birth of the calf, but new research suggests that this practise may prolong labour. Cows that were moved to an individual maternity pen during late stage I labourexperienced longer stageIIlabour and spent less time lying during the last hour before calving compared to cows moved earlier.Studies of dairy cows under semi-natural conditions suggest that cows seek isolation from the herd during calving if they havethe opportunity.We provide the first evidence thatthat cows housed indoors will also isolate if given theopportunitybut more work remains to disentangle the factors that can affect her ability to do so. Lastly, the presence of the newborn calf results in a reduction inrestingand feeding by the mother in the hours immediately following parturition.Furthermore, the damdid not seek social contact with other cows until days after calvingif the calf waspresent. Clearly, in practices where cows and calves are housed together,providing ample space and limiting competition during the first few weeks after calving may prove beneficial.