Investigations into the critical aspects of the health and welfare of the bobby calves and dairy cows in Victorian dairy systems

Abstract

Animal welfare is becoming critical to the general public, farmers and dairy industry. In Australian dairy farming systems, maintenance of good welfare of large numbers of surplus non-replacement young male dairy calves (bobby calves) that go for slaughter at an early age of 5 to 10 days old is essential. Another major area of concern for the sustainable dairy industry in Australia is the active control measures against infectious pathogens that may cause severe diseases and production loss such as enteric pathogens in neonatal calves and Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) infection in cattle. This thesis examines the health and welfare conditions of bobby calves after transportation for slaughter ..