Cattle Welfare in Dairy and Beef Systems

Marie Haskell is Professor of Animal Welfare Science at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College), based in Edinburgh, UK. She completed her undergraduate degree at Massey University, New Zealand, followed by a PhD at the University of Melbourne. Her research has involved the use of behavioural techniques in understanding and improving animal welfare. Together with students and other scientists, she has sought to understand how fundamental animal abilities and attributes, such as personality, genetic make-up and cognitive and emotional abilities affect the way animals interact with their environments and how this influences their welfare. Building on these principles, she has been involved in developing behavioural indicators for use in welfare assessment tools. She principally works with cattle, but has research experience with pigs, hens, salmon and dogs. 

Part 1: Background.- chapter 1:A good life for cattle: Concepts and Progress.- Chapter 2: Using behaviour to understand and assess welfare in cattle.- Chapter 3: Assessingcattle welfare: physiology and immunology.- Part 2: Challenges in different systems.- Chapter 4: Housing of Dairy Cattle: Enhancing Movement Opportunity in Housing Systems.- Chapter 5:Welfare of dairy cows in pasture-based systems.- Chapter 6: Welfare of beef cattle in extensive systems.- Chapter 7: Welfare of beef cattle in intensive systems.- Part 3: Consideration of key aspects of cattle welfare.- Chapter 8: The Welfare of Cattle at Slaughter.- Chapter 9: The human-animal relationship and cattle welfare.- Chapter 10: Welfare at calving and of the growing animals.- Chapter 11: Precision Livestock Farming Technologies for Dairy and Beef Production.- Chapter 12: Strategies and tools for genetic selection in dairy cattle and their application to improving animal welfare.- Part 4: Case studies.- Chapter 13:The sustainability of cattle production systems.- Chapter 14: The sheltering of unwanted cows in India.- Chapter 15: Cattle Welfare in Smallholder Dairy and Pastoralist Beef systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.- Chapter 16: Welfare and health challenges of 'new entry' dairying: A Practitioner's Perspective.

"There is a lot of good stuff in this book. ... Given the sheer breadth covered, allowing individual chapter purchase would be a bonus ... . Young welfare scientists and others keen to advance their understanding of cattle husbandry, health and welfare may derive much of value from individual chapters that cater for their individual needs. The science oriented chapters are also comprehensively equipped with enough references to bulk out any PhD thesis." (John Webster, Animal Welfare, April 17, 2024)