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Relationship Of Observed Parlor Practices And Producer Attitudes With Bulk Tank Somatic Cell Counts In The Southeast Usa, Chandler Lauren Moats Blakely

Masters Theses

Inflammation of the mammary gland is indicated by a rise in somatic cell count (SCC) and impacts milk quality. The Southeast (SE) USA has a higher proportion of herds with elevated SCC compared to other USA regions. The SE also has the least information available about parlor procedures. The goals of this thesis are to explore the level of implementation of parlor procedures, determine which practices promote low SCC in Southeast USA dairy herds and investigate the association of attitude towards parlor management methods with BTSCC.

In chapter I, researchers performed on-farm assessments in Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. The …

Dairy Farmer Attitudes And Empathy Toward Animals Are Associated With Animal Welfare Indicators, Camilla Kielland, Eystein Skjerve, Olav Østerås, Adroaldo José Zanella

Societal Attitudes Toward Animals Collection

Attitudes and empathy of farmers influence human–animal interaction, thereby affecting their behavior toward animals. The goal was to investigate how measures of attitude and empathy toward animals were associated with animal welfare indicators such as milk yield, mastitis incidence, fertility index, and the prevalence of skin lesions on cows. To assess empathy toward animals, a photo-based pain assessment instrument was developed depicting various conditions that could be associated with some degree of pain in cattle and included questions aimed at assessing attitudes toward animals. Photos of painful conditions are useful in eliciting measurable empathic responses to pain in humans. A …