# An Investigation of Dairy Cattle Welfare in Commercial Iranian Farms: Results from Management Practices, Resource-Based Measures, and Farm Records

## TL;DR

This study evaluates dairy cattle welfare in Iranian farms by examining management practices and resources, revealing significant welfare concerns.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive welfare assessment protocol for Iranian dairy farms, highlighting critical welfare gaps.

## Key findings

- Many farms failed to meet international guidelines for water and feed trough lengths.
- Insufficient cooling systems and poor cow flow management were common welfare issues.
- Only a minority of farms kept adequate records of animal health parameters.

## Abstract

Currently, there is no routine, systematic assessment of animal welfare on Iranian dairy farms. To address this gap, a comprehensive protocol was designed to evaluate the welfare of dairy cattle on Iranian farms. This paper focuses on assessment of resources and management practices on four critical areas of housing, water and feed availability, cow flow management, and hoof health management as well as the data recorded by the farmers (e.g., incidence of lameness and mastitis). We identified significant welfare concerns across all categories. For example, although all pens were equipped with at least one water trough, 6 out of 43 farms provided <3 cm water trough length per cow. Cow flow management was negatively affected by the width (median of 116 cm in free-stall and 180 cm in bedded-pack farms) and quality of transfer passages, a concern amplified by the fact that most farms milked the cows three times daily resulting in prolonged periods away from the pen. Additionally, even though heat stress negatively affects cattle wellbeing on Iranian farms, a substantial number of farms did not use cooling and ventilation systems. These results underscore substantial disparities in welfare conditions among farms and highlight the limitations of broad, high-level welfare assessments.

There is currently no routine systematic assessment of welfare on Iranian dairy farms and no industry-recognised welfare assessment protocols. Therefore, we aimed to design a comprehensive welfare assessment protocol and use it to assess dairy cattle welfare on Iranian dairy farms that could serve as baseline data. Out of the 54 farms on which milking time was measured, 14 had cows spending ≥4 h a day for milking. Additionally, 17/43 farms provided <6 cm of water trough length per cow, and 9/46 farms provided <47 cm of feed trough length per cow, falling short of international guidelines. Hoof trimming was considered a routine procedure with 51/56 farms trimming the hooves ≥2 times a year. The main housing problem in bedded-pack farms was lack of resting areas with 18/29 farms providing less space than the minimum requirement of 5.4 m2/cow, while in free-stall farms bedding depth was the principal housing issue with 16/28 providing ≤10 cm of bedding. Finally, only 31/42 farms that provided farm data kept a record of more than half of the parameters that we asked for. Our findings indicate that a high proportion of farms did not provide sufficient resources or implement management practices necessary to meet welfare requirements of dairy cattle on Iranian farms.