Simple SummaryEuropean consumers recognize the added value of mountain dairy production and relate it to a composite of positive attributes. However, while consumers’ understanding of conventional dairy production and animal welfare has already been investigated, how consumers perceive animal welfare in traditional mountain dairy farming remains unexplored. This qualitative study aims at shedding light on consumers’ perceptions regarding animal welfare in mountain dairy cheese production systems. Focus group interviews were carried out with three major consumer groups that purchase mountain cheese including rural consumers living in mountain villages, urban consumers living in the plains, and urban consumers living in mountain cities. The results of this study show that all participants expect mountain farming to be on a smaller scale and mountain products to be healthier when compared to non-mountain farming systems. However, the verbal appreciation of certain husbandry and management choices especially in the case of urban consumers did not result in their recognition when pictures of traditional husbandry systems were provided, which displays a disconnection between the expectations towards mountain production systems and reality. These findings will support the development of a transparent science-based dialogue among mountain dairy chain actors on animal welfare and sustainable farming practices in mountain areas.AbstractThis qualitative study aims to investigate consumers’ perceptions toward dairy cow welfare in traditional mountain farms. While consumers’ understanding of conventional dairy production and animal welfare has already been investigated, how consumers perceive animal welfare in traditional mountain dairy farming remains still unexplored. Focus group interviews were conducted with consumers having different degrees of geographical proximity to mountains and with an explicit interest in local dairy products. The results of this qualitative study show that participants expect mountain farming to be on a smaller scale when compared to non-mountain farming systems and expect mountain products to be healthier. Similarly, all participants consider origin, locality, and small-scale production as relevant quality attributes of mountain cheese. However, the appreciation of these abstract features did not necessarily result in their recognition when sample pictures of traditional husbandry systems were provided especially in the case of urban participants. This study contributes to reveal the gap between urban consumers’ conception of mountain farming and the actual farming practices. It also indicates the need to promote an effective science-based dialogue on animal welfare that goes beyond an anthropomorphic perspective and tackles the complexity of farming systems in relation to the context in which they are located.

In the Alps, traditional dairy farms are small-scale operations where vertical transhumance from valley indoor housing systems to highland pasture-based systems is still practiced in summer. Vertical transhumance implies a substantial change of environment, available resources, and management practices from one season to another. In such systems, animal-based welfare measures need to be monitored throughout the year to capture the variation of welfare outcomes, based on which targeted welfare management plans can be implemented. Because the Welfare Quality assessment approach has been tailored to indoor housing and intensive farming systems, the European Food Safety Authority recently developed a welfare assessment protocol for small-scale dairy cattle farms adapted after the Welfare Quality framework. The aim of this study was to assess nonbehavioral animal-based measures as defined by this protocol at different time points for transhumant systems in the Alps. In total, 18 animal-based measures were assessed before, during, and after the mountain pasture period in a sample of 67 small-scale dairy cattle farms practicing vertical transhumance in neighboring provinces of Austria, Italy, and Slovenia. Significant differences between assessments were identified for dirtiness of legs and teats, hairless patches, lesions and swellings, claw condition, ocular discharge, and diarrhea whereas BCS, lameness/severe lameness, vulvar discharge, nasal discharge, and hampered respiration were unchanged between seasons. In addition, a benchmarking exercise was carried out to identify relative boundaries (worst quartile thresholds) for each animal-based measure and to contribute to the discussion about achievable welfare outcomes for the 2 husbandry conditions that characterize a transhumant system. Worst quartile thresholds indicated a high prevalence of dirtiness (>80%) when cows were kept indoors, high prevalence of hairless patches (65%) before pasture turnout, and high prevalence of very lean cows (>13%) throughout the assessments. On the other hand, the best quartile thresholds for most clinical conditions suggested that high welfare standards (zero prevalence) are widely achievable in mountain farms practicing vertical transhumance during all assessments. The thresholds identified through benchmarking should serve as the basis for an effective context-based welfare management strategy promoting continuous welfare improvement on-farm.

Outdoor and extensive farming systems allow animals to behave in a natural way and are often perceived as welfare friendly. Nonetheless, the natural environment poses multiple challenges to the welfare of animals, sometimes hampering their capacity to cope. Welfare assessment in outdoor and extensive systems has been rarely investigated, and little is known about the most appropriate indicators. The aim of this review was to identify animal-based measures of welfare to apply in extensive and pasture-based systems in domestic ruminants. Through the use of a dedicated software for systematic reviews, 810 papers were screened and a total of 52 papers were retained for in-depth analysis. ABM resulting from these papers were initially divided according to the species (cattle and small ruminants, including sheep and goats) and then to four principles: comfort, behavior, feeding and health. The results showed that welfare data were collected applying different methodologies, with an increasing use of sensors in recent years. The need to herd and restrain animals for individual data collection is one of the major constraints to data collection in extensive farming systems. It is suggested that welfare assessment in outdoor/extensive farming systems is carried out by following shared procedures in order to provide evidence of the higher animal welfare claims that these products often imply compared to indoor systems.

Climate change is affecting the distribution of pathogens and their arthropod vectors worldwide, particularly at northern latitudes. The distribution of Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) plays a key role in affecting the emergence and spread of significant vector borne diseases such as Bluetongue (BT) and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) at the border between USA and Canada. We used 50 presence points for C. sonorensis collected in Montana (USA) and south-central Alberta (Canada) between 2002 and 2012, together with monthly climatic and environmental predictors to develop a series of alternative maximum entropy distribution models. The best distribution model under current climatic conditions was selected through the Akaike Information Criterion, and included four predictors: Vapour Pressure Deficit of July, standard deviation of Elevation, Land Cover and mean Precipitation of May. This model was then projected into three climate change scenarios adopted by the IPCC in its 5th assessment report and defined as Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5. Climate change data for each predictor and each RCP were calculated for two time points pooling decadal data around each one of them: 2030 (2021–2040) and 2050 (2041–2060). Our projections showed that the areas predicted to be at moderate-high probability of C. sonorensis occurrence would increase from the baseline scenario to 2030 and from 2030 to 2050 for each RCP. The projection also indicated that the current northern limit of C. sonorensis distribution is expected to move northwards to above 53°N. This may indicate an increased risk of Culicoides-borne diseases occurrence over the next decades, particularly at the USA-Canada border, as a result of changes which favor C. sonorensis presence when associated to other factors (i.e. host and pathogen factors). Recent observations of EHD outbreaks in northern Montana and southern Alberta supported our projections and considerations. The results of this study can inform the development of cost effective surveillance programs, targeting areas within the predicted limits of C. sonorensis geographical occurrence under current and future climatic conditions.

The Welfare Quality® project was one of the largest research undertakings into animal welfare. Despite animal-based measures (ABMs) being increasingly preferred over resource-based measures (non-ABMs), the Welfare Quality® protocol (WQ) for dairy cattle has a non-ABM, Ease of Movement that classifies housing systems using a threshold of 100 days of access to pasture or, inversely, of 265 days tethered. Since traditional transhumance to alpine pastures lasts for approximately 90 days most farms tend to be classified as having a year-round tie-stall system by the WQ. The aim of this study was two-fold: To discuss the appropriateness of using non-ABMs and related thresholds in welfare scoring and to classify mountain dairy farms using ABM records. Initially, a comparison was made with scores obtained using the WQ protocol in farms where cows were: i) tethered all year; and ii) tethered but having regular exercise or reared in loose-housing systems. No difference in terms of welfare was detected between groups of farms regarding their housing systems, thus we investigated welfare focusing on ABMs. Therefore, farms were grouped into four clusters, according to their ABMs. The results indicated that good ABM scores can be obtained in most traditional mountain farms where cows are tethered for around 275 days a year and have access to highland pasture for the remaining 90 days. In this study, ABMs were effective tools for classifying mountain farms according to their welfare status and for informing targeted action to improve dairy cow welfare. © 2017 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

E and Mounier L, 2015. Preparatory work for the scientific opinion on welfare assessment of dairy cows in small scale farming systems. EFSA supporting publication 2015:EN-852, 109 pp. The present document has been produced and adopted by the bodies identified above as authors. This task has been carried out exclusively by the authors in the context of a contract between the European Food Safety Authority and the authors, awarded following a tender procedure. The present document is published complying with the transparency principle to which the Authority is subject. It may not be considered as an output adopted by the Authority. The European Food Safety Authority reserves its rights, view and position as regards the issues addressed and the conclusions reached in the present document, without prejudice to the rights of the authors. 2 ABSTRACTObjectives of this preparatory work were (i) to collect data for the description and the categorisation of European Small-Scale Dairy Farms (SSDF) based on size, farming system and husbandry practices and (ii) to analyse the feasibility in SSDF of animal-based measures usually used for intensive farming. Criteria identified, through a public call for information and a literature review, to consider a farm as a SSDF were herd size (up to 75 cows including dry and lactating) and a categorisation as "non-conventional". To be eligible as non-conventional, a farm should fulfil at least two criteria of the four following criteria: the farm should be family-run, have low concentrate use, be in a local breed scheme and in a specific production scheme. Literature was reviewed for identifying the risk factors in SSDF and for adapting the welfare assessment to SSDF. An on-farm survey was carried out to assess the feasibility of the protocol and to collect data from 124 dairy farms in four European countries (Austria, France, Italy, and Spain). Assessors were asked to assess the feasibility of the protocol in general, the animal based measures and to suggest improvements where necessary. Farmers were asked about the usefulness of animal-based measures. From 124 dairy farms visited 119 were considered as SSDF. From assessor's experiences, animal-based measures may be applied in SSDF at least during the winter housing period. And there are no reasons to assume that methods and measures of welfare assessment in SSDF is substantially different from larger, intensively run farms. Feeding and access to pasture were the most relevant criteria for the farmers to warrant that animal welfare is ensured in their farm. A large majority of them agreed that animal based measure could be a relevant tool for the improvement of health and welfare and half of them would prefer an external assessment and advice rather than a self-tool assessment. © European Food Safety Authority, 2015 KEY WORDSDairy farms, non-conventional, animal based measures, risk factors, small scale farming DISCLAIMERThe present document has been produced and adopted by the bodies identified above as authors. This task has been ca...

Background: Bluetongue virus (BTV), an arthropod-borne member of the Reoviridae family, is a double-stranded RNA segmented virus that causes an economically important livestock disease which has spread across Europe in recent decades. It can infect many species of domestic and wild ruminants including sheep, deer, cattle and goats. Type I interferon (alpha/beta interferon [IFN-␣/␤]) production was reported in vivo and in vitro upon BTV infection. However the cellular sensors and signaling pathways involved in this process remain unknown.Methods: The effect of BTV strains and replication on IFN-␤ production during a kinetic of infection was assessed at the mRNA level by real-time quantitative RT-PCR (RT-q-PCR) and at the protein level by IFN-␤ ELISA. The involvement of the IRF3 and NF-kB transcriptional factors in the IFN-␤ production was determined by immunoblot and immunofluorescence analyses. SiRNA-mediated knockdown of several pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) was used to determine their contribution in the IFN-␤ production following BTV infection.Results: Upon BTV infection of A549 cells, expression of IFN-␤ and other pro-inflammatory cytokines was strongly induced at both protein and mRNA levels. This production appeared to be dependent on virus replication, since infection with UV-inactivated virus could no longer induce IFN-␤. We could also demonstrate that BTV infection activated the IRF3 and NF-kB pathways. Interestingly, the expression of IFN-␤ mRNA was greatly reduced after siRNA-mediated knockdown of the RNA helicases retinoic acidinducible gene-I (RIG-I) or melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5), or their common adaptor protein mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS). In contrast, silencing of MyD88, Toll-like receptor-3 (TLR-3) or the recently described DexD/H-box helicase DDX1 sensor had no effect on IFN-␤ mRNA induction. Finally, we found that overexpression of either RIG-I or MDA5 severely impaired BTV expression in infected A549 cells. Conclusion:These results suggest that the RIG-I-like (RLR) pathway is specifically engaged for IFN-␤ production following BTV infection and indicate that RIG-I and MDA5 can both contribute to its recognition and control.

® . Results: The results of this work confirm that bovine brucellosis is endemic in Cameroon. With an uneven but wide distribution the study revealed a 4.61% and 16% seroprevalence at the animal-level and herd-level respectively. There was a preponderance of seropositivity in the GHS (87.5%) over the WHPS (12.5%). The extrinsic risk factors investigated were all positively correlated with seropositivity. It was interesting to note that cattle interactivity with sheep and goats (small ruminants), wildlife, herd size, administrative division, history of third trimester abortion, ecological zone, and herd management systems had significant effects on seropositivity. Conclusion:To the best of our knowledge, these findings provide the first factual insight into the seroprevalence of bovine brucellosis and some of its associated risk factors in the most livestock-productive agro-pastoral ecozones of Cameroon.