What is the future for livestock agriculture in the world? Consumers have concerns about sustainability but many widely used livestock production methods do not satisfy consumers' requirements for a sustainable system. However, production can be sustainable, occurring in environments that: supply the needs of the animals resulting in good welfare, allow coexistence with a wide diversity of organisms native to the area, minimize carbon footprint and provide a fair lifestyle for the people working there. Conservation need not just involve tiny islands of natural vegetation in a barren world of agriculture, as there can be great increases in biodiversity in farmed areas. Herbivores, especially ruminants that consume materials inedible by humans, are important for human food in the future. However, their diet should not be just ground-level plants. Silvopastoral systems, pastures with shrubs and trees as well as herbage, are described which are normally more productive than pasture alone. When compared with widely used livestock production systems, silvopastoral systems can provide efficient feed conversion, higher biodiversity, enhanced connectivity between habitat patches and better animal welfare, so they can replace existing systems in many parts of the world and should be further developed.

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Lameness is one of the most important welfare problems in dairy cattle. Most studies on lameness have focused on wide ranging surveys to identify causal factors, but few have considered the welfare implications of this disorder. In this study, we compared the social and individual behavior of 10 lame cows and 10 nonlame cows. The 20 Holstein-Friesian cows calved in the summer and spent the autumn and winter together with another 36 nonlame cows in a Newton Rigg cubicle house building. The cubicle to cow ratio was 1:1, and wheat straw bedding was provided every day. The investigators fed the cows ad lib a silage-based diet and milked them twice a day, at which time they received adjusted amounts of concentrate. The investigators observed the 2 groups of cows a total of 32 hr to obtain information on social and individual behaviors through scan and behavior sampling. Although lame cows were less likely to start an aggressive interaction, there were no differences in times receiving aggression. No differences were found in the times licking other cows; however, the frequency of times being licked was higher in the lame cows. The lame cows spent more time lying out of the cubicles, had longer total lying times, and spent less time feeding. The behavioral differences seen show that lame cows do not cope as successfully with their environment as do nonlame cows. Also, these results provide useful information on how licking in dairy cows may play a role in alleviating discomfort of other herd members who are in pain or who are sick.

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