Assessment of Performance and Some Welfare Indicators of Cows in Vietnamese Smallholder Dairy Farms

Abstract

Smallholder dairy farms (SDFs) are distributed widely across lowland and highland regions in Vietnam, but data on the productivity and welfare status of these cows remains limited. This cross-sectional study was conducted to describe and compare the productivity and welfare status of SDF cows across contrasting regions. It was conducted in autumn 2017 on 32 SDFs randomly selected from four typical but contrasting dairy regions (eight SDFs per region); a south lowland, a south highland, a north lowland, and a north highland region. Each farm was visited over a 24-h period (an afternoon followed by a morning milking and adjacent husbandry activities) to collect data of individual lactating cows (n = 345) and dry cows (n = 123), which included: milk yield and concentrations, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS, 5-point scale, 5 = very fat), inseminations per conception, and level of heat stress experienced (panting score, 4.5-point scale, 0 = no stress). The high level of heat stress (96% of lactating cows were moderate to highly heat-stressed in the afternoon), low energy corrected milk yield (15.7 kg/cow/d), low percentage of lactating cows (37.3% herd), low BW (498 and 521 kg in lactating and dry cows, respectively), and low BCS of lactating cows (2.8) were the most important productivity and welfare concerns determined and these were most serious in the south lowland. By contrast, cows in the north lowland, a relatively hot but new dairying region, performed similarly to those in the south highland; a region historically considered to be one of the most suitable for dairy cows in Vietnam due to its cool environment. This indicates the potential to mitigate heat stress through new husbandry strategies. Cows in the north highland had the highest BW (535 and 569 kg in lactating and dry cows, respectively) and the highest energy corrected milk yield (19.2 kg/cow/d). Cows in all regions were heat-stressed during the daytime, although less so in the highlands compared to the lowlands. Opportunities for research into improving the productivity and welfare of Vietnamese SDF cows are discussed.

Multivariate analysis identifying the main factors associated with cow productivity and welfare in tropical smallholder dairy farms in Vietnam

“…Secondly, nutrition; these were variables 8 to 23, from a nutrition study (Bang et al, 2021a ). Thirdly, animal; these were variables 24 to 41, from a cow welfare and productivity study (Bang et al, 2021b ) and a cow genetic study (Bang et al, 2021d ). The animal variables were grouped into three subgroups, including genetic (variables 24 to 27), physiological stage (variables 28 and 29), and productivity and welfare (variables 30 to 41).…”

“… A Body condition score: 1 = thin to 5 = obese; Panting score: 0 = normal to 4.5 = extreme heat stressed Variables 1 to 7 were from a housing management study (Bang et al, 2021c ), 8 to 23 from a nutrition study (Bang et al, 2021a ), 24 to 27 from a cow genetic study (Bang et al, 2021d ), and 28 to 41 from a cow welfare and productivity study (Bang et al, 2021b ) …”

“…In this study, we focused on the multidimensionality of Vietnamese SDFs. The aim was to combine the data from the different themes of previous studies by the same authors (Bang et al, 2021b , 2021a , 2021c , 2021d ) to build multivariate explanatory models to enable the identification and ranking of potential factors affecting the productivity and welfare of dairy cows in SDFs. The factors include milk yield and quality, body weight and body condition score, heat stress level, fertility, and udder health of the cows.…”

Genomic diversity and breed composition of Vietnamese smallholder dairy cows

“…Sampling was conducted from August to October 2017 from 32 surveyed dairy farms in Vietnam (Bang et al, 2021a). Detailed information on the locations of the farms and the performance, welfare, housing and feeding conditions of the sampled VDC can be found in previous studies (Bang et al, 2021a(Bang et al, , 2021b(Bang et al, , 2021c, which were conducted simultaneously and on the same farms as the current study.…”

“…Sampling was conducted from August to October 2017 from 32 surveyed dairy farms in Vietnam (Bang et al, 2021a). Detailed information on the locations of the farms and the performance, welfare, housing and feeding conditions of the sampled VDC can be found in previous studies (Bang et al, 2021a(Bang et al, , 2021b(Bang et al, , 2021c, which were conducted simultaneously and on the same farms as the current study. Briefly, these farms were located in four main smallholder dairy regions of Vietnam (Table 1), eight farms per region, including a south lowland (SL), a south highland (SH), a north lowland (NL) and a north highland (NH).…”