Animal Welfare Program @ UBC

The UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre has released its Summer 2024 Research Report which explores farm animal transportation regulations in Canada with a focus on dairy cows/calves. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/gtRd-C_c The report summarizes the results of 3 recent publications:  - Eugénie Duval, Benjamin Lecorps and Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk : https://lnkd.in/g3exzh-i - Christine Kuo, and Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk: https://lnkd.in/gfnUePQb - Jillian Hendricks, Steven Roche, Kathryn L. Proudfoot, Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk: https://lnkd.in/g9wyTKeX Illustration by Ann Sanderson. 

AWP Professor Nina von Keyserlingk gave a plenary talk on animal welfare at the 37th SBTE Da Sociedade Brasileira de Tecnologia de Embriões Congress in Atibaia, Brazil. During her visit she met up with her fellow UBC Land and Food Systems colleague Dr Ronaldo Cerri who spent the last year on sabbatical in Brazil.

🐾 Happy International Dog Day from the UBC Animal Welfare Program! Meet some of the lovely dogs of the AWP that bring joy to our lives every day 🐾

🎉 Exciting Research Alert from Animal Welfare Program @ UBC Our latest study, "Redefining Dominance Calculation: Increased Competition Flattens the Dominance Hierarchy in Dairy Cows," has just been published in the Journal of Dairy Science: https://lnkd.in/gNWqRJQq Sky (Kehan) Sheng 盛可晗, Borbala Foris, Joey Krahn, Daniel Weary and Marina von Keyserlingk discovered that high competition flattens the dominance hierarchy in dairy cows. This finding challenges traditional methods of calculating dominance hierarchies only based on replacements happened during peek feeding time, and highlights the importance of considering the context of agonistic interactions. 🔍 Key Findings: -Increased competition levels flatten the hierarchy. -Subordinate cows become more successful during periods of high competition. -The valuation of resources can outweigh intrinsic dominance attributes. Check out the full paper and let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Bianca Vandresen just wrapped up her second and final year as an ISAE student representative (2022-2024)! Over the past two years, she represented students at council meetings and organized student activities at the conference. Read more about Bianca and her involvement here: https://lnkd.in/gHEAxXya

Congratulations, Jennifer, Bianca and Malina! The talented AWP PhD students presented their wonderful work at the 2024 ISAE Congress in Brazil, this August! Jennifer Heinsius (picture #1): "Transitioning dairy cattle from traditional parlour milking to automatic milking systems". Bianca Vandresen(picture #2): "Applied animal behaviour and welfare researchers’ perspectives on the challenges they face while engaging in research".  Malina Suchon (picture #3): "The effect of environmental complexity on the ability of calves to discriminate conspecifics and on sensitivity to reward".

New paper alert: Access to an outdoor deep-bedded pack promotes estrus activity in dairy cows 🐮 60 lactating Holstein cows were monitored for 12 weeks post-calving, split between those with outdoor access (OUTDOOR) and those without (INDOOR), all housed within the same free stall pen. Conclusions: - OUTDOOR cows exhibited longer estrus durations. - INDOOR cows showed reduced mounting intensity with increasing indoor Temperature Humidity Index (THI), unlike their OUTDOOR counterparts. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gwwaUgai

How can we improve the quality of animal welfare education? Professor Dan Weary recently spoke at the Animal Welfare Educators Network to meet with a community of Chinese animal welfare professors. Prof Dan conducted a mock lecturer about 'Natural Living' from UBC's APBI 315 Animal Welfare and the Ethics of Animal Use class and led a lively discussion about strategies to create collaborative, engaging classes with quality animal welfare content. Such cross-cultural dialogues can spark ideas to improve animal welfare education in different social contexts.

Drs Dan Weary and Nina von Keyserlingk with some of their current and past graduate students from the UBC Animal Welfare Program who attended the ISAE 2024 meeting in Curitiba Brazil! Ruan Daros (PhD 2019) Katy Proudfoot (MSc 2008; Ph.D. 2013) Hanna Eriksson (Ph.D. 2019) Laura Whalin (MSc 2017; Ph.D. 2021) Heather Neave (MSc 2013; Ph.D. 2019) Thomas Ede (Ph.D. 2020) Bianca Vandresen (current Ph.D.) Malina Suchon (current Ph.D.) Michael Brunt (Ph.D. 2022) Andreia De Paula Vieira (Ph.D. 2011) Trevor DeVries (Ph.D. 2006) Jennifer Heinsius (current Ph.D.) Not pictured: Joao H C Costa (Ph.D. 2015)

Check out Episode 4: Lameness, Housing, and Public Perception of the Animal Welfare Mini Series of the Dairy Farmers of Canada/Les Producteurs Laitiers du Canada Podcast: Paths to On-Farm Excellence with AWP UBC Professors Dan Weary and Nina von Keyserlingk! Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gcanUkhj