Assessing the affective states of dairy cows with health disorders

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The health and welfare of dairy cattle is a priority for both the dairy industry and consumers. While severe and clinical forms of health disorders are major concerns, there are many more cases considered moderate or subclinical that still impact cow welfare and productivity. Despite considerable research examining the management and cost of health disorders, there is a genuine lack of understanding among the dairy industry and scientific community regarding how dairy cows experience these disorders. Given the limited ability for animals to self-report their feelings, as is done with human subjects, it is challenging to identify how animals feel. "Affective states" describe the behavioural and physiological responses of animals, as well as the subjective component (emotions), and can be assessed using cow behaviour and cognitive bias tests that examine how emotional state can alter cognitive processes. These may be effective tools to better understand the experiences of dairy cows with health disorders, thereby informing recommendations for farmers to prevent and treat these issues. Further, if there are data recorded by precision farming technologies which accurately indicate affective states, there is the potential for real-time assessment of how cows feel on modern dairy farms. My proposed Discovery research program will develop and validate a combination of approaches through a series of experiments to study the affective states of cows with clinical and subclinical health disorders. My long-term vision is to advance the fields of animal production, behaviour, and welfare science to help improve animal health and welfare. The short-term objectives of the proposed research program are to discover: 1) how we can accurately assess affective states in dairy cows using behavioural and physiological methods, 2) whether moderate and subclinical health conditions influence the affective states of cows and through which mechanisms, and 3) how we can use precision livestock farming technologies to identify affective states of dairy cows. I hypothesize that cows with moderate disorders will still experience negative affective states and that severity will interact with the duration of the disorder. I predict that cows experiencing pain, discomfort, or negative energy balance (caloric deficit) will exhibit behavioural responses indicative of negative affective states. I predict that behaviour and precision technology can help us assess the valence (degree of (un)pleasantness) of affective states better than physiology can, as this mostly measures arousal/intensity. Understanding how to assess affective states and manage dairy cows accordingly is crucial to ensuring good health and welfare, enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of the dairy industry. This research program will train 8 HQP as the next generation of animal welfare scientists and will generate novel scientific knowledge regarding how dairy cows experience prevalent health disorders.