Assessing the affective states of dairy cows with health disorders

评估患有健康疾病的奶牛的情感状态

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04138
• 负责人: King, Meagan
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Manitoba
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743577
• 关键词: Assessing; affective; states; dairy; cows

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.

奶牛的健康和福利是乳制品行业和消费者的优先事项。虽然严重和临床形式的健康障碍是主要问题，但还有更多的被认为是中度或亚临床的病例仍然影响奶牛的福利和生产力。尽管对健康障碍的管理和成本进行了大量研究，但乳制品行业和科学界确实缺乏对奶牛如何经历这些疾病的了解。考虑到动物自我报告自己感受的能力有限，就像人类受试者一样，识别动物的感受是一项挑战。“情绪状态”描述动物的行为和生理反应，以及主观成分(情绪)，可以使用奶牛行为和认知偏差测试来评估，这些测试检查情绪状态如何改变认知过程。这些可能是更好地了解患有健康障碍的奶牛的经历的有效工具，从而为农民提供预防和治疗这些问题的建议。此外，如果有精确的农业技术记录的数据，准确地指示情感状态，就有可能实时评估现代奶牛养殖场的奶牛感觉。我提议的探索研究计划将通过一系列实验开发和验证一系列方法的组合，以研究患有临床和亚临床健康障碍的奶牛的情感状态。我的长期愿景是推动动物生产、行为和福利科学领域的发展，以帮助改善动物的健康和福利。拟议研究计划的短期目标是发现：1)我们如何使用行为和生理方法准确评估奶牛的情感状态；2)中等和亚临床健康状况是否影响奶牛的情感状态以及通过哪些机制；以及3)我们如何使用精确的牲畜饲养技术来识别奶牛的情感状态。我假设，患有中度疾病的奶牛仍然会经历负面的情感状态，严重程度将与疾病的持续时间相互作用。我预测，经历疼痛、不适或负能量平衡(卡路里缺乏)的奶牛将表现出负面情绪状态的行为反应。我预测，行为和精确技术可以比生理学更好地帮助我们评估情感状态的价态(不愉快程度)，因为这主要是衡量唤醒/强度。了解如何评估情感状态并相应地管理奶牛，对于确保良好的健康和福利，提高乳制品行业的效率和可持续性至关重要。这项研究计划将培训8名HQP作为下一代动物福利科学家，并将产生关于奶牛如何经历普遍的健康疾病的新的科学知识。