Assessing the Standard of Health and Welfare in Individual Categories of Cattle from the Viewpoint of Intravital Pathological Changes

Michal Kaluza, Vladimir Vecerek, Eva Voslarova, Zbynek Semerad and Annamaria Passantino
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Michal Kaluza: Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Vladimir Vecerek: Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Eva Voslarova: Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Zbynek Semerad: Central Veterinary Administration of the State Veterinary Administration, 120 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Annamaria Passantino: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario Annunziata, 981 68 Messina, Italy

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: The standard of the health and welfare of individual categories of cattle was assessed from the viewpoint of intravital pathological changes. The results of veterinary inspections of 2,514,666 head of cattle (1,136,754 cows, 257,912 heifers, 1,015,541 bulls and 104,459 calves) slaughtered in the Czech Republic in the period from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed. The results show significant differences ( p < 0.01) between the categories of cattle in the total numbers of intravital findings. Intravital findings were most frequently recorded in cows (index 2.271) and least frequently recorded in bulls (index 0.479). In all categories of cattle, chronic findings predominated, where the largest number was recorded in cows (index 1.740) and calves (index 0.910). Parasitic and traumatic findings were only detected in low numbers in all categories of cattle. Assessment of the trend in the total number of intravital pathological findings in individual categories of cattle in the monitored period showed an evident fall in heifers (rSp = −0.915, p < 0.01), cows (rSp = −0.806, p < 0.01) and bulls (rSp = −0.636, p < 0.05). In calves, no decreasing trend was found (rSp = −0.382, p > 0.05). The results obtained in this study do not merely reflect the standard of health of the animals slaughtered at abattoirs in the Czech Republic, but also provide a picture of the standard of the living conditions provided by farmers rearing individual categories of cattle.

Keywords: slaughterhouse; veterinary inspection; intravital findings; health; welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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