Date of Award
2017
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS)
Program
Animal Sciences
Department
Animal Sciences
College
Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources
Faculty Advisor
Wagner, Sarah A.
Description
The objectives of the studies described in this thesis were to quantify livestock behavior and improve animal wellbeing. Subjective and objective evaluation methods can be used as an estimation parameter of animal welfare. The first study used behavioral methods to evaluate the analgesic effects of a pharmaceutical drug in lame dairy cattle. Lameness pain was evaluated by measuring weight shifting, locomotion score, and visual analog scale score. Correlation analysis of the three methods determined cohesion among subjective methods. The second study measured the behavioral effects of ramp exposure during the nursery period of swine development. Loading can be a stressful event for hogs which may cause an increased incidence of stress. Conditioning methods and environmental enrichment reduced the duration of time spent on the loading ramp and decreased production inputs. Both trials identified methods to improve animal welfare and future efforts will aid in the development of positive management strategies.
Recommended Citation
Novak, Blaine Lee, "The Use of Subjective and Objective Methods of Behavioral Evaluation in Swine and Dairy Cattle" (2017). Animal Sciences. 78.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/animal-sci/78
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/28501