All Outputs (78)

Quantification of play behaviour in farmed calves using automated ultra-wide band location data and its association with age, weaning and health status (2024)
Journal Article
Vázquez-Diosdado, J., Doidge, C., Bushby, E., Occhiuto, F., & Kaler, J. (2024). Quantification of play behaviour in farmed calves using automated ultra-wide band location data and its association with age, weaning and health status. Scientific Reports, 14, Article 8872

Play behaviour can act as an indicator of positive animal welfare. Previous attempts to predict play behaviour in farmed calves are limited because of the classification methods used, which lead to overestimation, and the short time periods that calv... Read More about Quantification of play behaviour in farmed calves using automated ultra-wide band location data and its association with age, weaning and health status.

The tales of contradiction: A thematic analysis of British sheep farmers’ perceptions of managing sheep scab in their flocks (2024)
Journal Article
Smith, A. E. O., Doidge, C., Knific, T., Lovatt, F., & Kaler, J. (2024). The tales of contradiction: A thematic analysis of British sheep farmers’ perceptions of managing sheep scab in their flocks. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 227, Article 106194

Sheep scab is endemic in Great Britain with an estimated national herd-level prevalence of 10.9% from a surveyed population of sheep farms. Previous studies have investigated how sheep farmers manage sheep scab on their farms in Great Britain, but th... Read More about The tales of contradiction: A thematic analysis of British sheep farmers’ perceptions of managing sheep scab in their flocks.

A qualitative survey approach to investigating beef and dairy veterinarians’ needs in relation to technologies on farms (2024)
Journal Article
Doidge, C., Burrell, A., van Schaik, G., & Kaler, J. (2024). A qualitative survey approach to investigating beef and dairy veterinarians’ needs in relation to technologies on farms. Animal, 18(4), Article 101124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2024.101124

Globally, farmers are being increasingly encouraged to use technologies. Consequently, veterinarians often use farm data and technologies to provide farmers with advice. Yet very few studies have sought to understand veterinarians’ perceptions of dat... Read More about A qualitative survey approach to investigating beef and dairy veterinarians’ needs in relation to technologies on farms.

A living lab approach to understanding dairy farmers' needs of technologies and data to improve herd health: Focus groups from 6 European countries (2024)
Journal Article
Doidge, C., Ånestad, L. M., Burrell, A., Frössling, J., Palczynski, L., Pardon, B., …Kaler, J. (in press). A living lab approach to understanding dairy farmers' needs of technologies and data to improve herd health: Focus groups from 6 European countries. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-24155

For successful development and adoption of technology on dairy farms, farmers need to be included in the innovation process. However, the design of agricultural technologies usually takes a top-down approach with little involvement of end-users at th... Read More about A living lab approach to understanding dairy farmers' needs of technologies and data to improve herd health: Focus groups from 6 European countries.

Quantification of the effect of in-utero events on lifetime resilience in dairy cows (2024)
Journal Article
Lewis, K., Shewbridge Carter, L., Bradley, A., Dewhurst, R., Forde, N., Hyde, R., …Green, M. (2024). Quantification of the effect of in-utero events on lifetime resilience in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2023-24215

Currently, the dairy industry is facing many challenges that could affect its sustainability, including climate change and public perception of the industry. As a result, interest is increasing in the concept of identifying resilient animals, those w... Read More about Quantification of the effect of in-utero events on lifetime resilience in dairy cows.

Novel enrichment reduces boredom-associated behaviours in housed dairy cows (2024)
Journal Article
Russell, A. L., Randall, L. V., Eyre, N., Kaler, J., & Green, M. J. (2024). Novel enrichment reduces boredom-associated behaviours in housed dairy cows. JDS Communications, https://doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2023-0475

There is currently societal interest and concern for dairy cow welfare. It has been suggested that boredom poses a welfare issue for dairy cows, particularly when presented with extended disposable time in housed environments that lack stimuli. Farm... Read More about Novel enrichment reduces boredom-associated behaviours in housed dairy cows.

Evidence of personality-dependent plasticity in dairy calf movement behaviours derived from automated data collection (2023)
Journal Article
Occhiuto, F., Vázquez-Diosdado, J. A., King, A. J., & Kaler, J. (2023). Evidence of personality-dependent plasticity in dairy calf movement behaviours derived from automated data collection. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 18243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44957-z

Individual consistency in behaviour, known as animal personality, and behavioural plasticity in response to environmental changes are important factors shaping individual behaviour. Correlations between them, called personality-dependent plasticity,... Read More about Evidence of personality-dependent plasticity in dairy calf movement behaviours derived from automated data collection.

Exploring the data divide through a social practice lens: A qualitative study of UK cattle farmers (2023)
Journal Article
Doidge, C., Palczynski, L., Zhou, X., Bearth, A., van Schaik, G., & Kaler, J. (2023). Exploring the data divide through a social practice lens: A qualitative study of UK cattle farmers. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 220, Article 106030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.106030

Appropriate management decisions are key for sustainable and profitable beef and dairy farming. Data-driven technologies aim to provide information which can improve farmers’ decision-making practices. However, data-driven technologies have resulted... Read More about Exploring the data divide through a social practice lens: A qualitative study of UK cattle farmers.

Incorporating heterogeneity in farmer disease control behaviour into a livestock disease transmission model (2023)
Journal Article
Hill, E. M., Prosser, N. S., Brown, P. E., Ferguson, E., Green, M. J., Kaler, J., …Tildesley, M. J. (2023). Incorporating heterogeneity in farmer disease control behaviour into a livestock disease transmission model. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 219, Article 106019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.106019

Human behaviour is critical to effective responses to livestock disease outbreaks, especially with respect to vaccination uptake. Traditionally, mathematical models used to inform this behaviour have not taken heterogeneity in farmer behaviour into a... Read More about Incorporating heterogeneity in farmer disease control behaviour into a livestock disease transmission model.

Social and ethical implications of data and technology use on farms: a qualitative study of Swedish dairy and pig farmers (2023)
Journal Article
Doidge, C., Frössling, J., C. Dórea, F., Ordell, A., Vidal, G., & Kaler, J. (2023). Social and ethical implications of data and technology use on farms: a qualitative study of Swedish dairy and pig farmers. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 10, Article 1171107. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1171107

Introduction: Livestock farmers are being increasingly encouraged to adopt digital health technologies on their farms. Digital innovations may have unintended consequences, but there tends to be a pro-innovation bias in previous literature. This... Read More about Social and ethical implications of data and technology use on farms: a qualitative study of Swedish dairy and pig farmers.

A multistate modeling approach to investigate long-term effects of claw horn disruption lesions and early lesion development in dairy cows (2023)
Journal Article
Thomas, M., Green, M., Kypraios, T., & Kaler, J. (2023). A multistate modeling approach to investigate long-term effects of claw horn disruption lesions and early lesion development in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2021-21749

Claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL) are a leading cause of lameness in dairy cattle, and the development, effect, and pathology of these lesions remains an open area of interest within dairy cattle health. Current literature typically attempts to mea... Read More about A multistate modeling approach to investigate long-term effects of claw horn disruption lesions and early lesion development in dairy cows.

Use of qualitative behavioural assessment to investigate affective states of housed dairy cows under different environmental conditions (2023)
Journal Article
Russell, A. L., Randall, L. V., Kaler, J., Eyre, N., & Green, M. J. (2023). Use of qualitative behavioural assessment to investigate affective states of housed dairy cows under different environmental conditions. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 10, Article 1099170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1099170

In addition to the reduction of suboptimal welfare, there is now a need to provide farmed animals with positive opportunities to provide confidence that they have experienced a life worth living. Diversification of the environment through environment... Read More about Use of qualitative behavioural assessment to investigate affective states of housed dairy cows under different environmental conditions.

Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves (2023)
Journal Article
Vázquez-Diosdado, J. A., Occhiuto, F., Carslake, C., & Kaler, J. (2023). Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 2275. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29309-1

Social network analysis in dairy calves has not been widely studied, with previous studies limited by the short study duration, and low number of animals and replicates. In this study, we investigated social proximity interactions of 79 Holstein–Frie... Read More about Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves.

Assessment of a joint farmer-veterinarian discussion about biosecurity using novel social interaction analyses (2022)
Journal Article
Chomyn, O., Wapenaar, W., Richens, I. F., Reyneke, R. A., Shortall, O., Kaler, J., & Brennan, M. L. (2023). Assessment of a joint farmer-veterinarian discussion about biosecurity using novel social interaction analyses. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 212, Article 105831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2022.105831

Veterinarians are trusted by farmers and play an important role in assisting them to implement biosecurity. More research is needed that particularly focuses on the impact of joint farmer-veterinarian discussions to further understand the role of com... Read More about Assessment of a joint farmer-veterinarian discussion about biosecurity using novel social interaction analyses.

Indication of a personality trait in dairy calves and its link to weight gain through automatically collected feeding behaviours (2022)
Journal Article
Carslake, C., Occhiuto, F., Vázquez-Diosdado, J. A., & Kaler, J. (2022). Indication of a personality trait in dairy calves and its link to weight gain through automatically collected feeding behaviours. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 19425. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24076-x

Farm animal personality traits are of interest since they can help predict individual variation in behaviour and productivity. However, personality traits are currently inferred using behavioural tests which are impractical outside of research settin... Read More about Indication of a personality trait in dairy calves and its link to weight gain through automatically collected feeding behaviours.

Dissecting microbial communities and resistomes for interconnected humans, soil, and livestock (2022)
Journal Article
Maciel-Guerra, A., Baker, M., Hu, Y., Wang, W., Zhang, X., Rong, J., …Dottorini, T. (2023). Dissecting microbial communities and resistomes for interconnected humans, soil, and livestock. ISME Journal, 17, 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01315-7

A debate is currently ongoing as to whether intensive livestock farms may constitute reservoirs of clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance (AMR), thus posing a threat to surrounding communities. Here, combining shotgun metagenome sequencing, mac... Read More about Dissecting microbial communities and resistomes for interconnected humans, soil, and livestock.

Understanding public preferences for different dairy farming systems using a mixed-methods approach (2022)
Journal Article
Jackson, A., Doidge, C., Green, M., & Kaler, J. (2022). Understanding public preferences for different dairy farming systems using a mixed-methods approach. Journal of Dairy Science, 105(9), 7492-7512. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-21829

Global production of milk has doubled over the past 50 yr, yet dairy farming in high-income countries faces scrutiny over practices perceived to affect animal welfare. One such practice is housing dairy cows year-round without access to pasture, whic... Read More about Understanding public preferences for different dairy farming systems using a mixed-methods approach.

Descriptive analysis of national bovine viral diarrhoea test data in England (2016–2020) (2022)
Journal Article
Prosser, N. S., Hill, E. M., Armstrong, D., Gow, L., Tildesley, M. J., Keeling, M. J., …Green, M. J. (2022). Descriptive analysis of national bovine viral diarrhoea test data in England (2016–2020). Veterinary Record, 191(5), Article e1854. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.1854

Background: Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) causes substantial economic losses to the cattle industry; however, control and eradication can be achieved by identifying and removing persistently infected cattle from the herd. Each UK nation has sep... Read More about Descriptive analysis of national bovine viral diarrhoea test data in England (2016–2020).

Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour. (2022)
Journal Article
Hill, E. M., Prosser, N. S., Ferguson, E., Kaler, J., Green, M. J., Keeling, M. J., & Tildesley, M. J. (2022). Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour. PLoS Computational Biology, 18(7), Article e1010235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010235

Background: The spread of infection amongst livestock depends not only on the traits of the pathogen and the livestock themselves, but also on the behavioural characteristics of farmers and how that impacts the implementation of livestock disease con... Read More about Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour..

Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour (2022)
Journal Article
Hill, E. M., Prosser, N. S., Ferguson, E., Kaler, J., Green, M. J., Keeling, M. J., & Tildesley, M. J. (2022). Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour. PLoS Computational Biology, 18(7), Article e1010235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010235

The spread of infection amongst livestock depends not only on the traits of the pathogen and the livestock themselves, but also on the veterinary health behaviours of farmers and how this impacts their implementation of disease control measures. Cont... Read More about Modelling livestock infectious disease control policy under differing social perspectives on vaccination behaviour.