HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF COWS ON FARMS WITH DIFFERENT WELFARE SCORE

Measuring the welfare of cows on farms was carried out according to the protocol of Welfare Quality ® scoring system. On farms with lower level of welfare as well as the poorer implementation of principles of good nutrition, significantly lower milk production was found, as well as a greater percentage of cows with a long service period, lameness and a higher percentage of very thin cows. Providing good accommodation principles will significantly improve milk production, reduce the number of cows with a long service period as well as the ones with lameness, and it is particularly interesting that obliging this principle will provide less subclinical mastitis on a farm and less cows with dystocia and skin lesions. The most important principle, which has demonstrated a significant effect on the values of all parameters, is the principle of good health. Providing the implementation of this principle on farms will result in significant improvement of all parameters of production and health. In addition to medical syndromes such as lameness or
dystocia, the score of good health depends on the occurrence of ocular, nasal and vaginal discharge, which supports the infection of the corresponding organs. Ultimately, changes in the behavior of the cows do not show significant effects on the health and productive characteristics. Poor interaction with people and other animals, poor response to food or fear and aggressive behavior
can be correlated with the occurrence of higher rate of lameness and increased number of skin lesions on farms. The link between the tested criteria of welfare and health and productive characteristics of cows indicate that there is the strongest correlation with the criterion of good health on farms, then with the criterion of good nutrition and at the end with the criterion of good housing. Productive characteristics such as milk production and length of service period significantly correlate with the factors of health, food and accommodation. Ensuring good health of farm animals is the most important task in the process of securing the welfare and sustainable production on cow farms.