A growing concern of the dairy industry is to increase dairy cattle wellbeing in anticipation of a demand from the general public of welfare-certified dairy products. Lameness is one of the most important welfare issues of high producing dairy cows in North America (Vermunt, 2007). It is a debilitating condition that challenges sustainability of production systems used in North America because ...

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the members of the dissertation committee: First and foremost, my deepest thanks go to Professor Manfred Schedlowski for giving me the opportunity to conduct the research for my dissertation in his laboratory. I am very thankful for the daily supervision, guidance and support under awkward circumstances, as well as for his trust in me throughout the...

For a change to be considered enriching, the change must enhance animal welfare and improve biological functioning of the animals. A review of the literature shows that a consensus on the definition of changes constituting "environmental enrichment" has yet to be reached. For this reason, the results of studies on the effects of rodent enrichment are inconsistent. In many cases, changes have no...

In-transit supply of nutrients and water supplement is essential to maintaining good chick quality and wellbeing during long, international shipments. Although chicks require light to promote ingestion of nutrients, supply of continuous in-transit lighting is impractical. This study compared four intermittent lighting regimens of 1L:5D, 5L:10D,10L:10D, and 5L:15D applied to a three-day simulate...

Physical activity is associated with disease prevention and overall wellbeing. Additionally there has been evidence that physical activity level is a result of genetic influence. However, there has not been a reliable method to silence candidate genes in vivo to determine causal mechanisms of physical activity regulation. Vivo-morpholinos are a potential method to transiently silence specific g...

OBJECTIVE The overall aim of this study was to examine a variety of belief and demographic factors that are associated with the perception that meat is intrinsically unhealthy. DESIGN State-wide survey (written questionnaire) that included questions on meat and nutrition beliefs, perceived barriers and benefits of vegetarian diets, personal values, number of vegetarian friends and family memb...

The practice of vaccination for the prevention of animal disease has been used for centuries and has proven to be a powerful tool for the alleviation of animal suffering as well as the economic well being of producers of animal products. Up until 15–20 years ago, vaccines had changed little from those originally pioneered by Jenner and Pasteur. Since that time there have been significant change...