Using dairy cow behavioral indicators to assess and improve welfare in modern dairy production systems.
Behavioral welfare assessment in dairy cows provides a practical, animal-centered approach to measuring welfare that complements resource-based measures like housing type and stocking density. Behavioral indicators tell us how the animal is actually experiencing its environment, not just what resources are nominally provided. A cow that avoids human approach, shows extended lying time suppression, performs tongue-rolling stereotypies, or shows restricted social behavior is a cow signaling welfare deficits regardless of what the housing specification says on paper. The Welfare Quality assessment framework integrates behavioral and resource-based measures into a comprehensive welfare evaluation that can identify where specific farms are performing well and where improvement is needed. Training farm workers to observe and interpret behavioral welfare indicators improves both welfare outcomes and farm worker engagement with animal welfare as a professional practice.