Integument lesions and lameness as animal based indicators for dairy cow welfare in epidemiological research

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Cubicle loose housing is a very common housing system nowadays, but cow welfare can differ substantially between farms with cubicle systems, depending on the specific housing and management conditions. A cross sectional study was conducted on 105 conventional and organic dairy farms with cubicle housing in Germany and Austria in order to assess prevalences of lameness and integument lesions, to identify risk factors for these ailments, to reveal correlations between them and to compare different statistical methods of risk prediction. Farms with the breeds Holstein Friesian in Germany and Fleckvieh (dairy oriented strain of the dual purpose breed Simmental) in Austria were included.