In the European Union, cattle registration has been harmonised, and every farmer has to report cattle deaths to a national computer database. However, there is no obligation to mention the reason for culling, death or slaughter. In dairy farming, the herd is constantly renewed by letting in some young …

Over the last decades, the increased demand in beef by the growing population led to an industrialization and intensification of the production systems. This resulted in many issues such as environmental impact, animal welfare, consumers acceptability, resource-use efficiency, growing reliance on edible …

Inbreeding rates in the Holstein Friesian dairy cattle breed are rapidly increasing, by which the negative effects of inbreeding depression on performance are becoming increasingly remarkable. To avoid the effects of inbreeding depression, crossbreeding strategies may be applied. Crossbreeding results …

The current situation of the Icelandic dairy production and the desire of the Icelandic farmers are the occasion of this study. The main objective of the study is to identify opportunities in feeding management to improve the production of the Icelandic dairy farms. The four important subjects within …

Heathland, with its frail character, has always been one of the most essential habitats for almost all indigenous reptile species in the Netherlands. Situated in the Drents-Friese Wold National Park, the Doldersummerveld ranks as one of the best developed heathland areas of Western Europe and counts …

A focus of information on production systems calls for more knowledge on the naturalness in behaviour of semi wild living cattle. Broadening this knowledge database is beneficial to the increased use of cattle in conservation as well as more traditional farming methods. This study therefore investigated …

Conventional dairy husbandry systems acknowledge animal welfare guided by Brambel’s five freedoms. The concept of natural, or normal behaviour would in contrast to Brambel’s convention, be based on stability through chance and offers a less anthropocentric and more naturalistic approach. The present …