Welfare in Danish dairy herds 1. Disease management routines in 1983 and 1994

This paper presents the first part of a questionnaire survey carried out in 2148 Danish dairy herds during 1994, as well as results from a similar survey carried out in 1983. The welfare status in Danish dairy herds with respect to disease management routines currently applied is discussed. In detail this was: recording of mastitis incidents, use of veterinarian for milk fever cases, farmer's effort in reducing incidence of mastitis, milk fever, ketosis, calving problems, and lameness, as well as frequency of claw trimming, reasons for culling, and way of replacing cullings. Furthermore, trends during the 11 year period are discussed. The results show that the Danish dairy farmers in 1994 in general have a substantial knowledge of prevention and treatment of disease. However, adjustments in the following areas would be appropriate: 1) farmers should avoid making intravenous infusions, 2) they should be encouraged to use calving boxes for parturitions, 3) there should be more attention on claw health, and 4) to comply with the new Danish legislation, antibiotic dry cow treatment should only be carried out on the individual cow if pathogenic microorganisms have been isolated within 35 days prior to drying off.