Enhancing Cattle Welfare: Bedding, Lameness and Thermal Comfort in Live Export

⁠⁠⁠Project background

The continuous improvement in welfare of cattle during live export voyages is a priority for the industry and community. Although mortality and morbidity numbers are exceptionally low, further enhancements in welfare management are being prioritised - particularly in key welfare areas such as bedding management and thermal comfort on board, and lameness prevention and treatment.

This project will build on existing knowledge to create practical guidelines that minimise welfare risks and enhance overall animal wellbeing, focusing on prevention and proactive management of these key areas.

Objectives

It has been identified through stakeholder consultation that there are several objectives to be achieved, which can be summarised to:

• Conduct a comprehensive literature review (using current and previous LiveCorp projects as a starting point) and scoping study on the prevention, management and treatment of lameness, and management of bedding and thermal comfort on-board export voyages.

• Analyse industry (including LIVEXCollect) data to identify key factors contributing to lameness, pad condition, and thermal comfort during live export voyages, especially for heavy cattle and voyages going through or to hotter climatic regions.

• Develop practical guidelines for preventing and treatment of lameness for cattle in live export, including proactive measures and effective treatments to mitigate its impact.

• Establish (practical) best practice guidelines for bedding management and rectification strategies, factoring in pad condition and the availability of bedding materials (and other logistical challenges).

• Develop practical guidelines for maximising thermal comfort for cattle in live export, including proactive measures and effective treatments

• Investigate the relationships between bedding management (including types and usage) thermal comfort, and morbidities (such as lameness, respiratory disease, and pink eye) to provide actionable insights

• Produce a best practice management guide to enhance cattle welfare - addressing bedding, lameness, and thermal comfort

Applications should detail the methodology tenderers propose to use to deliver against the above objectives