This research communication explores the value of routinely collected bulk tank milk quality data for estimating dairy cattle welfare at herd level. Selected bulk tank milk quality parameters (somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea, protein and fat contents) recorded during the years 2014–2016 in 287 Italian dairy farms were compared with the animal welfare data of each farm. The welfare assessment data were extracted from the database of the Italian Reference Centre for Animal Welfare (CReNBA), which includes the outputs of the application of the CReNBA welfare assessment protocol for dairy cows, used at national level for on-farm controls. The statistical analysis was carried out using the correlation coefficient for Kendall's Tau ranks, in order to investigate the presence of a categoric relationship between the selected bulk tank milk quality parameters and the overall animal welfare score or the scores of the single areas A (farm management and staff training), B (housing) and C (animal-based measures). Somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea and proteins demonstrated only a few statistically significant and very weak correlations with farm animal welfare data, while no significant correlations were obtained for milk fat content. Given the weak correlations found, the selected bulk tank milk parameters seems to be able to provide only limited information about the welfare level of the herd, thus it could be difficult to use them for drawing up a pre-screening model for identifying herds at risk of poor welfare.

中文翻译：

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散装罐牛奶质量数据不太可能提供有关牛群水平奶牛福利的有用信息

本研究交流探讨了常规收集的散装罐牛奶质量数据对估计牛群水平的奶牛福利的价值。将 2014-2016 年期间在 287 个意大利奶牛场记录的选定散装罐牛奶质量参数（体细胞计数、总细菌计数、尿素、蛋白质和脂肪含量）与每个农场的动物福利数据进行了比较。福利评估数据是从意大利动物福利参考中心 (CReNBA) 的数据库中提取的，其中包括应用 CReNBA 奶牛福利评估协议的输出，用于国家层面的农场控制。使用 Kendall 的 Tau 等级的相关系数进行统计分析，为了调查所选散装罐牛奶质量参数与总体动物福利得分或单个区域 A（农场管理和员工培训）、B（住房）和 C（基于动物的措施）。体细胞计数、总细菌计数、尿素和蛋白质与农场动物福利数据的相关性只有少数具有统计学意义且非常弱，而乳脂肪含量则没有显着相关性。鉴于发现的相关性较弱，所选散装罐牛奶参数似乎只能提供有关牛群福利水平的有限信息，因此可能难以使用它们来制定用于识别处于危险中的牛群的预筛选模型福利差。