Despite being a leading producer and exporter of dairy products, New Zealand has no industry-recognised welfare assessment protocol. A New Zealand-specific protocol is essential, as almost all dairy farms in New Zealand are pasture-based and housing is rarely used. Therefore, protocols developed for intensive cows are not suitable. The aim of this study was to develop a simple yet practical welfare assessment protocol that could be used to assess the welfare of a dairy herd during one visit timed to occur around milking. Six welfare assessment protocols and four studies of dairy cattle welfare assessments that had some focus on dairy cattle welfare at pasture were used, along with the New Zealand Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare, to identify potential assessments for inclusion in the protocol. Eighty-four potential assessments (20 record-based and 64 that needed assessing on-farm) were identified by this process of welfare assessments. After screening to exclude on-farm assessments that were not relevant, that had only limited practical application in pasture-based dairy cows or that required more time than available, 28 on-farm assessments remained, which were put together with the 20 record-based assessments and were tested for feasibility, practicality and time on two pasture-based dairy farms. Assessments were then identified as suitable, suitable after modification or not feasible. Suitable and modified assessments were then included in the final protocol alongside additional measures specific to New Zealand dairy farms. The final protocol included 24 on-farm assessments and eight record-based assessments. Further testing of these 32 assessments is needed on more dairy farms across New Zealand before the protocol can be used to routinely assess the welfare of dairy cows in New Zealand.

中文翻译：

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动物福利评估：我们可以为新西兰基于牧场的奶牛制定实用的，有时间限制的评估协议吗？

尽管新西兰是乳制品的主要生产国和出口国，但新西兰尚无行业认可的福利评估协议。新西兰特有的协议至关重要，因为新西兰几乎所有的奶牛场都是牧场式的，很少使用住房。因此，为密集型母牛开发的方案是不合适的。这项研究的目的是开发一种简单而实用的福利评估协议，该协议可用于评估挤奶期间一次来访期间奶牛场的福利。使用了六项福利评估协议和四项针对牧场牧场奶牛福利的奶牛福利评估研究，以及《新西兰奶牛福利法》，以确定可能纳入该协议的评估。此福利评估过程确定了八十四种潜在评估（基于记录的20种评估和需要在农场进行评估的64种评估）。在筛选以排除不相关的农场评估，在牧场型奶牛中实际应用有限或需要的时间超出可用时间的农场评估后，剩下28场农场评估与20项基于记录的评估结合在一起评估，并在两个牧场式奶牛场进行了可行性，实用性和时间测试。然后将评估结果确定为合适，修改后合适或不可行。然后，在最终方案中包括适当的和经过修改的评估，以及针对新西兰奶牛场的其他额外措施。最终方案包括24个农场评估和8个基于记录的评估。