M. Verdon, I. Hunt, L. Forster, R. Rawnsley
New technologies and management systems should demonstrate that they at least preserve, but ideally improve, the welfare of the animals they manage. Halter's virtual fencing (VF) and herding (VH) system is a new technology that uses two primary cues, sound and vibration, followed by an aversive secondary stimulus (electric shock) if the primary cue is ignored, to confine dairy cows to a pasture allocation and herd them from the paddock to the milking shed. This experiment evaluated cow welfare under Halter management. Four groups of 40 mid-lactation dairy cows (Bos taurus, Friesian and Friesian × Jersey, parities 1-8) were studied over 44 days. Two groups were managed with electric fencing (EF) and stockpeople bringing them to the dairy (i.e., 'conventional' system), while the other two were managed with Halter VF and VH. All cows were conventionally managed for the first 6-days of the experiment ("adjustment period") after which training to the Halter system occurred over 10-days ("training period"). Cows were managed in their respective treatments for a further 28-days ("management period") posttraining. Milk production, body condition, and live weight were measured twice daily, while time spent grazing and ruminating was continuously recorded. Milk cortisol concentrations of all cows were sampled on 2 days of the adjustment period, each day of the training period, and 3 days of the management period. No systematic difference was detected in milk cortisol, milk production, body condition, or live weight. VF cows grazed 5% (∼20 min) less per day, but rumination time was unaffected. EF cows touched the electric front-fence an average of once per cow during a 4-6 h grazing period. We conclude that dairy cow welfare under VF and VH did not significantly differ from our conventional management, using a technology that included safety mechanisms, training protocols, and collar designs appropriate for the animals being managed.