Welcome to the Benchmarking System for Dairy Cow Comfort. This website will allow you to compare your cow comfort assessment results with other herds within the Maritimes. The results have been grouped based on housing type (Free-stall and Tie-Stall), as well as by herd size. Grouping the results will allow you to fairly compare your results with herds of similar size and management. If you were one of the 80 herds that participated in this study, please login with the username and password you were provided to start comparing your results now. The farm dashboard shows your results for each Critical Area of cow comfort. Each Critical Area score is based on your score for specific Targets. To view and compare your scores for each Target, please click the “+” symbol beside the Critical Area of interest, if applicable. The number at the bottom of the speedometer of each Critical Area (or Target) represents your farm results. The coloured arch on the outside represents the performance of the other participant herds with similar housing and herd size. The speedometer needle will point to the quartile in which your results compare with your peers. To find more information about how each Critical Area (or Target) score was calculated click on the “i” icon. If you were not a part of the study, no worries. You can find a link for instructions to do a self-assessment of your cow comfort from the link below. Follow the steps, calculate your scores and then compare them with the results of the participating herds. Please visit the resource page, where you will also find recommendations and more information on different aspects of cow comfort. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at milk@upei.ca.
WARNING: The Cow Comfort Assessment Tool used in this project is based on scientific knowledge and was developed considering prevailing industry standards for management and housing. Utilization and interpretation of this website remains under the responsibility of the user. Considering the variety of dairy cattle housing and management systems used in Canada, not all recommendations will apply to every farm. Users are encouraged to use their judgement when interpreting scores and recommendations in consideration of their facility.
Please note that this assessment shares similarities to the animal care portion of proAction but this project is not a part of proAction Animal Care.
The choice of targets, as well as the associated scoring system, was determined by a group of experts from several sectors of the dairy industry (technical advisors, veterinarians and researchers).
The Cow Comfort Assessment Tool can be accessed at: Cow Comfort Assessment Tool
How To Use The Cow Comfort Benchmark Website
The original advisory tool was developed by:
Elsa Vasseur, Ph.D., Department of Animal Science, University of McGill
Jenny Gibbons, Ph.D., DairyCo, UK
Jeff Rushen, Ph.D., Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Doris Pellerin, Ph.D., agr., Animal Science Department, Université Laval
Ed Pajor, Ph.D., Department of Production Animal Health, university of Calgary
Daniel Lefebvre, Ph.D., agr., Research and Development, Valacta
Anne Marie de Passillé, PhD., Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
This project was funded by the generous support of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre at the Atlantic Veterinary College.
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