It’s probably not something most people think about — how and when dairy producers decide a cow is near the end of its life and what happens next.
But to Colorado State University Animal Sciences Associate Professor Lily Edwards-Callaway, it’s a challenge that impacts both the welfare of the animal and the producer in a variety of ways.
“End-of-life decisions are often a question of making timely determinations that are best for the animals, so there is a big animal welfare component to it,” Edwards-Callaway said. “But I think what’s been lost for a while in the agricultural space is that it’s also a really hard decision for the people making it.”
To help improve the process on both sides of the fence Colorado State University researchers Edwards-Callaway, Noa Roman-Muniz and Catie Cramer have received a $1 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The four-year project will be led by Edwards-Callaway, an animal welfare expert, and involves a multidisciplinary, collaborative team comprised of Roman-Muniz, a former dairy extension specialist and veterinarian; Cramer, a dairy calf health and management researcher; epidemiologist Lorann Stallones; statistician Kayleigh Keller; and dairy extension specialist Diego Manriquez Alvarez.