Dairy Welfare with guests: Dr. Elsa Vasseur, McGill University; Jessica St John, Lactanet & University of Guelph

This episode’s guests were speakers on the Joint ADSA-CSAS Breeding and Genetics Symposium: Dairy Welfare—Breeding and Management Strategies at the 2025 ADSA annual meeting. Jessica’s talk was titled “Herd Sustainability Index: Using milk recording data to evaluate dairy herd sustainability.” This index provides a national percentile ranking benchmark for producers relative to sustainability from DHI data. The index evaluates ten indicators in four major categories: longevity and culling, feeding and production, heifers, and health. (2:51) Dr. Vasseur’s talk was titled “Improving welfare through inclusive innovation: The story of WELL-E.” This inclusive innovation delivers data-driven solutions with and for the Canadian dairy industry by integrating stakeholder and domain knowledge with cutting-edge tools and methods of the improvement of animal and human welfare. (4:48) Dr. Vasseur talks about the development of the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle, which was published in 2023. This most recent code of practice included recommendations and requirements for more opportunities for movement for dairy cattle, particularly those in tie stall environments. Dr. Vasseur’s lab has conducted research in this area to help dairy producers with possible modifications of stalls and other recommendations to improve cow comfort. Jessica describes her master’s research in tie stall modifications. The guests go on to talk about how often cows in tie stalls bump into their stall, some proof-on-concept research looking at doubling stall size, and recommendations for cow comfort improvements in existing tie stall operations. (6:53) Dr. Vasseur discusses the relationship between cow comfort and longevity. She also talks about the realities of converting a tie stall barn to a free stall barn. (20:12) Jessica describes the indicators used in the Herd Sustainability Index in more detail. A minimum of six tests in the last 12 months with 50% of the cows being recorded are needed to calculate the index for a farm. Seven of the ten HSI indicators are required for the index to be calculated. She goes on to explain how producers can see their index compared to the rest of Canada as well as historical change in their index, and details an incentive program for high-indexing and most-improved herds. (24:07) Dr. Vasseur talks about cow comfort and welfare comparisons among intensive dairy production countries. She envisions the development and implementation of technology to allow for more automation and reduced observer bias of processes such as lameness evaluation. (30:30) So what is WELL-E? Dr. Vasseur gives some background and details about bringing together animal scientists, computer scientists, and stakeholders to develop cutting-edge tools for the improvement of animal and human welfare. (33:24) Jessica talks about her PhD research in dairy cow behavior and pasture management. She conducted a study where pastures were mowed the morning of grazing compared to conventional grazing. Cows in the mowed pastures spent more time ruminating and drank more water, but no differences in milk production or milk components were observed. (38:02) Panelists share their take-home thoughts. (43:07) Please

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Dairy Welfare with guests: Dr. Elsa Vasseur, McGill University; Jessica St John, Lactanet & University of Guelph is an episode from Real Science Exchange by Balchem Animal Nutrition & Health.

This episode is 00:45:58 long.

This episode was published on Jan 20, 2026.

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