Page 274 - The Welfare of Cattle

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to Meet the ethical Imperative of telos in
Modern Dairy Production: Societal Concern
for Naturalness, animal Welfare, and
Opportunities for resolution through Science

Beth Ventura
University of Minnesota

Candace Croney
Purdue University

CONteNtS

The Relationship between Dairy Cow Ethology, telos, and Animal Welfare ................................ 251
Conceptual Framework .............................................................................................................252
Societal Perceptions of Cow Welfare and telos .............................................................................253
Animal Welfare and telos in the Dairy Industry ............................................................................254
Cow Housing .............................................................................................................................254
Calf Housing and Management .................................................................................................256
Routine Alterations....................................................................................................................259
Longevity .................................................................................................................................. 261
Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................263
References ......................................................................................................................................263

the reLatIONShIP BetWeeN DaIrY COW
ethOLOGY, TELOS, aND aNIMaL WeLFare

Any discussion of the extent to which an animal industry appropriately addresses the telos
of the respective species it governs (i.e., the animal’s genetically encoded “nature” which also
reflects the function for which it was intended [as per Rollin, 1993]) should include at minimum a
brief review of the ethology of the species in question. Today’s cattle are thought to be descended
from several different subspecies of aurochs domesticated around 9,000 years ago in western Asia,
Africa, China, and India (Clutton-Brock, 1999). Cattle have been altered significantly from their
wild progenitors through both artificial and natural selection, and the evolving demands of mod-
ern-dairy production place additional adaptation pressures upon them. However, commonalities
still exist between the working dairy cow, feral cattle, and her ancestors, suggesting that despite

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