In this episode of The Dairy Health Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Anne-Marieke Smid shares insights on what outdoor access means for dairy cattle. She talks about how cows respond to different environments, what farmers think about letting cows outside, and how weather, infrastructure, and public opinion all play a role. Learn how these factors affect both animal welfare and milk production. Tune in now on all major platforms!

"Cows want to work as hard to go outside to pasture, even though they still have their TMR and all their water inside."

Meet the guest: Dr. Anne-Marieke Smid earned her Ph.D. in Animal Welfare from the University of British Columbia and holds an M.Sc. in Animal Production Systems from Wageningen University. She is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Calgary, where her research focuses on dairy farmers' perspectives and the welfare impacts of outdoor access for dairy cattle.

Click here to read the full research articles:

Dairy cow preference for different types of outdoor access

Dairy cow preference for access to an outdoor pack in summer and winter

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What you will learn:

• (00:00) Highlight
• (00:34) Introduction
• (01:26) Career pathways
• (02:50) Cattle's outdoor preference
• (03:66) Impact of environment
• (05:44) Barn vs pasture feeding
• (09:10) Public vs farmer views
• (13:00) Closing thoughts

𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺.

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