Animal Welfare Protocol Proposed for FCV-UNR Dairy Farm

During the XXV Jornadas de Divulgación Técnico-Científica at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the UNR, an initiative was presented aimed at improving the welfare conditions in the institutional dairy herd. The protocol is specifically designed for the faculty's facility in Casilda.

The project is led by the Animal Protection and Welfare Chair, driven by scholar MV Celina Risso, MV Graciela Cappelletti, and student Ángeles Bunge. It aims to provide a practical, evaluable tool consistent with Good Agricultural Practices (BPA) and international standards.

The protocol was developed based on specialized literature review and reference frameworks such as Welfare Quality®, adapting its criteria to the local productive reality. It is organized around four fundamental pillars: Good Feeding, Good Housing, Good Health, and Behavior and Human-Animal Interaction.

Academically, the protocol positions the faculty's dairy as a practical teaching environment, applying real welfare criteria in a production context. From a production perspective, it strives to improve the herd's quality of life, health, and longevity, positively affecting productivity and social acceptance. Additionally, the provincial legal framework, Santa Fe's Law 14.366, backs sustainable agricultural production, supporting the protocol's development and potential implementation.