Dairy Cow Husbandry, Behaviour and Welfare

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit papers to this Special Issue of Ruminants on the subject of Dairy Cow Husbandry, Behaviour and Welfare. Good husbandry and management of dairy cattle is essential for optimal production and performance. Behaviour and welfare studies are particularly important around aspects of positive welfare, not just the absence of stressors in the animal’s life. In addition to studies examining interactions between cattle and their environment, we also welcome research into how cattle interact with their co-specifics and those caring for them. 

This Special Issue aims to present the most recent research into dairy cattle behaviour, welfare and husbandry, leading to the improvement of quality of life for farmed dairy cattle.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Environmental enrichment;
• Pain relief strategies;
• Impacts of disease on behaviour;
• Husbandry best practice;
• Positive welfare;
• Stress responses;
• Evidence-based welfare;
• Human–animal interaction;
• Cattle preferences.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Nicola Blackie
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Ruminants is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• dairy cattle
• welfare
• husbandry
• environmental enrichment
• behaviour
• human-animal interactions