Skip to main content

Table 1 Test performance of a set of welfare indicators, used as test tool to identify herds with good welfare. Cut-offs were applied to the distributions of the welfare indicators to produce a 0/1 test result, and these were combined in different sets that were identified through a systematic selection procedure. The parameter sets were applied to 55 Swedish dairy herds involved in a study on dairy cow welfare in 2005. The gold standard consisted of 9 animal-based measurements, where a herd with no welfare remarks above the 90th percentile was regarded as having good welfare.

From: Can pre-collected register data be used to identify dairy herds with good cattle welfare?

Performance parameter

Test tool to identify herds with good welfare1

Correctly classified (%)

76

Sensitivity

0.96

Specificity

0.56

Test positive (%)

71

Predictive value positive

0.69

Likelihood ratio positive

2.18

  1. 1 Test set includes following welfare indicators from the register data: Cows with late ongoing AIs, >120 days (cut-off 20th percentile); Heifers not bred >17 months (cut-off: 10th percentile); Stillbirth rate (cut-off: 10th percentile); Cow mortality (cut-off: 10th percentile); Mastitis incidence (cut-off: 10th percentile); Incidence of feed-related diseases (cut-off: 5th percentile)
Back to article page

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica

ISSN: 1751-0147