Table 58.

Definitions of the ABM scoring systems and farm‐level measurement used to evaluate whether a farm would require corrective action

ABM	Outline of scoring system	Farm‐level measurement
Whole farm annual mortality score	The number of animals that die or are culled through emergency slaughter on farm over a 1‐year period, excluding stillbirths, divided by the number of animal‐years at risk in that period. Data would be collated from national birth‐death recording systems and calculated electronically. Final value calculated as a percentage.	% of cows that die or are culled on‐farm per annum; continuous scale
Abdomen hygiene score	A hygiene score based on that reported in Ruud et al. (2010). The number of cows with an abdominal hygiene score of 4 (very dirty) is recorded. Final value calculated as the percentage of cows that score 4 on the day of assessment (a) .	% of cows with a belly hygiene score = 4; continuous scale
Lameness score	Gait scoring using a 3‐point system (e.g. Welfare Quality, 2009; Amory et al., 2006; 1 = sound, 2 = moderately lame, 3 = severely lame). Final value calculated as the percentage of cows that score >1 on the day of assessment(a).	% of cows with a gait score > 1; continuous scale
Lesions/integument alteration score	Visual assessment of one side of the body (head/ears, shoulders/back/neck, tarsus including hocks, hindquarter, carpus, flank/side/udder, tail) according to Welfare Quality (2009). Score 0: The cow has no lesion (> 2 cm), no swelling on all body parts, although it might have a hairless patch Score 1: at least one body part of the cow has at least one lesion or one swelling. Final value calculated as the percentage of cows that score 1 on the day of assessment(a).	% of cows with score = 1; continuous scale
Rising behaviour score	Lying animals are gently encouraged to stand up, and rising behaviour is scored as either Score 0: regular (no deviations from normal standing up, fluid movement), or Score 1: deviated (break: resting ≥ 3 s on carpal joint counted from the moment when they have stretched the hind legs – kneeling; difficulties: repeated lunging, colliding with housing equipment; or abnormal: deviation from normal standing up, e.g. horse‐like rising (Schenkenfelder and Winckler, 2021). Final value calculated as the percentage of cows that score 1 on the day of assessment(a).	% of cows with score 1; continuous scale
Number of agonistic interactions in the feed area	Continuous behaviour sampling (Bateson and Martin, 2021) of displacements in the feed area (i.e. cow is forced by another cow to leave the feeding place/step aside by one cow width, Winckler et al., 2015)) for in total 1 h, starting after morning milking (at least 75% of cows back from milking). Cows in oestrus should be excluded from the assessment. Observations may also be split into periods of minimum 10 min in representative segments of the feed bunk. The number of animals in the (respective) feed area(s) must be counted before and after the observations. Final value calculated as the number of displacements occurring divided by the average number of cows present in the feed area (on a per hour basis).	Number of displacements per cow per hour that occur in the feeding area; continuous scale
Number of agonistic interactions in the lying area	Continuous behaviour sampling of displacements in the lying area (i.e. cow that is either standing or lying is forced to leave the cubicle by another cow; Winckler et al., 2015) for in total 1 h, starting approx. 1 h after morning milking. Cows in oestrus should be excluded from the assessment. Observations may also be split into periods of minimum 10 min in representative segments of the pen(s). The number of animals in the (respective) lying area(s) needs to be counted before and after the observations. Observations may be combined with the assessment of agonistic interactions in the whole area by recording where displacements occur (i.e. lying area, remainder of the housed area). Final value calculated as the number of displacements occurring divided by the average number of cows present in the lying area (on a per hour basis).	Number of displacements per cow per hour that occur in the lying area; continuous scale
Number of agonistic interactions in the whole area	Continuous behaviour sampling of displacements in the whole housed area (i.e. cow that is either displaced from the lying area, walks away by half a cow length or steps aside by one cow width after forceful physical contact; Winckler et al., 2015; Welfare Quality, 2009) for in total 1 h, starting 1 h after morning milking. Cows in oestrus should be excluded from the assessment. Observations may also be split into periods of minimum 10 min in representative segments of the pen(s). The number of animals in the (respective) area(s) needs to be counted before and after the observations. Final value calculated as the number of displacements occurring in the whole housed area divided by the average number of cows present (on a per hour basis).	Number of displacements per cow per hour that occur in the whole area; continuous scale

^(a)In herds up to 30 cows, all animals should be assessed, including those in hospital or maternity pens. In larger herds, a representative sample is scored (including a sample from hospital and maternity pens).