Cleanliness versus cow comfort – an insolvable problem?

Cubicle should provide good resting comfort as well as clean udders. Dairy cows in cubicle houses often face a restrictive environment with regard to resting behaviour, whereas cleanliness may still be impaired. This study aimed to determine reliable behavioural measures regarding resting comfort applicable in on-farm welfare assessments. Furthermore, relationships between cubicle design, cow sizes, management factors and udder cleanliness (namely teats and teat tips) were investigated. Altogether 15 resting measures were examined in terms of feasibility, inter-observer reliability (IOR) and consistency of results per farm over time. They were recorded during three farm visits on farms in Germany and Austria with cubicle, deep litter and tie stall systems. Seven measures occurred to infrequently to allow reliable recording within a limited observation time. IOR was generally acceptable to excellent except for 'collisions during lying down', which only showed good IOR after improvement of the definition. Only three measures were acceptably repeatable over time: 'duration of lying down', 'percentage of collisions during lying down' and 'percentage of cows lying partly or completely outside lying area'. These measures were evaluated as suitable animal based welfare measures regarding resting behaviour in the framework of an on-farm welfare assessment protocol. The second part of the thesis comprises a cross-sectional study on resting comfort and cow cleanliness including 23 Holstein Friesian dairy herds with very low within-farm variation in cubicle measures. Height at withers, shoulder width and diagonal body length were measured in 79-100 % of the cows (herd size 30 to115 cows). Based on the 25 % largest animals, compliance with recommendations for cubicle measures was calculated. Cleanliness of different body parts, the udder, teats and teat tips was assessed for each cow in the herd prior to morning milking. No significant correlation was found between udder soiling and teat or teat tip soiling on herd level. The final model of a stepwise regression regarding the percentage of dirty teats per farm explained 58.5 % the variance and contained four factors. Teat dipping after milking which might be associated with an overall clean and accurate management style, deep bedded cubicles, increasing cubicle maintenance times and decreasing compliance concerning total cubicle length predicted lower teat soiling. The final model concerning teat tip soiling explained 46.0 % of the variance and contained three factors. Increasing litter height in the rear part of the cubicle and increased alley soiling which is difficult to explain, predicted for less soiled teat tips, whereas increasing compliance concerning resting length was associated with higher percentages of dirty teat tips. The dependent variable ‘duration of lying down’ was analysed using again stepwise regression. The final model explained 54.8 % of the total variance. Lying down duration was significantly shorter in deep bedded cubicles. Further explanatory though not significant factors in the model were neck-rail height, deep bedding or comfort mattresses versus concrete floor or rubber mats and clearance height of side partitions. In the attempt to create a more comprehensive lying down measure, another analysis was carried out with percentage of ‘impaired lying down’ (i.e. events exceeding 6.3 seconds, with collisions or being interrupted) as dependent variable. The explanatory value of this final model was 41.3 %. An increase in partition length, in compliance concerning cubicle width and the presence of straw within bedding predicted a lower proportion of impaired lying down. The effect of partition length is difficult to interpret, but partition length and height were positively correlated on the study farms, possibly leading to a bigger zone of clear space for pelvis freedom. No associations could be found between impaired lying down and teat or teat tip soiling. Altogether, in agreement with earlier studies it was found that cubicle dimensions in practice are often inadequate with regard to the body dimensions of the cows, leading to high proportions of impaired lying down behaviour, whereas teat cleanliness is still unsatisfactory. Connections between cleanliness and cow comfort are far from simplistic. Especially the relationship between cubicle characteristics and lying down behaviour apparently is very complex, so that it is difficult to identify single influential factors that are valid for all farm situations. However, based on the results of the present study the use of deep bedded cubicles can be recommended as well as improved management with special regard to cubicle and litter maintenance in order to achieve both better resting comfort and teat cleanliness.

Individual Decision-Making and Inflation Persistence

The traditional task of a central bank is to preserve price stability and, in doing so, not to impair the real economy more than necessary. To meet this challenge, it is of great relevance whether inflation is only driven by inflation expectations and the current output gap or whether it is, in addition, influenced by past inflation. In the former case, as described by the New Keynesian Phillips curve, the central bank can immediately and simultaneously achieve price stability and equilibrium output, the so-called ‘divine coincidence’ (Blanchard and Galí 2007). In the latter case, the achievement of price stability is costly in terms of output and will be pursued over several periods. Similarly, it is important to distinguish this latter case, which describes ‘intrinsic’ inflation persistence, from that of ‘extrinsic’ inflation persistence, where the sluggishness of inflation is not a ‘structural’ feature of the economy but merely ‘inherited’ from the sluggishness of the other driving forces, inflation expectations and output. ‘Extrinsic’ inflation persistence is usually considered to be the less challenging case, as policy-makers are supposed to fight against the persistence in the driving forces, especially to reduce the stickiness of inflation expectations by a credible monetary policy, in order to reestablish the ‘divine coincidence’. The scope of this dissertation is to contribute to the vast literature and ongoing discussion on inflation persistence: Chapter 1 describes the policy consequences of inflation persistence and summarizes the empirical and theoretical literature. Chapter 2 compares two models of staggered price setting, one with a fixed two-period duration and the other with a stochastic duration of prices. I show that in an economy with a timeless optimizing central bank the model with the two-period alternating price-setting (for most parameter values) leads to more persistent inflation than the model with stochastic price duration. This result amends earlier work by Kiley (2002) who found that the model with stochastic price duration generates more persistent inflation in response to an exogenous monetary shock. Chapter 3 extends the two-period alternating price-setting model to the case of 3- and 4-period price durations. This results in a more complex Phillips curve with a negative impact of past inflation on current inflation. As simulations show, this multi-period Phillips curve generates a too low degree of autocorrelation and too early turnings points of inflation and is outperformed by a simple Hybrid Phillips curve. Chapter 4 starts from the critique of Driscoll and Holden (2003) on the relative real-wage model of Fuhrer and Moore (1995). While taking the critique seriously that Fuhrer and Moore’s model will collapse to a much simpler one without intrinsic inflation persistence if one takes their arguments literally, I extend the model by a term for inequality aversion. This model extension is not only in line with experimental evidence but results in a Hybrid Phillips curve with inflation persistence that is observably equivalent to that presented by Fuhrer and Moore (1995). In chapter 5, I present a model that especially allows to study the relationship between fairness attitudes and time preference (impatience). In the model, two individuals take decisions in two subsequent periods. In period 1, both individuals are endowed with resources and are able to donate a share of their resources to the other individual. In period 2, the two individuals might join in a common production after having bargained on the split of its output. The size of the production output depends on the relative share of resources at the end of period 1 as the human capital of the individuals, which is built by means of their resources, cannot fully be substituted one against each other. Therefore, it might be rational for a well-endowed individual in period 1 to act in a seemingly ‘fair’ manner and to donate own resources to its poorer counterpart. This decision also depends on the individuals’ impatience which is induced by the small but positive probability that production is not possible in period 2. As a general result, the individuals in the model economy are more likely to behave in a ‘fair’ manner, i.e., to donate resources to the other individual, the lower their own impatience and the higher the productivity of the other individual. As the (seemingly) ‘fair’ behavior is modelled as an endogenous outcome and as it is related to the aspect of time preference, the presented framework might help to further integrate behavioral economics and macroeconomics.

The circular economy and the water-food nexus

The global economy is based on a take-make-consume and dispose model where natural resources are turned into products and the waste disposed of instead of being reused as a resource. In the Asia-Pacific region climate change along with rapid population and economic growth is resulting in increased demand for water and food, potentially leading to economic and political instability. Europe has developed policy and technological innovations that can facilitate the transition towards a circular economy where waste becomes a resource. By using existing instruments Europe can transfer its circular economy knowledge and technology to the Asia-Pacific region to increase security of supply of scarce resources. This can help ensure global security, influence climate change negotiations and create jobs in Europe.