Animal Welfare
Currently Inactive
The Animal Welfare Program focuses on the well-being of agricultural animals, primarily cattle and horses, through education and information transfer to end-users in the agricultural community, government, and public. Research projects have focused on road transportation stress, the impact of severe weather events on dairy cattle, the care and handling of cull dairy cattle, welfare assurance programs for dairy and beef cattle, establishing minimum care standards of care for horses and cattle in California, and more recently assisting the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in developing a comprehensive animal welfare program for the national Wild Horse and Burro Program.
The 2019 "Minimum Standards of Horse Care in the State of California" and the 2011 Cattle Care Standards: Recommendations for Meeting California Legal Requirements" provide the expert opinions of the authors regarding minimum standards of care with respect to California animal cruelty statutes. The standards recommended in these publications are intended to educate animal control officers when interpreting and applying animal cruelty statutes.
2023 Minimum Standards of Horse Care in the State of California (pdf)
--Grant Miller, DVM; Carolyn Stull, MS, PhD; and Gregory Ferraro, DVM; published by the Center for Equine Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis
2011 Cattle Care Standards: Recommendations for Meeting California Legal Requirements (pdf)
--Carolyn Stull, MS, PhD; Nyles Peterson, MS; Glenn Nader, MS; John Maas, DVM, MS; Terry Lehenbauer, DVM, MPVM, PhD, Carol Collar, MS; published by the Center for Food Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis