Comparison of the welfare of beef cattle in housed and grazing systems: hormones, health and behaviour

The objective of this dataset was to compare animal welfare of two different beef rearing systems, using a mixture of physical measurements and qualitative behaviour analysis. Physical measurements involved visual assessment of a range of symptoms associated with common disease and infections of cattle: cleanliness, hairlessness, swellings, ocular discharge, nasal discharge, diarrhoea, lameness, lesions, and body condition score, in addition to quantification of the hormones serotonin and cortisol in hair and nasal mucus. The two beef rearing systems were on the North Wyke Farm Platform and largely differed in the housing of the cattle. One group was housed year-round, while the other group were housed during the winter but grazed on pasture during the summer.