Brad Kelly

Animal welfare information frames US public perceptions of precision technology use on dairy farms With increased interest in precision livestock farming (PLF) by dairy producers, a clearer understanding of public perceptions is needed to ensure that use of these technologies is socially sustainabl...

It was a long time coming, but check out our new article in the Journal of Dairy Science! It's all about the importance of animal welfare information and public perceptions of technology in dairy farming.
journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(25)00256-5/fulltext

Sooooo excited to see this lovely project to its conclusion, representing a @bradkellyaw.bsky.social’s epic MSc research. Watch this space for the paper, out soon!

List of Stand Up for Science events—official events in red, solidarity events in blue.

SO MANY STAND UP FOR SCIENCE EVENTS TO CHOOSE FROM—153 and COUNTING!

To get more information on our local events and to register your own, head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ ☀️⬇️🌎

The effects of cow-calf-contact rearing on dairy animals’ social traits – a pilot study Early separation of the calf from the dam, mostly within 24 h after birth, is common for dairy cows, but cow-calf contact (CCC) rearing gets increasin…

Interesting paper! I’d love to see some results over a longer time span, or even across generations of cow-calf systems. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fascism is here. Name it. This is not what we are supposed to be about. 🇺🇸

PSA; you can use your library card to get free:
- movies/TV shows (Kanopy),
- ebooks/audiobooks (Libby and Hoopla)
- language learning programs (Mango Languages)

Plus, using these services helps support your local public libraries! 💳📚

Every dictatorship goes after its scientists early on. When it comes to determining what is true, science and the press are the state’s main competition.

Finally got around to reading "What Are Zoos For?" by @zoophilosophy.bsky.social and Walter Viet; really interesting read! I'll admit I was skeptical about some claims at first (mostly because they were very new to me), but after finishing the book I'm impressed at the arguments they laid out.

All I need is to be successful enough to get interviewed by Philomena Cunk one day

Invited review: Social housing of dairy calves: management factors affecting calf behavior, performance, and health – A systematic review Given increasing adoption of social housing for pre-weaned dairy calves, we conducted a systematic review to summarize existing literature describing effects of social housing management factors on behavior, performance, and health of dairy calves. Included articles addressed interventions applied to pre-weaned, socially housed dairy calves, encompassing age at introduction to social housing, group composition (size, stocking density, within-group age range, stability), and housing environment (space allowance, enrichment provision).

Hot off the JDS press; a very thorough review from Dr. Miller-Cushon and Dr. Jensen on social housing dairy calves!
www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S002...

Karen Pryor Visit the post for more.

Very sad to hear about the passing of Karen Pryor; a true pioneer of animal training and a champion for positive interactions between humans and animals. There’s a nice passage on her website if you want to know more: karenwpryor.com

Shocking amount of “I got this fish from white elephant, what do I do?” posts going around. Don’t be a bad person, just give a blanket or something

Do you ever feel kinda bad reviewing? I don’t want to be overly harsh, but it’s not like it’s alright to let low quality slide either

Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus)

Have yourself a crusty little #crustmas.

A small step in the right direction; Aqueon is no longer producing and selling their ridiculously undersized “betta kits” (per Bettaworldforbettas on IG). Nice to see positive change in the pet industry!

Our yearly online emergency training uses all AI images; why? Do we really not have photos of the inside of an office building?

Kirby (the new Asian elephant at Houston Zoo) has no right looking like this but I’m a huge fan 😂

I’ve been using Anki a lot lately; it’s a great way to make digital notecards. Open source, and syncs across devices. Highly recommended for anyone looking for an alternative to stacks of cards for each subject! apps.ankiweb.net

My first graduate stats course insisted we do everything in an R markdown file; now my profs seem to prefer R script. Is there really that big of a benefit to one over the other?

Recurrent perseveration correlates with abnormal repetitive locomotion in adult mink but is not reduced by environmental enrichment - PubMed We analysed the relationship between abnormal repetitive behaviour (ARB), the presence/absence of environmental enrichment, and two types of behavioural disinhibition in farmed American mink, Neovison...

Here is a really interesting paper; moving mink to enriched environments decreased abnormal behaviors, but had no effect on recurrent perseveration. (However, authors specifically say this may be due to a type II error rather than a true effect)
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21466825/

Does anyone have recommendations on books about development of social behavior? I’m trying to get a jump start on my New Year’s resolutions

Looks like Tennessee's luck ran out #H5N1 #AvianInfluenza #BirdFlu

I’d like to be added please! 🐮

One of the most important things my mentor recommended is to read papers from a ton of different species. I’ve learned so much from scientists who work outside my own field!

Just ordered! Looking forward to getting my hands on it.