Staff Directory - Dr Gemma Charlton | Harper Adams University

Professional Memberships

International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE)
American Dairy Science Association (ADSA)
British Society of Animal Science (BSAS)
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW)

Researcher Profile

Following the completion of my BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and MSc in Animal Biology and Welfare I went on to gain my PhD on 'The welfare implications of grazing high yielding dairy cows' from Harper Adams University. The research focused on investigating whether dairy cattle have a preference to be indoors or at pasture and to determine what factors affect this preference. Following my PhD I moved to British Columbia, Cananda to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. I worked on a large epidemiological study 'Improving cow comfort to increase cow longevity in tie-stalls and free-stalls in Canadian dairy herds'.

I am currently involved in the DASIE (Dairy Animal Sensor Integrated Engineering) project which aims to improve dairy cow health and welfare through the use of sensor technology.

The project focuses on data and farm system integration, as well as the development of dedicated sensor technology which will enable dairy farmers to improve cattle health and welfare through continuous monitoring of animal behaviour.

You can find more information at:

http://www.icerobotics.com/research/dasie/

The DASIE project has been co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency – Innovate UK, and is led by IceRobotics Ltd in association with Harper Adams, Muller and Kingshay.

Academic Department: Animal Production, Welfare and Veterinary Sciences

Tel: +44 (0)1952 81 5066

Office: Farm Seminar Building - Office 2

Research profile: ORCID

Publications

Other publications

Charlton, G. L., Bouffard, V., Gibbons, J., Vasseur, E., Haley, D. B., Pellerin, D., Rushen, J. and de Passillé, A. M. (2015) Lying times and lameness of dairy cattle on Canadian tie-stall farms. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. In Press
Charlton, G.L., Rutter, S.M., Bleach, E.C.L. and Boyce, R. (2015) Validation of the CowAlert system to automatically detect lameness in dairy cattle In: Proceedings of the 2nd DairyCare Conference, Cordoba, Spain, 3-4 March 2015.
Charlton, G. L., Haley, D. B., Rushen, J. and de Passillé, A. M. (2014) Stocking density, milking duration and lying times of lactating cows on Canadian free-stall dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science. 97, 2694-2700.
Motupalli, P. R., Sinclair, L. A., Charlton, G. L., Bleach, E. C. and Rutter, S. M. (2014) Pasture access increases dairy cow milk yield but preference for pasture is not affected by herbage allowance. Journal of Animal Science. 92, 5175-5184.
Charlton, G. L., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2013) The motivation of dairy cows for access to pasture. Journal of Dairy Science. 96, 4387-4396.
Charlton, Gemma., Bouffard, Veronique., Gibbons, Jenny., Vasseur, Elsa., Haley, Derek., Pellerin, D., de Passillé, Anne Marie and Rushen, Jeffrey. (2013) Do lying times of dairy cattle on tie-stall farms in Canada predict prevalence of lameness? Proceedings of the 47th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Florianopolis, Brazil, 2-6 June, 2013.
Siegford, J. M., Charlton, G., Witaifi, A., Pajor, E., Rushen, J., Gibbons, J., Vasseur, E., de Passille, A.M., Haley, D., and Pellerin, D. (2013) On farm assessment of milking behavior in dairies with automatic milking systems. Proceedings of the 47th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Florianopolis, Brazil, 2-6 June, 2013.
Charlton, Gemma, de Passille, Anne Marie., Rushen, Jeff., Vasseur, Elsa., Gibbons, Jenny., Pellerin, Doris., Haley, Derek., and Orsel, Karin. (2012) How are Canadian AMS farms doing in terms of cow comfort and lameness? Management success with robotic milking seminar. Abbottsford, British Columbia, 13 November 2012.
de Passille, Anne Marie., Rushen, Jeff., Vasseur, Elsa., Gibbons, Jenny., Charlton, Gemma., Pellerin, Doris., Haley, Derek., and Orsel, Karin. (2012) How are Canadian farms doing in terms of cow comfort and lameness? Dairy Cluster Project on cow comfort and longevity. Dairy facility design for improved cow comfort, care, health and longevity. Abbottsford, British Columbia, 14-15 November 2012.
Charlton, Gemma., Bouffard, Veronique., Bécotte, François, Haley, Derek., Rushen, Jeffrey., de Passillé, Anne Marie. (2012) Lying times of dairy cattle on tie-stall farms. Proceedings of the Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 24-26 October 2012.
Charlton, Gemma., Haley, Derek., Solano, Laura., Orsel, Karin., Barkema, Herman., de Passillé, Anne Marie., Rushen, Jeffrey. (2012) Stocking density and lying time on free-stall farms in Canada. Proceedings of the Dairy Cattle Welfare Symposium, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 24-26 October 2012.
Charlton, Gemma., Bouffard, Veronique., Solano, Laura., Gibbons, Jenny., Vasseur, Elsa., Haley, Derek., Rushen, Jeffrey., de Passillé, Anne Marie. (2012) Measuring the lying time of dairy cows on commercial farms in Canada. Proceedings of the 11th North America Regional Meeting of the International Society of Applied Ethology, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 11-12 May 2012.
Charlton, G., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2011) The effect of distance to pasture on dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. Proceedings of the 45th Congress of the International Society of Applied Ethology, Indianapolis, USA, 31 July-4 August 2011.
Rutter, S.M., Brizuela, C., and Charlton, G. (2011) The reliability of rumination data recorded by a commercial rumination monitor. Proceedings of the 45th Congress of the International Society of Applied Ethology, Indianapolis, USA, 31 July-4 August 2011.
Charlton, G. L, Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2011) Preference of dairy cows: indoor cubicle housing with access to a total mixed ration vs. access to pasture. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 130, 1-9.
Charlton, G. L, Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2011) Effects of providing total mixed rations indoors and on pasture on the behavior of lactating dairy cattle and their preference to be indoors or on pasture. Journal of Dairy Science, 94, 3875-3884.
Charlton, G., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2010) The effect of TMR on dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. Proceedings of the 44th Congress of the International Society of Applied Ethology, Uppsala, Sweden, 3-7 August 2010.
Charlton, G., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2010) Factors affecting dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science and the Agricultural Research Forum, Belfast, UK, 12-14 April 2010.
Charlton, G., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2009) Proportion of time spent in difference activities when dairy cows are given a choice to be indoors or at pasture. Proceedings of British Grassland Society, Shropshire, UK, 8-9 September 2009.
Charlton, G., Rutter, S. M., East, M., and Sinclair, L. A. (2009) Preference of dairy cows: indoors vs. pasture. Proceedings of the 43rd Congress of the International Society of Applied Ethology, Cairns, Australia, 6-10 July 2009.
Charlton, G.L. and Bleach, E.C.L. (2007) Responses of positively handled calves to human interaction and disbudding. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science. Southport, UK, 2-4 April 2007.