Brazilian Citizens: Expectations Regarding Dairy Cattle Welfare and Awareness of Contentious Practices

Abstract

Simple SummaryAnimal welfare is an important issue for citizens in North America and Europe, but much less is known about how citizens from emergent countries, such as Brazil, view this topic. Our aim was to explore attitudes of urban Brazilian citizens about dairy production and, in particular, how they view four routine husbandry practices: early cow-calf separation; zero-grazing; culling of the newborn male calf; and dehorning without pain mitigation. Through in-depth interviews and a questionnaire using open-ended questions, we can conclude that animal welfare was a major issue for our participants, especially in terms of its perceived relation with milk quality. Although participants were initially unaware about any of the four management practices, they were all viewed as contentious and not supported. This study provides some insights that farmers and others working in the Brazilian dairy supply chain should take into consideration, particularly in terms of social sustainability.AbstractThe primary aim of this study was to explore attitudes of urban Brazilian citizens about dairy production. A secondary aim was to determine their knowledge and attitudes about four potentially contentious routine dairy cattle management practices: early cow-calf separation; zero-grazing; culling of newborn male calves; and dehorning without pain mitigation. To address the first aim 40 participants were interviewed using open-ended semi-structured questions designed to probe their views and attitudes about dairy production in Brazil, and 300 participants answered a questionnaire that included an open-ended question about the welfare of dairy cattle. Primary concerns reported by the participants centered on milk quality, which included the rejection of any chemical additives, but also animal welfare, environmental and social issues. The interviewees rarely mentioned animal welfare directly but, when probed, expressed several concerns related to this topic. In particular, participants commented on factors that they perceived to influence milk quality, such as good animal health, feeding, clean facilities, and the need to avoid or reduce the use of drugs, hormones and pesticides, the avoidance of pain, frustration and suffering, and the ability of the animals to perform natural behaviors. To address our second aim, participants were asked questions about the four routine management practices. Although they self-reported being largely unaware of these practices, the majority of the participants rejected these practices outright. These data provide insight that animal welfare may be an important issue for members of the public. Failure to consider this information may increase the risk that certain dairy production practices may not be socially sustainable once lay citizens become aware of them.

Are views towards egg farming associated with Brazilian and Chilean egg consumers’ purchasing habits?

“…Participants’ concerns with hens’ natural feeding, and their stated preference for feed containing no hormones, antibiotics or other chemicals is frequently reported, and as in our survey appear to be linked with the desire to consume safe, healthy products, and to avoid food that poses real or perceived risks to human health, to animal integrity and to the environment [ 17 , 19 , 23 , 24 , 44 ]. Perceived associations between natural production systems, hen welfare and egg quality were observed in this and in other surveys [ 32 , 37 ].…”

“…Perceived associations between natural production systems, hen welfare and egg quality were observed in this and in other surveys [ 32 , 37 ]. Consumers’ belief in these relationships has also been described for other food animal products [ 23 , 42 ], and may explain why naturalness is central to the public acceptability of production systems [ 17 ]. In disconnect with public preferences, and growing international calls for prudent use of antibiotics in animal production [ 45 ], industry stakeholders in Brazil defend the use of antibiotics as growth promoters or for prophylactic use as essential to achieve the production and economic goals of the industry (e.g.…”

“…It is reported that citizens from Brazil and Chile are interested in the quality of food and in some aspects of food production [ 18 , 19 ]. However, it appears that this interest is mostly related to aspects of food production that may influence human health and food prices [ 20 , 21 ], whereas concerns for farm animal welfare seems low [ 5 , 22 ], which suggests a lack of knowledge of how animals are produced [ 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, it has been shown that attitudes of citizens towards production systems are not always reflected in their purchasing habits or willingness to pay more for the attributes they consider important in food production [ 25 ].…”

Relationship between management practices and calf welfare in mid- country dairy farms in Sri Lanka

“…Ellingsen et al, (2014) had revealed that male calves were fed by less quality and insufficient quantity of colostrum supplement by farmers and easily vulnerable to diseases compared to females as they do not receive proper care and medical attention (Renaud et al, 2018). In addition, other risk factors were also found such as culling the -male calf (Cardoso et al, 2017), selling them for veal at 2 nd and 4 th week after birth (Marcé et al, 2011) and prevalence of high mortality rate (Pritchard et al, 2008). Compared to them welfare and ethical consideration of Sri Lankan farmers towards male calves were comparatively high.…”

Protection of Dairy Cattle in the EU: State of Play and Directions for Policymaking from a Legal and Animal Advocacy Perspective

“…One last, and increasingly important, aspect to be considered is the societal acceptance of dairy farming. Recent research shows that the welfare of dairy cattle is an important issue for civil society and that some common practices, once widely known, are not easily accepted by the general public (e.g., lack of access to pasture, early cow-calf separation, and disbudding or dehorning without pain relief [49][50][51]). All this should be done keeping in mind that the concept of sustainability is evolving.…”