Dairy cattle welfare: knowledge, attitudes and practices of stockpeople from Midlands Province- Zimbabwe’s large-scale dairy farms”

Abstract

Welfare of dairy animals and consequently their health and productivity is influenced by a number of factors such as the quality and quantity of supplement, health care given to animals, and stockpeoples; knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on animal welfare. Studies have been conducted to evaluate the influence of most of the above factors on welfare of dairy animals, but very few studies focused on the influence of stockpeoples’ KAP on dairy welfare. A cross sectional study involving 93 stockpeople from the 31 large-scale dairy farms in the Midlands Province, Zimbabwe was conducted to determine their KAP on animal welfare. Results revealed that 67% of the stockpeople could not define animal welfare and this was significantly associated with the stockperson’s level of education (χ2 = 12.54, df = 3, p = 0.006). Only 14% of the stockpeople interviewed always talked to dairy cows when handling them and this was significantly associated with gender of the stockperson (χ2 = 10.7, df = 2, p < 0.001). About 20% of the stockpeople responded positively to touching the dairy animals when handling them and this was associated significantly with the stockperson’s gender (p = 0.005). On responses to whipping of animals when driving them, about 90% of the stockpeople said they never whip animals when handling or driving them. It is recommended that further studies be done to find better and more effective ways of teaching animal welfare concepts and practices.