Human-animal relationship in water buffalo: quality of stockpeople interactions and their effect on dairy and meat production

Abstract

Human-animal relationships for livestock refer to the interaction between stockpeople and animals during different stages of the productive cycle. For dairy buffaloes, the interaction during milking requires proper tactile stimulation to promote oxytocin release and prevent stressful handling that might reduce milk ejection. For buffaloes used for meat production, events such as mobilization and transport need to be performed by trained personnel to avoid injuries and negative behavioral responses from the animals. Maintaining a positive human-animal relationship is not only important from an economic perspective, but it is important to improve the welfare of water buffalo.