Public attitude toward and perceptions of dairy cattle welfare in cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact

Abstract

Early cow-calf separation followed by individual housing of calves is standard practice on dairy farms. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that as awareness grows the public will oppose these practices, which could compromise the dairy industry's social license. Despite disagreement among different stakeholders over weighting and evaluations of effects of early separation (e.g., distress response, disease risk), recent systematic reviews indicate that there is little scientific evidence supporting this practice. The acceptability of alternative cow-calf management systems is unknown. We used a mixed methods survey with a convenience sample of 307 Canadians plus a representative sample of 1,487 Americans to investigate perceptions of these systems, examining the effects of providing social or foster cow contact following early separation or not separating cow-calf pairs. Attitudes and perceptions of animal welfare were more positive (on a 7-point scale where 1 is most negative, 7 is most positive, and 4 is a neutral midpoint) toward the system where calves were not separated from the cow (mean ± SE; 5.8 ± 0.07; 5.7 ± 0.07), compared with systems in which the calf was separated and individually housed (3.6 ± 0.07; 3.4 ± 0.07), separated and group housed (3.7 ± 0.07; 3.4 ± 0.07), or separated and kept with a foster cow (3.8 ± 0.07; 3.6 ± 0.07). Participants were consistent in their attitudes toward and perceptions of animal welfare within the system, suggesting that participants took a holistic and value-oriented approach to cow-calf management regarding separation. These results, in combination with many participants' concern for the importance of the mother cow-calf relationship and perceptions that severing of this bond was a breach of standard of care, suggest that there may be low acceptance of any cow-calf management system involving early separation as such systems are unlikely to resonate with underlying values.

Public attitudes toward different management scenarios for “surplus” dairy calves

“…However, our findings also indicate that the quality of the calf's life was also important, and having access to the dam was central to calves having a good life. Hence, when managing the fate of surplus calves, the dairy industry should not dismiss the issue of cow-calf separation but, rather, acknowledge that this issue may also be contentious and that solutions may not be straightforward (Sirovica et al, 2022). Additionally, public perceptions toward other management practices should be taken into account, including access to pasture, which was perceived as the most important additional consideration by participants in this study, especially by participants in the LS groups.…”

“…In November and December 2020, the online platform Cloudresearch (formerly TurkPrime; Litman et al, 2017) was used to distribute the questionnaire in Canada and the United States. Based on previous work investigating the perceptions of Canadian and US participants to different dairy calf management systems, we had no prediction that we would see differences in country of origin (see Sirovica et al, 2022). Individuals who were at least 18 years old were eligible to participate.…”

“…An α value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. No sample size calculations were performed; however, previous studies using similar approaches demonstrated that a sample size of approximately 1,000 participants would allow us to detect differences between groups, even if further stratification into subgroups is performed (Ritter et al, 2019;Sirovica et al, 2022).…”

Effect of Type of Cow-Calf Contact on Health, Blood Parameters, and Performance of Dairy Cows and Calves

“…Moreover, there is increasing public concern regarding the deprivation of maternal care in young dairy calves, which could pose a threat to the dairy industry's social acceptability ( 14 , 15 ). Re-introducing prolonged maternal care into the current dairy production system as an alternative rearing practice is receiving increasing interest from various stakeholders ( 14 , 16 , 17 ), and has been proposed to be beneficial for animal health and welfare ( 18 , 19 ).…”

Percepção do bem-estar animal na produção de ovos no Brasil

“…de leite e derivados (COMIN et al, 2022;KITANO;MITSUNARI;YOSHINO, 2022;NASPETTI et al, 2021;OWUSU-SEKYERE;HANSSON;TELEZHENKO, 2021;SIROVICA et al, 2022;WOLF et al, 2016;) e ovos (abordados à frente).…”