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

Abstract

As awareness grows, some traditional management practices used by the dairy industry will be questioned by members of the public. Therefore, to maintain its social license to operate, the industry needs to account for public perspectives when developing future directions. Our aims were to assess attitudes of members of the public toward the management of surplus calves not needed for milk production on dairy farms, and to assess how specific calf management practices might influence these attitudes. A mixed-methods questionnaire was developed and distributed online in the United States and in Canada. After reading an introductory paragraph stating that surplus calves are generally used for meat production, participants were randomly allocated into groups and read 1 of 4 scenarios that described different surplus calf management practices in more detail. The scenarios followed a 2 × 2 factorial design, and the factors that differed were the calf's age at slaughter (≤2 wk vs. ≥12 mo), and whether the calf was separated from the cow at birth or sometime later. Data representative of key census demographics from 998 participants were analyzed. Quantitative data analysis included descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests, generalized partial credit models, and linear regression models. For qualitative data, we used reliability thematic analysis. Overall, participants were slightly positive in their attitudes toward the introductory paragraph, and participants in the groups in which the calf was slaughtered after 12 mo of age often specifically linked their acceptance of the practice to the fact that the calves' lives had a purpose (i.e., contributing meaningfully to the beef supply). In contrast, only 3% of the participants regarded a slaughter age of <1 mo as appropriate. Participants in the groups in which calves were slaughtered within 2 wk after birth had more negative attitudes, and these attitudes declined even further when the calf was separated from the cow soon after birth. Besides the 2 main factors (age at slaughter and cow-calf separation), information on pasture access, the healthiness of the meat from the calves, and the exact age of slaughter were also considered important by participants to make a more informed decision about their view on surplus calf management. Overall, our results indicate that failure by the dairy industry to provide assurances that excess dairy calves have a reasonable length of life and that this life has purpose (i.e., contributes to the beef supply chain) places the industry at odds with public values. Also, as awareness grows, the practice of early cow-calf separation will be increasingly questioned by the public; failure to begin discussions on this topic will increase the risk that future decisions about this topic will be made in the absence of the farmer.

The Entrepreneurs: Dairy farmer perspectives on finding an industry solution for the surplus calf issue—A participatory case study

“…Five of the authors (Proudfoot, Hendricks, Ritter, Renaud, Roche, and von Keyserlingk) have previous experience using qualitative research methods such as interviews and focus groups to understand dairy farmer, veterinarian, and other dairy industry stakeholder perspectives. Henricks, Ritter, and von Keyserlingk have also used qualitative research methods to understand public perspectives on specific dairy cattle management practices such as surplus calves (Ritter et al, 2022) and dairy calf housing and management practices (Sirovica et al, 2022). Roche is the Director and Principal Consultant at Acer Consulting, a company focused on Agricultural Communications and Epidemiological Research.…”

“…Because if we do this wrong, and they don't latch on to it then there is no market pull" (F5, Allied Industry 2). A companion study investigating North American public attitudes recently reported that participants were generally accepting of using surplus calves for meat production (Ritter et al, 2022). However, a key concern to this conditional acceptance was that the calves were provided a reasonably good life.…”

“…Surplus calves have a high risk of early morbidity and mortality, and face several stressors associated with transport and remixing into a new social environment (reviewed by Creutzinger et al, 2021). Given the ethical and animal welfare concerns associated with surplus dairy calf management, it is not surprising that the public has concerns about the life led by these calves (Ritter et al, 2022).…”

“…When addressing complex problems such as this one, participatory methodologies that include the voices of all stakeholders along the supply chain can help with the development of sustainable solutions (e.g., dairy producers, veterinarians, processors, the public) (Bolton and von Keyserlingk, 2021). One example of bringing the voice of different stakeholders to these discussions comes from our companion study on North American public attitudes regarding the issue of surplus calves (and cow calf separation) using an on-line survey (Ritter et al, 2022). In addition, a participatory approach was recently shown by Bordier et al (2021) to be an effective way to engage diverse stakeholders when designing a One health surveillance system to tackle antimicrobial resistance in Vietnam.…”

Producer practices and attitudes: Non-replacement male calf management in the Australian dairy industry

“…Consumer sentiment is driving practice change globally. There is preference for non-replacement calves to be utilized in the beef supply chain as opposed to being destined for early-life slaughter ( 5 ).…”