Original Source

American and German Attitudes Towards Cow-Calf Separation on Dairy Farms

PLOS ONE

Volume: 12: e0174013 Issue: 3

16 MAR 2017

Busch, G., Weary, D. M., Spiller, A. & von Keyserlingk, M. A. G.

69

Yes

From the source: "Gesa Busch and Achim Spiller are grateful to the “Ministry of Science and Arts” in Lower Saxony, Germany, for funding the PhD Program “Animal Welfare in Intensive Livestock Production Systems” which led to this work being completed. The work at UBC was made possible by donations made to the Animal Welfare Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."

From the source: "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist."
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Summary

This study examined the views of German and American citizens concerning separation of cow and calf at birth – a common practice used on dairy farms in these countries. There was considerable opposition to the practice in both countries. Although Americans, relative to German participants, were more likely to support the early separation practice. Although this study used a convenience sample and parts of Western Germany were overrepresented, participant demographics were generally similar to the general population of both countries. According to the authors, the results of this study are congruent with other studies, indicating that dairy industry efforts to sway public opinion will likely be unsuccessful.

Public concerns regarding the quality of life of farm animals are often focused on specific practices such as separating the cow and calf immediately after birth. The available scientific literature provides some evidence in support of this practice (including reduced acute responses to separation when it does occur), as well as evidence of disadvantages (such as increased risk of uterine disease in cows). The aim of this study is to systematically examine public views around this practice. Specifically, this study analyzes the views of American and German citizens to separation of cow and calf at birth using a quantitative segmentation approach. Although the majority of participants opposed early separation, a small proportion of our sample supported the practice. According to participants’ preference for early and later separation and their evaluation of different arguments for both practices, three clusters were identified. US participants were more likely to support early separation compared to German participants. The arguments presented for and against both practices caused different reactions in the three clusters, but did not appear to sway the opinions of most participants. The results show considerable opposition to the practice of early separation in large parts of the sample and suggest that the dairy industry should consider approaches to address this concern.