Improving Welfare to Improve Production: A Case Study in Dairy Farming

The handling of cows on dairy farms is a serious welfare concern for many animal advocates. In a different way, it is also a worry for some dairy farmers who recognize that improving the welfare of their animals can increase production. Dairy cows are handled on a daily basis in a range of different ways that can stress or potentially injure them, and stress and injury can affect milk yield. It is at this strange juncture that business and advocacy interests intersect.

This study looks at the handling of dairy cows from an industry-friendly perspective, and measures improved welfare in terms of increased milk production. The researchers surveyed a variety of Minnesota dairy farmers, from small family farms to much larger operations. They found that “even after adjusting for herd size, cows of producers who had participated in stockmanship training produced, on average, around 810 kg more milk per lactation than cows of producers who had not done training.” Although the authors state that a causal link between handling and milk production is not direct, they note that the farms that were interested in bettering their handling practices could have a constellation of other factors which improved the welfare of cows. Curiously, the researchers point out that operators of larger farms were more interested in responding to the study than those with small family run farms. They speculate that this may be because family run farms are more traditional and less open to changing their practices.

A study of this kind, encouraging farmers to improve the handling of dairy cows to reduce stress, fear, and injury is a good thing, even though it is aimed at increasing production. Apart from daily handling, dairy cows’ lives are regimented through milking, insemination, and birth cycles; all these factors combined mean that cows within the dairy industry have a very difficult life.