The WelCow project aims to improve the animal welfare of Norwegian dairy cows and is now sending out a questionnaire to Norway’s dairy farmers seeking help in the next stage of the research.
The farmer is the key to good animal welfare. Therefore, the researchers at NMBU Veterinary College want to know more about what motivates dairy farmers to make changes that can improve animal welfare, and what they perceive as obstacles.
– Animal welfare in Norway is generally good, but it can always be improved. That is why we are now asking for help from the country's dairy farmers, says project manager Associate Professor Camilla Kielland.
Variation between herds
The research project is carried out in collaboration with, among others, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, TINE, ANIMALIA, Norwegian Farmers’ Union (Norges Bondelag) and participating farmers. The first part has been completed. The researchers have travelled around the country to record animal welfare on-farm, visiting cows and farmers in around 150 herds. They have worked on the basis of a recognized European welfare assessment protocol that gives an overall picture of how the animals are doing.
– The results show, among other things, that Norwegian cows are confident and trusting, which indicates that Norwegian dairy farmers generally interact positively with their animals, says PhD candidate Conor Barry.
Another important finding is that there is not one or more consistent welfare problems in Norwegian dairy herds, but many individual variations between the herds.
– There is almost no variation between the various regions we visited, but there is great variation from farm to farm. Different herds have different strengths and different potential for improvement. This tells us that the key to better animal welfare lies with the farmer, says Barry.
Questionnaire for dairy farmers
Therefore, the next part of the project is to find out how animal welfare can be improved on each individual farm.
– We must find out what motivates farmers to change and improve animal welfare. How are they influenced and where do they acquire new knowledge? Is it on Facebook, in newspapers, from colleagues or from vets, perhaps? asks Kielland.
With this in mind, the researchers are now sending out a questionnaire to a selection of dairy farmers.
– We hope that the selected farmers take the time to answer this, so that we gain knowledge about how we can motivate and stimulate them to make the changes that are needed and to find specific solutions for the individual herds, says Kielland.
In addition, the questionnaire contains some questions about the farmers' working environment and their job satisfaction, and this part of the research is in collaboration with the FarmMERGE project led by Nord University. One of the aims of this project is to investigate the connections between the farmer's well-being and the working environment, and the welfare of their cows.
– Our project has the subtitle “Good welfare for cows and farmers”, and that is because we already know that there is a connection between the farmer and the well-being of the cows, says Kielland.
A previous study showed that if a dairy farmer is happy with their profession, the animal welfare indicator for that herd is higher than when a farmer is not happy.
The parliamentary report on animal welfare must include the farmer
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is currently preparing a white paper on animal welfare. Kielland believes such a report must acknowledge the role of farmers and animal owners.
– Based on what we have learned so far from this project and previous research, new animal welfare legislation proposed in the parliamentary report cannot rely on only resource-based animal welfare indicators, for example, the number of cubicles and drinking troughs in a barn. The focus should be on animal-based welfare indicators, and indicators that farmers themselves can assess on a daily basis. In addition, the new white paper on animal welfare should emphasize that if the animals are to thrive, the farmer must thrive, says Kielland.
Welcow:
Better animal welfare in cattle herds
The research projects website