Farm-level cost-benefit analysis of an animal-based welfare assessment system in dairy cattle
- Boden und Landökosysteme
- Lebensmittel, Ernährung, Gesundheit
Abstract
The welfare of animals under farming conditions is of increasing importance in livestock production. Consequently, much effort has been undertaken in developing methods for on-farm animal welfare assessment. In recent years, valid, reliable and feasible assessment protocols for cattle, pigs and poultry have been developed in the European research project Welfare Quality® (WQ). These protocols mainly consider animal-based measures and only to a lesser extent resources and management. However, despite the fact that impaired animal welfare and health may have major consequences on the performance and thus on the economic situation of the farm, little information is available about economic aspects of welfare assessment and improvement. Since additionally qualitative, i.e. non-monetary effects should be considered, other scientific areas such as economics and social sciences should be involved in an interdisciplinary approach to investigate effects of animal welfare assessment and improvement. Acknowledging the farmers’ key role in welfare improvements, it is the aim of the present project to evaluate the implementation of the WQ on-farm assessment system in Austrian dairy cattle farming in terms of a cost-benefit analysis at farm level. The main objectives are 1) to evaluate improvements in animal welfare state achieved by implementation of the WQ protocol, 2) to model the economic impact of the assessment and subsequent intervention measures in terms of productivity, costs of assessment and costs related to intervention measures, and 3) to investigate qualitative aspects of welfare assessment, i.e. non-monetary benefits such as valuation of the herd’s welfare state or the assessment procedure by the farmers. For this purpose, on-farm data collection will be carried out on 40 Austrian dairy farms using the WQ protocol, structured checklists and questionnaire-based qualitative interviews. After an initial data collection, farmers will be informed about the herd’s welfare state and potential farm-individual improvement strategies will be discussed. A second data collection one year after implementation of the measures will be used to evaluate improvements in animal welfare and to analyse economic and qualitative aspects, comparing the situation before and after implementation. The results can be used to judge the potential of animal welfare assessment and improvement for broad application in commercial dairy farming and to assess the conditions for inclusion in e.g. advisory services.
Project staff
Christoph Winckler
Univ.Prof. Dr.med.vet Christoph Winckler
christoph.winckler@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93221
Project Leader
01.10.2010 - 31.12.2015
Jochen Kantelhardt
Univ.Prof. Dr. Jochen Kantelhardt
jochen.kantelhardt@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-73311
Sub Projectleader
01.10.2010 - 31.12.2015
Christian R. Vogl
ao.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing.Dr.nat.techn. Christian R. Vogl
christian.vogl@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93312
Sub Projectleader
01.10.2010 - 31.12.2015
Christine Leeb
Assoc. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr.med.vet Christine Leeb
christine.leeb@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93227
Project Staff
01.10.2010 - 31.12.2015
Lukas Tremetsberger
Dipl.-Ing.Dr. Lukas Tremetsberger
lukas.tremetsberger@gmail.com
Project Staff
01.10.2010 - 31.12.2015