Busch Gesa, Weary Daniel M, Spiller Achim, von Keyserlingk Marina A G
Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Marketing for Food and Agricultural Products, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Niedersachsen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2017 Mar 16;12(3):e0174013. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174013. eCollection 2017.
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.
公众对农场动物生活质量的担忧往往集中在特定的做法上，比如在奶牛分娩后立即将其与小牛分开。现有的科学文献提供了一些支持这种做法的证据（包括在确实发生分离时减少急性反应），也有不利证据（如奶牛患子宫疾病的风险增加）。本研究的目的是系统地考察公众对这种做法的看法。具体而言，本研究采用定量细分方法分析了美国和德国公民对奶牛分娩时母子分离的看法。尽管大多数参与者反对早期分离，但我们样本中有一小部分人支持这种做法。根据参与者对早期和后期分离的偏好以及他们对两种做法不同论据的评价，确定了三个类别。与德国参与者相比，美国参与者更有可能支持早期分离。支持和反对两种做法的论据在这三个类别中引起了不同反应，但似乎并没有改变大多数参与者的观点。结果表明，样本中的大部分人相当反对早期分离的做法，并建议乳制品行业应考虑解决这一担忧的方法。
