Public perceptions of dairy cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact
department or school: Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Sirovica, Lara Victoria
issued: 2021-06-23T20:56:42Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Early cow-calf separation followed by individual housing is standard practice for calf rearing on dairy farms. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that as awareness grows the public will oppose these practices, which could compromise the dairy industryâs social license. Despite disagreement amongst different stakeholders over weighting and evaluations of effects of early separation (e.g. distress response, disease risk), recent reviews suggest there is little biological evidence supporting this practice. The acceptability of alternative cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact is unknown. This thesis used a mixed methods online survey with a convenience sample of 307 Canadians to investigate perceptions of these systems, examining the effects of providing social or foster cow contact following early separation or not separating cow-calf pairs. Attitudes and perceptions of animal welfare were less negative (assessed on a 7-point scale where 1 is most negative, 7 is most positive, and 4 is a neutral midpoint) towards the system where calves were not separated from the cow (4.3 ± 0.30; 4.2 ± 0.28), compared to systems in which the calf was separated and individually housed (2.0 ± 0.29; 2.0 ± 0.27 ), separated and group housed (2.4 ± 0.31; 2.1 ± 0.29), or separated and kept with a foster cow (2.2 ± 0.29; 2.0 ± 0.27) (Fâ,âââ = 43.97, P < 0.0001; Fâ,âââ = 52.14, P < 0.0001). Participants were consistent in their scores of overall attitude to the system and scores in relation to individual aspects of cow and calf welfare (i.e. health, feelings, naturalness, standard of care), suggesting that participants took a holistic and value-oriented approach to the issue of cow-calf management regarding separation and the welfare issues. These results, in combination with many participantsâ concern for the importance of the mother cow-calf relationship and perceptions that severing of this bond was a breach of standard of care, sug…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78763
note: PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF DAIRY COW-CALF MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS DIFFERING IN TYPE OF SOCIAL AND MATERNAL CONTACT by Lara Victoria Sirovica B.Sc., The University of California, Davis 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Applied Animal Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2021 © Lara Victoria Sirovica, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Public perceptions of dairy cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact submitted by Lara Victoria Sirovica in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Applied Animal Biology Examining Committee: Marina von Keyserlingk, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisor Daniel Weary, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Sumeet Gulati, Environmental and Resource Economics, UBC Supervisory Committee Member David Fraser, Applied Animal Biology, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Early cow-calf separation followed by individual housing is standard practice for calf rearing on dairy farms. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that as awareness grows the public will oppose these practices, which could compromise the dairy industryâs social license. Despite disagreement amongst different stakeholders over weighting and evaluations of effects of early separation (e.g. distress response, disease risk), recent reviews suggest there is little biological evidence supporting this practice. The acceptability of alternative cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact is unknown. This thesis used a mixed methods online survey with a convenience sample of 307 Canadians to investigate perceptions of these systems, examining the effects of providing social or foster cow cont…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0398506
language: eng
degree discipline: Applied Animal Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: von Keyserlingk, Marina A. G.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78763