Assessing dairy farmers’ attitudes toward animal welfare in Karnataka

Abstract

This study was undertaken to assess the attitude of dairy farmers towards cattle welfare in Karnataka, India. A total of 60 dairy farms, 30 from the peri-urban region of Bengaluru Rural district and 30 from rural region of Kolar district of Karnataka were considered. The farms were also grouped based on adult herd size i.e., small, medium and large as per the prevailing dairy cattle holding in the region. The attitude of dairy farmers towards animal welfare was assessed based on 16 statements regarding dairy cattle welfare to which the respondents were asked to respond on a five-point continuum viz. strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree, with appropriate weightages. The total score for each respondent was obtained by summing up the scores obtained for each item. The mean score for responses of dairy farmers to statements regarding animal welfare, out of a maximum score of 5, ranged from 3.3 ± 0.16 to 4.4 ± 0.08, with an overall mean of 3.9 ± 0.03, indicating relatively favourable attitude of the farmers towards animal welfare. The mean scores in small, medium and large dairy farms, out of possible maximum score of 80, was 61.85 ± 0.960, 60.30 ± 1.354 and 65.55 ± 1.009, respectively, with an overall score of 62.65 ± 0.694; whereas in peri-urban and rural regions, it was 62.90 ± 0.874 and 62.40 ± 1.091, respectively. Farmers owning large dairy farms had significantly favourable attitudes towards animal welfare.