Societal views and animal welfare science: Understanding why the modified cage may fail and other stories Flashcards
Weary, Ventura, and von Keyserlingk, 2015
Why do some innovations developed by animal welfare science fail to be adopted in practice?
May be that science-based ‘solutions’ fail to resonate with the values and concerns of other important stakeholders.
Two reasons why some solutions developed by animal welfare scientists fail to gain traction:
(1) they do not adequately address the societal concerns that motivated the original research
(2) They do not adequately address the perceived constraints within the industry
What do the authors argue?
That scientists, policy makers and funders working on animal welfare must increasingly invest in social science research that addresses these limitations.
That the results of these studies can help identify solutions that better align with mainstream values, help target new scientific research that meets the perceived gaps in knowledge; and help ease the adoption of innovations by specifically addressing perceived barriers.
What is the Theory of Planned Behaviour?
This framework posits a causal chain of influence in which attitudes, influenced partially by one’s beliefs and values, affect human behaviour.
One’s intention to perform a particular behaviour is the most powerful predictor of that behaviour.
Attitudes?
Attitudes are a partial function of the evaluation of the beliefs held about the attitude object along with the strengths of those beliefs.
The study of attitudes can help reveal the values and beliefs that underly them.
Values?
Values root both belief and attitude formation.
Values can be thought of as ‘desirable, trans-situational goals… that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives…’
True or False.
European researchers have pioneered work on qualitative approaches to understanding stakeholder values around animal welfare.
True
Methods of inquiry for values around animal welfare.
Qualitative methods: interviews, focus groups, field research.
- can involve in-person or online interactions
What method was used in this paper?
Interactive online platform, to foster discussion between farmers, critics, consumers, and other stakeholders. Mimicked a townhall meeting.
A mixed approach to gauge levels of support (the quantitative aspect), but also the reasons behind in (the qualitative aspect).
Tail docking in dairy cows case study
The procedure was once believed to reduce the risk of disease, increase cleanliness, and lower the risk of udder infection.
BUT studies have shown that there is no protective effect of docking on cleanliness or mastitis.
Through surveys/discussions it was found that docking is not motivated by the desire to harm cows, but rather to keep cows clean.
Increasing the understanding of the views of producers, including those in favour of docking, has helped to identify new approaches to achieving change.
They recommended extension efforts directed at producers that provide effective management strategies for keeping cows clean, in addition to showing the evidence that docking harms cows and is not helpful for improving cleanliness or udder health.
Pain control for dehorning and disbudding
Problem: common procedures of disbudding and dehorning cause pain, but despite the ready availability of effective pain control methods many farms provide no pain mitigation for these procedures.
Those against providing pain relief cited concerns about costs, time, and argued the pain experienced was minimal and short lasting, and that pain control methods had little effect.
In summary, responses on the issue illustrate a number of beliefs. These results provide direction on how to better target extension efforts for producers, specifically focusing on the nature and duration of the pain response, providing lists of approved and efficacious drugs, providing a breakdown of costs and benefits together with context to evaluate the impact on farm profitability, and reviewing the evidence that this pain does cause calves to suffer.
Pasture access.
Problem: pasture access is an increasingly contentious issue in countries where total confinement systems have become common.
However, a theme was that there was a perceived lack of feasible methods for how to incorporate pasture into the management of large, modern farms.
Perceived barriers included the lack of access to land, poor grazing conditions and concern that pasture access would lead to lower levels of milk production.
Work to date has shown a high level of consensus on the desirability for some type of pasture access. The authors encourage more social science work to better understand what aspects of ‘pasture’ are considered most important, together with more biological and production work to design dairy systems that address the perceived constraints of producers and resonate with the broadly held public values.
Early separation of cow and calf
Problem: the calf is separated from the dam within the first hours after birth in many modern dairy operations, but this practice is the most contentious of any topic the authors have studied to date. Opposition to early separation was high among participants with no involvement in the dairy industry, while most people working within the dairy industry were in support of early separation, sometimes because they perceived that there were no practical alternatives.
The science in support (or opposition) to early separation is less clear.
Some ‘solutions’ include the development of systems that allow calves to drink more milk, more naturally, and systems that allow for some type of social interaction (housing in pairs or small groups).
As various alternatives are developed and tested by researchers, it is important to maintain on-going engagement with industry and the public. The authors suggest thinking of the process of innovation as a cycle starting with consultation to understand stakeholder views, leading to scientific innovation, and then continued research and consultation to determine the the innovation actually meets the original concerns to creates new concerns.
