Faculty of Veterinary Medicine delivers project plan for animal welfare stations in dairy sector
Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has been commissioned by the Risk Assessment & Research Office (BuRO) of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to draw up a project plan for the development of so-called Animal Welfare Monitoring Stations. Theseilst stations should enable long-term and systematic monitoring of animal welfare on dairy cattle, dairy sheep and dairy goat farms on a scientific basis.
The study, conducted by a faculty team, focused on the feasibility of such a system within the Dutch dairy sector. It looked at the scientific underpinnings of welfare indicators, practical feasibility on farms, and the possibilities for organisation and financing of the monitoring stations. The proposed approach uses several welfare indicators determined in consultation with researchers, veterinarians, sector parties and animal protection organisations.
The ultimate goal of the monitoring stations is to collect representative, transparent and traceable data on animal welfare in the dairy chain. This will allow better monitoring of how animal welfare develops over the years, and to what extent policy measures or market initiatives actually contribute to the transition to an animal-worthy livestock sector.
"With this project plan, we show that it is technically and substantively possible to structurally monitor the welfare of dairy cattle, sheep and goats. But whether the monitoring stations will actually come about depends on policy choices and available funding." says project leader Wilma Steeneveld, associate professor and researcher at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. ‘We hope this scientific foundation will contribute to a widely supported decision to better and more transparently embed animal welfare in the dairy sector.’
The final report was recently presented to the director of Animal Agrochains and Animal Welfare of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature.