Survey Results on the Welfare of Dairy Cows in 250 Italian Farms

Here we present the results of a survey performed to evaluate the welfare of dairy cows in more than 250 Italian farms (in the northern and southern Italy): our aim was to show the strong and the critical points regarding animal welfare and to verify the suitability of our method to extend the study on a wider number of (1027 other) farms. The parameters included in the analysis were about 200 but only few of them (<10%) didn’t show any non-conformity/deficiency; the other parameters showed non-conformity prevalences ranging from 1 up to 90%, and, among them, more than 50% showed prevalences up to 10%. The results of our survey showed highest percentages of non-conformity in the calf breeding and several deficiencies in the personnel training, in the recourse to medical or feeding specialists and in the herd health management. The non-conformity/deficiency prevalences on animal welfare were inversely correlated to the farm size and to the personnel training. Some important differences between northern and southern farms are discussed.