Rodríguez Martínez, Isamar C.

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Perceptions of lay citizens on the concept of dairy cattle welfare in Puerto Rico
(2024-07-01) Rodríguez Martínez, Isamar C.; Ortiz Colón, Guillermo; College of Agricultural Sciences; Rodríguez Rodríguez , María del C.; Padilla Vélez, David; Arias Vega, Santiago; Department of Agricultural Education; Zapata Medina, Rocío
The welfare of livestock has become increasingly important to the general public. A study was conducted to evaluate the general public’s perception on the concept of dairy cattle animal welfare in Puerto Rico. A questionnaire was distributed to lay citizens to determine their perception on dairy cattle animal welfare. Data was obtained from a of 121 citizens distributed in different regions of Puerto Rico. The data showed that within a scale from 0 to 10, 0 = excellent quality of life/excellent welfare and 10= awful quality of life/awful welfare, lay citizens of Puerto Rico perceived the portrayed dairy cattle animal welfare situations as regular/ bad (5.92). The practices that were most problematic for lay citizens were: use of cup dehorner, clamps for castration, individual calve hutch, Body Condition Score 1, and hock and knee lesion 3. The answers provided showed a negative association between age and dairy cattle welfare perception; younger participants were more empathetic towards the images than older participants. This information suggests dairy cattle welfare should be addressed by the dairy industry of Puerto Rico.