Page 301 - The Welfare of Cattle

278 the WeLfare of CattLe

This is often described as a “snapshot” because it allows the viewer of the assessment results to see
the state of animal welfare within a limited window of time. Since abusive behavior is often mani-
fested in the form of short duration and variable frequency events, the limited amount of time that
observation occurs during an audit is not conducive to catching abusive behavior.
It is very difficult to capture an accurate representation of the existence or frequency of abusive
behaviors toward animals during an animal welfare audit. The inability of an in-person animal wel-
fare audit is not the result of asking the wrong questions or looking in the wrong places. It is the fact
that in-person audits of animal handling and welfare occur for very limited periods of time (Vogel,
2015). In fact, a single, half-day animal welfare audit represents less than 0.05% of the available
animal handling time in a year (Vogel, 2015).
Since it is extremely difficult to police the handling of animals through the use of audits, an
alternative approach must be taken to ensure that dairy cattle are treated humanely and not abused.
It appears that one of the most important factors in the prevention of animal abuse is the culture
within each animal facility (Vogel, 2015). If the standard practices on the farm clearly reflect a high
regard for animal care and a complete lack of tolerance for abuse, it is likely that new employees
that join the workforce at a specific farm will assimilate with their new cohorts and avoid abusive
behavior. This approach is not a complete guarantee that all animal handlers would avoid being
abusive on a farm that has a culture of care and concern for animal welfare. However, it reduces the
likelihood of abuse becoming a systemic problem.
Hemsworth (2003, 2007) discussed the value of developing cognitive behavioral training to
assist in retraining stock people to ensure that animals are handled and cared for appropriately.
Cognitive behavioral training involves addressing the core beliefs that a person holds that underlie
their behavior. If a meaningful shift in underlying beliefs regarding animals or the tasks associated
with caring for the animals can be achieved, the behaviors that stock people display toward animals
improves as well. However, one must acknowledge that a shift in the quality of human-animal
interaction requires considerable effort at the onset because of pre-existing behaviors and attitudes
that take time to adjust. In addition, it is important to focus not just on the mechanics of improving
animal handling when an improvement in stockmanship is desired. Instead the long-term focus
should be placed on developing a “cowshed culture” in which positive behaviors are developed by
stockpeople and positive behaviors are developed by animals in turn (Burton et al., 2012). Such a
culture is self-sustaining as long as it is maintained.

Impact of Personality Types

There appear to be some core character attributes that make individuals more likely to be suc-
cessful animal handlers. Patience and empathy have been specifically described as important traits
of good stock people in general (Fukasawa et al., 2017; Ward and Melfi, 2015).
It may be possible to classify the general approach that stock people take to handling their ani-
mals based on the grouping of behavioral descriptors mentioned earlier in this chapter (Ellingsen
et al., 2014). Four primary handling styles were isolated among the 110 Norwegian dairy farmers in
the study. They were as follows: (1) calm/patient, (2) dominating/aggressive, (3) positive interactions,
and (4) insecure/nervous. Of the four styles, the calm/patient and positive interactions groups were
considered to be positive handling styles while dominating/aggressive and insecure/nervous were
negative. The primary difference in the positive handling styles was the level of interaction with
the calves. The positive interactions style was more interactive and passionate toward the calves.
Ultimately, the researchers reported that stock- people that engaged in positive interaction, which
included gently petting and talking calmly to their calves, as well calm and patient handlers, had
calves that were more friendly, content, and sociable. Calves were classified as being more nervous,
frustrated, and fearful when their stock people displayed handling styles that were more consistent
with the dominating/aggressive and insecure/nervous classifications.