Animal welfare official inspections: farmers and inspectors shared concerns

Official inspections to check the compliance of farms with European legislation protect farm animals are often perceived negatively by farmers. In addition, have a limited effect on improving compliance. We looked at perceptions both farmers and their inspectors about animal welfare in case study dairy production France. The identification gaps commonalities between parties should help us propose improvements inspection method which could more likely encourage legislation. To achieve this aim, we conducted semi-structured interviews 22 19 inspectors. Both described terms state living conditions care provided them. majority found that official checklist used is inappropriate assess animals; themselves reported they use own criteria indicators (often based observation animals) addition checklist. groups disagreed some requirements These findings suggest content background be made clearer these two actors involved definition key points checked farms, special attention animal-based indicators. All improve farmers' engagement results and, hopefully, lead better farms.