Does animal welfare influence dairy farm efficiency? A two-stage approach

Does animal welfare influence dairy farm efficiency? A two-stage approach.

This article investigated how process-based animal welfare indicators (PAI) affected the technical efficiency of German dairy farms. A sample of 115 North-Rhine Westphalian dairy farms was used to estimate their technical efficiency with data envelopment analysis. A censored regression model was then applied to quantify the effects of PAI on technical efficiency. The results indicated that in p...

Modelling Farm Animal Welfare

The use of models in the life sciences has greatly expanded in scope and advanced in technique in recent decades. However, the range, type and complexity of models used in farm animal welfare is comparatively poor, despite the great scope for use of modeling in this field of research. In this paper, we review the different modeling approaches used in farm animal welfare science to date, discuss...

Dairy farm cost efficiency.

A stochastic cost equation was estimated for US dairy farms using national data from the production year 2000 to determine how farmers might reduce their cost of production. Cost of producing a unit of milk was estimated into separate frontier (efficient) and inefficiency components, with both components estimated as a function of management and causation variables. Variables were entered as im...

On-farm Animal Welfare Assessment and Welfare Improvement in Dairy Cattle

Animal welfare is of multi-dimensional nature, and its assessment should be based on a variety of measures. Traditionally, farm animal welfare assessment has focused on ‚inputs’ such as resources and management practices provided to the animals. Especially during the last decade, however, the use of animal-based ‚outcome’ measures has been advocated since they are considered to directly reflect...

Economics and Farm Animal Welfare