ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Welfare and Policy
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1461282
Analyzing factors influencing dairy farmers' intention to implement animal welfare practices: A case study of Germany
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Agriculture, Kiel University of Applied Sciences, Osterrönfeld, Germany, Kiel, Germany
- 2Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- 3Department of Agriculture, South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences, Soest, Germany
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In context of the growing focus on animal welfare in dairy farming, this study explores the behavioral intention to implement animal welfare (AW) practices among dairy farmers in Germany. Within this investigation, AW practices are defined as targeted practices to enhance dairy cows' wellbeing. A quantitative survey of 682 farmers was conducted. The results of a regression analysis revealed that striving for continuous enhancement, along with intrinsic motivation, significantly drives the intention to implement AW practices. Additional efforts and costs do not influence dairy farmers' intention. A collective, sector-wide effort is essential to ensure that farmers have the necessary freedom to navigate respective changes by providing the necessary structural backing to sustain meaningful improvements in animal welfare.
Keywords: Behavioral Intention, Dairy farming, animal welfare practices, animal welfare certification schemes, Dairy sector
Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Grotsch, Mergenthaler and Schulze. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Henrike Grotsch, Department of Agriculture, Kiel University of Applied Sciences, Osterrönfeld, Germany, Kiel, Germany
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