Research Information System
LARGE ANIMAL REVIEW, vol.31, no.6, pp.273-278, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This study aimed to determine the welfare of 24 dairy cattle farms with the & laquo;Welfare Quality (R)& raquo; (WQ) protocol. Seven small farms (6-25 dairy cattle), 8 medium farms (26-100 dairy cattle), and 9 large farms (101+ dairy cattle) were used to determine the effects of labour resources on animal welfare, farms were divided into 3 subgroups: i) Family farms (n: 11), ii) Family farms with hired workers (n: 7), and iii) Large enterprises with exclusively hired workers (n: 6). Farm size and labour-type had no effect on the four main principles and total WQ scores of farms (P>0.05). All investigated farms were within the & laquo;acceptable & raquo; or & laquo;enhanced & raquo; welfare group according to the WQ protocol. However, family farms tend to have higher scores in some categories, indicating that having closer contact to animals helps for recognizing their needs. It can be seen that housing conditions, managerial practises and the amount of labour per animal unit affect the welfare of the animals more than their operating capacity. The relatively small number of farms used in this study and the high variability between farms regarding the examined parameters were considered the most important limitations of the study. More detailed labour efficiency studies are needed to determine to what extent the welfare of animals are affected by the type and amount of labour.