Abstract
This contribution deals primarily with a new concept derived from institutional economics, to improve animal health (eventually welfare, depending on the use of synonyms and actually measured as cow life expectancy, i.e. in figures: number of lactations). Based on consumer willingness to pay, it investigates a potential collaboration between a dairy industry whose aim is to diversify products and some farmers whose intention is to request compensation for a change of practices. For finding practical attributes for health, we have a focus on practices promoting numbers of lactations, currently at a low level in conventional farming. We distinguish farm types by strategies asking why most farms are primarily aiming at maximal efficiency (feeding concentrates for high milk yields and having no grazing). Vice versa: this has raised public concern because (with big herds, high milk yields and minimal lactations) farmers seem to stress animal welfare. We assume WTP exists for an improvement in animal health (though diffuse so far). I.e. on the one hand as a symptom of crisis, successes for gestation are low (almost half compared to those of farms “caring” for animals). On the other hand better practice can be financed if targeted by WTP. Further assumptions are: even the industry may admit problems with animal health, and within consumers’ and citizens’ circles, there is an increasing awareness and that WTP (finance) may enable private solutions. WTP could be used for those farmers doing better on animal welfare; but so far, markets have failed. We are confronted with different strategic behaviour of farmers (by sectors) whose commencing points (as observation and deliberation) must be a willingness to change practices. A starting point should be insight into behaviour(al) change and willingness to increase animal health (gestation), yet based on compensation. Compensation can be used to get more farmers interested in animal health, but it must be differentiated according to actions for improvement. In an institutional economics analysis of animal welfare, we will work out a concept of optimal compensation, preferably achieving cooperation between a dairy industry and willing farmers to lodge payments received from consumers. It means working on participation of actors in product diversification (milk identified by different sources) and transfer of money to those farmers who are actually working for animal health concerns. The paper further addresses selection of farms which manage to achieve set health goals and assure confirmation of achievements in increasing health. The goal is to increase the number of lactations. By utilizing contracted numbers of lactations as the basis for modelling a quantitative criterion which adequately shall reflect aspects of working for animal health (such as feeding practices, grazing, better husbandry (space and straw), caring (stress recovery), etc., is worked out and animal welfare shall improve.
Highlights
There is an ongoing, generally normative, but eventually specific moral debate on animal welfare
(to acknowledge the background) we firstly investigate what could be meant by animal health and welfare
We may envisage farming without addressing life expectancy. In this case an optimization of life expectancy is a residual of optimization. This contribution deals with options to establish a bargaining between dairy industry and animal friendly milk producers in order to promote animal health
Summary
There is an ongoing, generally normative, but eventually specific moral debate on animal welfare. Most frequently the concrete debate concerns rules (on the side of proponents for interference), costs (on the side of the industry) and finding generic instruments (on the side of society) (Ohl and van der Staay, 2012) In this contribution we add an institutional economics aspect to the discussion, showing that improved coordination may help (i) to make consumers more comfortable, (ii) farmers to gain through changing their practice and (iii) to mitigate the conflict. We need to model the envisaged causations that economic instruments can have similar effects on animal health, at different costs and level of acceptance than intervention In this contribution a suggestion is made to explore consumers‟ WTP, which is attained by the dairy industry to channel money to a definite segment of farms that are willing to improve animal health. In a more detailed contemplation on the system, an even more complex problem would emerge
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