Who cares for happy cows? Exploring views of dairy stakeholders around an imaginary automated animal-based welfare assessment tool

Our study underlines the importance of bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and on-farm practices, particularly in defining actionable guidelines for addressing welfare concerns. Regardless of the concretion of our imaginary automated tool, we conclude that stakeholders could readily foster greater engagement with animal welfare issues by recognising farmers' agency capabilities and providing tailored, contextually relevant support that signals the industry's support to farmers, not only a self-need to retain a delicate license to operate thus truly facilitating meaningful gains in animal welfare.