Review: Compliance standards for dairy cattle welfare in European countries

Over the last half century, animal welfare in livestock farming, particularly dairy cattle farming, has received increasing attention. Animal welfare legislation, as well as private and state-regulated standards and frameworks concerning animal welfare in dairy farming, has flourished globally, particularly in Europe. This study uses a modified systematic review approach to provide an overview of the various compliance frameworks (CFs) relating to dairy cattle welfare across Europe. These are classified according to the type of approach in: qualitative, or those that require only the achievement of a certain level of welfare; progressive, or those that encourage the constant improvement of welfare; disruptive, or those that propose a breakthrough in the management system, geared towards promoting welfare; and health monitoring programmes, considered separately. A qualitative assessment is conducted on nine selected CFs concerning the welfare of dairy cattle in five Alpine countries (France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Their different characteristics (organisation type and approach, interface with other relevant databases, covered subjects, and other qualitative features) are compared and presented in tabular form. This analysis reveals further differences between the CFs that transcend the type of approach adopted. Each country employs a personalised strategy. One distinction between the CFs is the presence of regulatory possibilities to integrate or compensate for shortcomings in certain areas, such as the absence of elements that promote welfare as regulated by the standard, with other virtuous practices. Furthermore, the comparison shows that health monitoring programmes are provided for in all states, thus underlining their continuing relevance.