Do dairy cows across the EU enjoy the same welfare?

A study published in the journal Science Direct has shown that there are significant differences in the application of community animal welfare regulations for dairy cows. The study compares the application of the legislation between 5 geographically close countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The researchers found that We found that Denmark and Sweden have the highest level of dairy cattle welfare provisions measured by the reference method, partly due to high legislative welfare requirements, followed by the United Kingdom, which has a very high standard. high, since 95% of dairy production is covered with the Red Tractor quality label. Germany and the Netherlands, on the other hand, have lower levels of score, which is close to the baseline, defined by legal requirements at EU level, i.e. they comply with the regulations without requiring additional standards. Differences were also found in the elements of animal welfare that were ...