| The dairy industry is a major industry related to the people’s livelihood of the country,a representative industry for food safety,a landmark industry for agricultural modernisation and a strategic industry for the coordinated development of one,two and three industries.2019 Central Government Document No.1 clearly points out that attention will be paid to the revitalisation of the dairy industry in the follow-up development process,providing support for the improvement and construction of the milk source base in the new market environment and using it as a basis to improve the quality of dairy products on the market.The current development of China’s dairy industry is facing the transformation,upgrading and restructuring of the industry.Since 2008,the dairy farming industry has been gradually upgraded from the original rough and loose model to standardised,intensive and large-scale farming under the guidance and support of the government.Data from the China Dairy Quality Report 2022 shows that by 2021,the proportion of dairy cattle farmed on a scale of more than100 head was as high as 70% nationwide,an increase of 3.1 three percentage points from 2020,and an increase of more than 50 percentage points from 2008.However,more advanced production methods do not mean that they are better adapted to modern market demands.Intensive production models and business practices driven by the goal of maximising profits can significantly reduce the average welfare of the dairy farming process,and various indicators such as cow utilisation life as well as disease control and genetic productivity of cows can be negatively affected by the excessive pursuit of profit,which are negative factors for the further development of dairy farming.These negative factors are a constraint to the further development of dairy farming on a larger scale.An important objective of the government in promoting healthy farming is to promote high welfare in dairy farming and the safety of dairy products in the interests of dairy farmers.This paper first defines the concepts of large-scale farming and animal welfare,and specifies 150 dairy farms with a stock size of 100 or more lactating cows in Henan Province as the target population for the study.After clarifying the relevant concepts and theoretical foundations,the "5Fs" principle of animal welfare was followed,and the evaluation system for dairy cattle welfare levels was constructed by combining the field research data of 150large-scale dairy farms to measure animal welfare levels,and further establishing the economic efficiency function of large-scale dairy farms embedded in the measurement of animal welfare levels from The results show that the physiological welfare and environmental welfare are the most important aspects of dairy farming.The results show that physiological welfare and environmental welfare are the 2 most important dimensions affecting animal welfare on large-scale dairy farms in Henan Province,and the average levels of physiological welfare and environmental welfare on the surveyed large-scale dairy farms are relatively high,with scores of 7.38 and 8.0 respectively,while the average levels of health welfare and psychological welfare are lower,with scores of 6.81 and 6.95 respectively,and that the levels of physiological welfare,environmental welfare,health welfare level and behavioural welfare level had a significant positive effect on raw milk income on large-scale farms at the 5%significance level.The paper concludes with an analysis of strategies to improve the economic efficiency of dairy farming and the development of high welfare dairy farming,and proposes policy recommendations for the better development of dairy farming in Henan Province in terms of developing moderate scale farming to improve the economic efficiency of dairy farms,healthy farming models to improve the welfare level of dairy cows,and intelligent farming construction to strengthen scientific and technological innovation,respectively. |
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