Dairy welfare in Hungary and in the United Kingdom vs. National and European Union legislation

Abstract

Dairy industries in Eastern and Western Europe have different history, heritage, but the same aim to produce cheap, high quantity of good quality milk with the care of dairy welfare. Member countries of European Union had choice to either implement minimum standards provided by the European Commission, like in Hungary, or to create their own legislation also covering minimum standards, like in the Great Britain. British, Hungarian and European Union legislation was compared with dairy welfare measures taken on 53 farms in the UK and on 27 farms in Hungary. Among 13 welfare measures observed 8 were found to be statistically different (p<0.05. p<0.01 or p<0.001) between countries. Fewer cows were reported with dirty hind limbs, hock hair losses, non hock injuries, being dull or with greater flight distance on Hungarian farms than in the UK. There were fewer cows with dirty udders, being fat or lame in the UK in comparison to Hungarian farms. Cheaper bedding materials in Hungary are thought to be the major factors cows are found cleaner. More farm workers per one animal make more attention is paid for providing cattle with suitable conditions for resting what also might impact shorter flight distance. In the Great Britain cleaner udders might be related to modern husbandry systems providing cleaner conditions. Education is also thought to be playing a great role in lower proportion of cows being lame, with digestion problems and mastitis in the UK in comparison to Hungary.Mlekarske industrije u istocnoj i zapadnoj Evropi imaju razlicitu istoriju, nasledje, ali isti cilj - proizvodnja velike kolicine mleka, po povoljnim cenama, uz postovanje dobrobiti zivotinja. Zemlje clanice EU imaju izbor bilo da primenjuju minimum standarda koje odredjuje Evropska Komisija, kao sto je slucaj u Madjarskoj, ili da stvore svoje sopstvene zakone i propise kojima ce se takodje zadovoljiti minimalni standardi, kao sto je slucaj u Velikoj Britaniji. U radu se porede zakoni i propisi koji vaze u Velikoj Britaniji, Madjarskoj i EU, a u vezi sa merama koje se odnose na dobrobit mlecnih grla, na 53 farme u Velikoj Britaniji i 27 u Madjarskoj. Od 13 mera koje se odnose na dobrobit, kod 8 su utvrdjene statisticki znacajne razlike (p<0.05, p<0.01 or p<0.001) medju navedenim zemljama. Manje krava sa prljavim udovima, gubitkom dlake na skocnim zglobovima, povredama skocnih zglobova, koje se dosadjuju ili beze na vecim rastojanjima, su registrovane na madjarskim farmama nego u Velikoj Britaniji. Bilo je manje krava sa prljavim vimenom, debele ili sepave u Velikoj Britaniji u poredjenju sa Madjarskom. Jeftiniji materijal koji se koristi za prostirku u Madjarskoj se smatra glavnim faktorom bolje cistoce krava. Vise radnika na farmi po jednom grlu znaci da se vise paznje poklanja obezbedjivanju adekvatnih uslova za odmaranje zivotinja sto takodje moze imati uticaj na krace rastojanje covekzivotinja. U Velikoj Britaniji, cistije vime kod mlecnih grla moze biti u vezi sa modernim, savremenim sistemima drzanja goveda koji obezbedjuju cistije uslove. Obuka, obrazovanje, se smatra da ima veliku ulogu u smanjenju pojave sepavosti kod grla, problema sa varenjem i mastitisa u Velikoj Britaniji u poredjenju sa Madjarskom.