Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Differences in attitudes of farmers and veterinarians towards pain in dairy cows.
- Journal:
- Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)
- Year:
- 2012
- Authors:
- Thomsen, Peter T et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Animal Science
Plain-English summary
A study looked at how dairy farmers and veterinarians in Denmark view pain in dairy cows and the use of pain relief medications. They surveyed 137 veterinarians and 189 farmers, asking them to rate the pain levels of various diseases in cows on a scale from 1 (no pain) to 10 (very painful). While there was a lot of disagreement on how painful specific diseases were, both groups generally agreed on which conditions were painful. Farmers tended to think that most diseases caused a bit more pain than veterinarians did, but they were less likely to use pain relief medications. Overall, the study highlighted differences in perspectives on pain and treatment between farmers and veterinarians.
Abstract
Attitudes towards pain and the use of analgesics in dairy cows were evaluated based on a questionnaire answered by 137 Danish veterinarians and 189 Danish dairy farmers. Respondents were asked to score the perceived pain associated with a number of diseases in dairy cows on a scale from 1 (no pain) to 10 (very painful) assuming that no analgesics were used. Additionally, they were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements regarding pain and use of analgesics in cows. A large variability in pain scores for individual diseases was found among both farmers and veterinarians. The same disease was scored as 'very painful' by some respondents and as 'not painful' by others; however, farmers and veterinarians generally agreed which diseases were painful and which were not. Farmers considered most of the disease conditions to be slightly more painful than veterinarians but were less likely to use analgesics.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22516921/