Current Attitudes of Chinese Dairy Practitioners to Pain and Its Management in Intensively Raised Dairy Cattle

SIMPLE SUMMARY: No previous studies have focused on pain perception and management in intensively raised dairy cattle in China. The results of this survey study show that severely painful conditions such as parturition and fracture have the highest score in pain perception. Pain perception is highly associated with pain management willingness. To promote animal welfare and reduce unnecessary production losses, training in pain perception and management should be emphasised. ABSTRACT: Pain in dairy cattle is gaining attention globally. This study investigated the current attitudes of Chinese dairy practitioners to pain and its management in intensively raised dairy cattle. A total of 465 valid questionnaires with 26 painful conditions scored on numerical rating scales were collected from dairy practitioners. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, principal component analysis, and multivariate regression models. Dystocia was perceived as the most painful, while mild mastitis with milk changes only was perceived as the least painful. Respondents who agreed with the statement “pain management is worthwhile” tended to give a higher pain score. Young respondents (≤23 years old) and those from farms with ≤1000 cattle had lower pain scores for conditions with severe pain and low variability but higher pain scores for conditions with less severe pain and high variability, whereas highly educated respondents had consistently lower pain scores. As for pain management, older respondents (≥24 years old) tended to choose non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and farms with >1000 cattle were more likely to use analgesics. Training in pain perception and management should be emphasised with the hope of promoting animal welfare and reducing unnecessary production losses.