Positive human to cattle interactions and the possibilities to increase animal welfare, economy and safety for farmers
Cattle production systems are changing to bigger intensified systems with larger numbers of animals per farm and more free range systems while at the same time employing fewer people. Aversive handling has been known to affect cattle production negatively for many years, but lately scientists have started to focus more on what positive effects gentle handling and positive human-cattle interactions may have on beef and dairy production. Fear can cause high stress in production animals and this can contribute to not only reduced production within beef and dairy cattle, but also increased risks for accidents and decreased animal welfare. Therefore, by reducing the fear cattle experience of humans, it could be possible to increase production, decrease accidents and increase the welfare of the animals. Reducing the animals fear and stress can be done by simple means, such as walking and talking calmly around the cattle, associating humans to positive feelings (such as feed) and stroking the cattle?s body regions associated with social grooming. Training programs for stock people to improve their behaviour and attitude towards the animals, as well as knowledge about how cattle behave, have also been successful to improve the work environment. The results from this review indicate that positive interactions between human and cattle have great impact in the areas of animal welfare, economy and safety for farmers and their cattle. Further research needs to focus on how to integrate positive human-cattle interactions in future production systems, especially with emphasis on training programs which reach out to the farmers and highlight the economical benefits.