British Columbian livestock transporter stakeholders’ perspectives on the updated Federal Health of Animals Act Part XII: impacts on cull dairy cow transportation 

Year: 2022

Christine Kuo 
University of British Columbia, Canada 

Supervisor: Professor David Fraser 

HSA Student/Trainee Scholarship 2022 

Cull dairy cows from British Columbia, Canada, may be shipped from farms while in poor condition and may deteriorate during transport. Recent changes in Canadian federal animal transport regulations were designed to change cull dairy cow shipping and transport practices by limiting the maximum transport time of compromised animals.  

This study conducted open ended, semi-structured interviews with dairy farmers (n=6) and cattle haulers (n=4) in British Columbia to examine the effect of the regulations on cull dairy cow transport in the province. Farmers and haulers recognized the importance of animal welfare during transport and described practices such as shipping mobile animals that would not become non-ambulatory during transport. However, participants showed low knowledge of the regulations and described little change in shipping and transport practices, suggesting a need for education about the regulations. Additionally, improving communication between responsible parties along the transport chain about cow fitness for transport and the length of the journey may improve compliance and monitoring of cow health throughout transport. Lastly, a lack of adequate transport and slaughter infrastructure (rest stations, small local slaughter plants) limits compliance with the regulations, and the dairy community may need to develop solutions.