Is it just about grazing? UK citizens have diverse preferences for how dairy cows should be managed

Conflicting views between the dairy industry and the public about how dairy cows should be managed, together with an increase in the availability of alternatives to dairy foods, challenge future markets for milk producers. Members of the public value animal welfare as well as naturalness and grazing, but neither the relative importance of specific aspects of management nor the diversity of views underlying these preferences have been established. To better understand these issues, 2,054 UK citizens recruited through a research panel took part in an online survey. They were asked to rank 17 attributes relating to dairy cow management and milk production through the novel application of best–worst scaling, a discrete choice methodology that allows a trade-off between items. Hierarchical Bayesian analysis of the results revealed 3 attributes of equal top importance: (1) access to grazing, (2) cow health and welfare, and (3) cow comfort. Alongside this overarching ranking, underlying differences in preferences were identified in 6 approximately equally sized citizen groups within the sample, which were identified through latent class analysis. Each latent class expressed significantly different priorities from the other, and each had different indicative sociodemographic, attitudinal, experiential, and value-oriented characteristics, as established through a multinomial logistic model. If the diversity of preference between the citizen groups found in the sample is reflected within wider populations, there may be opportunities for the dairy industry to improve communication about positive practices, develop new dairy product markets, and consider changes to dairy farming systems to better meet different citizens' needs. Furthermore, the defining characteristics and priorities of each group raise the question of whether grazing in particular, but also other attributes presented within the study, is understood in different ways by different subgroups of citizens.