Welfare of cattle

The thesis Welfare of cattle is focused on well-being of the dairy cattle, specifically from the professional expert perspective, representing these days one of the very actual quality of cattle breeding factor. The objective of the thesis was to summarise the newest expert findings in the area of dairy cattle welfare and to find out Czech Republic breeders opinion on the dairy cattle welfare assessment and on the suitability of criteria for such assessment. Cattle breeding represents one of the main sectors of the animal production, which serves as the primary source of milk, cheese and meat products. The quality of these products is directly dependant on the well-being of the cattle, which is at the same time essentially important for its complex good health condition, both physical and mental. In my thesis, I have focused on the animal welfare as such, and I analyse it in detail from different perspectives. The thesis also addresses the important evaluation project Welfare Quality, whose methodology could become a foundation for standardization of cattle well-being assessment and its certification by means of passporting products quality and origin. Further, the thesis elaborates on the alternatives of such products welfare passportisation, which could also provide for authentication of products quality and welfare of animals in the studs. I have used questionnaires for the empirical research, by means of which the dairy cattle breeders were interviewed. The questionnaires were composed of questions pertaining to basic information on concrete breeder and the stud, health condition of the animals, opinion of the breeder on animal welfare and suitable criteria for dairy cattle welfare assessment, and also questions addressing management and production characteristics of the stud. The thesis confirms the necessity of improvement of the awareness and knowledgeability of the breeders about the animals welfare, but also the need of animals life conditions improvement, and consequently the benefits of the introduction of welfare standardization and evaluation by means of all interested parties participation, and possibly also introduction of some form of certification of the quality and origin of the product, with respect to welfare