The aim of the Masterʹs thesis was to conduct an in-depth study of the literature and best practises regarding the housing and rearing of calves on dairy farms, in accordance with the new recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In the experimental part of the thesis, we aimed to obtain the opinions of Slovenian dairy farmers and agricultural professionals regarding the proposed changes in calf housing and rearing practices. We conducted three workshops of focus groups with a total of 22 participating farmers and agricultural experts, as well as a questionnaire survey involving 262 farmers. Almost half of the surveyed farmers (48%) believe that calves should not stay with their mothers for more than six hours after calving. A large proportion of respondents (37%) oppose extended cow-calf contact after calving. Nearly half of the respondents (44%) are against the early placement of calves into group pens, as they consider individual management of calves to be better, particularly in terms of reducing the incidence of calf diseases. The main advantage of individual calf pens, according to the farmers, is the ability to monitor the amount of colostrum, milk, or milk replacer consumed (75%), while the main disadvantage is the labor and time required for cleaning the pens (47%). In group housing systems, farmers identified easier feeding (51%) as the main advantage and cross-sucking among calves (79%) as the main disadvantage Most farmers stated that they are not able to increase the minimum available floor space per calf in either individual (67%) or group pens (58%), as they lack sufficient space. A large proportion of farmers (39%) would move male calves to another farm 15 days after birth. The farmers identified the costs associated with necessary changes and investments related to housing arrangements – namely, the need for more space in individual and group pens as well as in the calving area – as the most significant challenge.
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