The objective of this study was to explore views on dairy calf housing options among American youth and adults. Youth views were of interest because they are future consumers, yet their influence on livestock production practices is often overlooked. Participants 5 to 17 yr of age (n = 463) and 18 yr or older (n = 1,310) completed an in-person survey at the Minnesota State Fair (St. Paul, MN) in summer 2018. The survey was administered via Qualtrics survey software (Qualtrics, Provo, UT) using iPads (Apple, Cupertino, CA) and, in addition to collecting demographics, presented 3 images of calf housing options (individual, pair, or group) and asked participants to select their preferred option and indicate their reasoning for selection (youth), or acceptance for each option and reasoning for selection (adult). The PROC SURVEYFREQ of SAS (9.4; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) was used for descriptive analysis. Rao-Scott chi-square tests (PROC SURVEYFREQ, SAS 9.4) were used to investigate relationships between demographics and housing preference or acceptance. Content analysis identified recurring themes to describe qualitative reasoning underlying dairy calf housing preference or acceptance. The median age of youth participants was 11 yr, 61% were female, 82% were urban residents, and 63% did not have prior experience handling agricultural animals, but 83% had visited a farm in the past. Median age range of adult participants was 45 to 54 yr, 65% were female, 82% urban residents, 41% completed a bachelor's degree, and 81% did not have prior experience handling agricultural animals, but 63% had visited a farm in the past. Overall, group housing was overwhelmingly preferred by youth participants (80.1%), followed by pair (14.3%) and individual housing (5.6%). Youth who chose group housing most commonly cited reasons related to increased socialization (71.4%) and space allowance (58.5%). Housing preference of youth was not associated with age, gender, or prior visits to a farm. However, rural youth more frequently preferred individual housing compared with urban youth (13.6 ± 4.5% SE vs. 5.1 ± 1.3%, respectively). Similarly, adult participants were most accepting of group housing for dairy calves (75.8% of participants), with reasons focused on calves' ability to socialize and access to increased space allowance. Adult males, rural residents, and individuals with previous livestock handling experience more frequently accepted individual calf housing compared with females, urban residents, and individuals without previous livestock handling experience. These findings suggest that housing systems that enable greater degrees of behavioral freedom for calves may be more socially sustainable for the dairy sector.

这项研究的目的是探讨美国青年和成年人对奶牛犊牛住房选择的看法。青年的观点很有趣，因为他们是未来的消费者，但是它们对畜牧生产方式的影响却常常被忽略。5至17岁（n = 463）和18岁或以上（n = 1,310）的参与者于2018年夏季在明尼苏达州博览会（明尼苏达州圣保罗）完成了亲自调查。该调查通过Qualtrics进行使用iPad（Apple，Cupertino，CA）的问卷调查软件（Qualtrics，Provo，UT），除了收集人口统计资料外，还展示了3张小牛住房选择（个人，成对或成组）的图像，并请参与者选择他们的首选选项和指出他们的选择理由（青年），或接受每个选项和选择理由（成人）。SAS的PROC SURVEYFREQ（9.4; SAS Institute Inc.（位于北卡罗来纳州卡里）用于描述性分析。Rao-Scott卡方检验（PROC SURVEYFREQ，SAS 9.4）用于研究人口统计学与住房偏好或接受程度之间的关系。内容分析确定了重复出现的主题，以描述乳牛犊牛住房偏好或接受的定性推理。青年参与者的中位数年龄为11岁，女性为61％，城市居民为82％，并且63％的人以前没有处理过农业动物的经验，但是83％的人过去曾去过农场。成年参与者的中位年龄为45至54岁，女性占65％，城市居民占82％，完成本科学历的占41％，并且以前没有从事过动物饲养的经验，但有63％曾去过农场过去。总体，青年参与者（80.1％）以团体住房为绝对优势，其次是成对住房（14.3％）和个人住房（5.6％）。选择团体住房的年轻人最常提及的原因与社会化程度提高（71.4％）和空间津贴（58.5％）有关。青年人的住房偏好与年龄，性别或以前去过农场无关。然而，与城市青年相比，农村青年更偏爱个人住房（东南地区分别为13.6±4.5％和5.1±1.3％）。同样，成年参与者最接受奶牛犊的团体住房（占参与者的75.8％），其原因集中在犊牛的社交能力和增加的空间补贴上。与雌性相比，成年男性，农村居民和以前有牲畜处理经验的人更常接受小牛住房，城市居民和没有过畜牧处理经验的个人。这些发现表明，为小牛提供更大程度的行为自由的住房体系对于乳制品行业而言可能更具社会可持续性。