A Theoretical Framework to Assess the Impact of Flooding on Dairy Cattle Farms: Identification of Direct Damage from an Animal Welfare Perspective

摘要

Identifying the damage caused by extreme weather events due to the climate change phenomena to formulate targeted coping strategies and policies is an issue that concerns all economics sectors. To date, the impact of flooding events on agriculture, particularly livestock, has been minimally investigated. For this reason, this study seeks to identify flood damage to livestock production, focusing in particular on dairy cattle farms. In fact, the herd is the main source of income for dairy farmers and the impact of flood on dairy farm can lead to several problems that can seriously undermine dairy cattle welfare and consequently the production outcome after a flood event. Therefore, this study identified and quantified the flood damage that may affect dairy herds, as reported in the literature. This study might help the development of a strategy able to assess direct damages to livestock welfare caused by flood events, provide advantages for farm management and contribute to farm resilience after a natural disaster.