Is pair housing perceived by Italian stakeholders as an alternative to individual housing for pre-weaned calves?

Phasing out individual housing of pre-weaned dairy calves highlights the need for feasible alternatives on-farm. Pair housing has been pointed out in literature, but little is known about how it is perceived by stakeholders. This work aimed at knowing Italian stakeholders’ opinion towards pair housing (PH) as alternative to individual housing (IH) of pre-weaned calves. An online survey was sent to farmers (F), veterinarians (V) and farm technicians (T), between November 2023 and April 2024 (Ethics Committee approval no. 75/23). 4 multiple choice and 9 Likert scale questions were selected for the evaluation of alternatives and for rating the importance attributed to the advantages of IH and PH. Descriptive analysis was performed. 122 stakeholders answered the survey (F, n=33; V, n=65; T, n=24). Most farmers evaluated PH as an alternative to IH both to improve calves’ welfare (88%) and as economically sustainable (88%). However, when asked if IH can be replaced by PH, only the 30% answered positively and the 48% agreed that it could be an intermediate phase between IH and group housing. Although fewer veterinarians and technicians perceived PH as an alternative both in terms of welfare improvement (66% V; 46% T) and economic sustainability (69% V; 63% T), they both agreed it can replace IH (66% V; 58% T) and be an intermediate phase (68% V; 67% T). Most farmers perceived important the advantages of IH (i.e. absence of cross-sucking, lower risk of respiratory and enteric disease spread; 78%, 88%, 91%), and less important the advantages of PH. On the contrary, no such cohesion was outlined in V and T, with different importance ratings given for the proposed advantages. These first results highlight the perception of PH as a possible alternative to IH, although discrepancies were found in stakeholders when asked if they agreed to replace it. Moreover, although advantages of IH were strongly perceived by farmers, a low perception of PH advantages was found, indicating the need for further knowledge dissemination in this field.