Robots and automation make farmers happier, healthier, study says

GUELPH — It was always easy to assume that there’s a connection between farmers’ mental health and the physical health of their animals, but until recently there wasn’t much research on it.

A study from the University of Guelph published last month confirmed what seemed obvious: there’s definitely a connection there.

But the nature of that connection is more complicated than it seems at first blush, said lead researcher Dr. Trevor DeVries.

The study, published in Animal Welfare, examined 28 Ontario dairy farms with robotic milking systems. They looked at management practices and various cow-health metrics: lameness, somatic cell count and milk production and quality. They also looked at which farms had automated feed systems. At the same time, they asked the farmers’ themselves a few questions designed to assess their resilience, stress and anxiety levels, and depressive proclivity.

A few trends jumped out. Stress levels or levels of anxiety were higher among female farmers, as well as among farmers with cows that were lame, or that had lower production levels and among farmers who fed manually or worked alone.

DeVries said that while the study didn’t directly examine the direction of causation, he said the most probable explanation is that causes flows both ways. Poor animal health likely makes farmers’ mental health worse, and vice versa. That would suggest that these things can cause feedback loops, both positive and negative. As farmers become more healthy mentally, they take better care of their animals, which in turn improves their mental well-being. But there is also the reverse effect: Farmers whose mental health is slipping might take less care with the animals and see their animals’ health slip, which then makes their mental health worse, and so on.

Worth mentioning is the role of automation. Automated feeding systems boosted farmers’ mental well-being, which could help generate that positive feedback loop. Previous research has already pointed to automation, such as using robotic milkers, boosting farmers’ mental well-being for a variety of reasons, from more freedom to healthier cows.