arbiter
JournalsAccount

Is ignorance bliss? Milk from gene-edited cows and animal welfare considerations

Jill J. McCluskey et al.

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review2025https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2025.14article
AJG 1ABDC B
Weight
0.37

Abstract

Dairy cows who excel at milk production also grow horns, which are dangerous to other animals and their human handlers. Recent developments in gene editing make it possible to edit a cow’s genome so that it does not grow horns. We assess from the consumer’s perspective whether the improvements in animal welfare resulting from gene-edited cows outweigh the perceived risks individuals associate with milk from these animals. We find that milk from gene-edited cows and milk from dehorned cows have lower willingness to pay relative to milk that comes from cows without mention of dehorning or gene editing.

1 citation

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2025.14

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{jill2025,
  title        = {{Is ignorance bliss? Milk from gene-edited cows and animal welfare considerations}},
  author       = {Jill J. McCluskey et al.},
  journal      = {Agricultural and Resource Economics Review},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2025.14},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Is ignorance bliss? Milk from gene-edited cows and animal welfare considerations

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.