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.
