Explaining mastitis incidence in Dutch dairy farming: The influence of farmers’ attitudes and behaviour

Jansén, J.; Borne, B.H.P. van den; Renes, Reint Jan; Schaik, G. van; Lam, T.J.G.M.; Leeuwis, C.

doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2009.08.015

Cited by 167 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Thus, to achieve actual on-farm change, changes in attitudes and behaviours are required. In the Netherlands it was shown that milk quality was associated with farmer attitude to milk quality and that a national mastitis control programme was able to change attitudes and hence outcomes (Jansen et al, 2009(Jansen et al, , 2010a(Jansen et al, and 2010b. Veterinarians are important communicators around complex disease processes, but need appropriate facilitation and communication skills as well as technical skills (Jansen and Lam, 2012).…”

Section: Economics Of Involvement In Incalfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of herd management programmes to improve the reproductive performance of dairy cattle

McDougall¹,

Heuer

Morton³

et al. 2014

Animal

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There has been a long history of herd health and production management programmes in many dairy industries around the world, but evidence for the efficacy of such programmes is limited. In response to a perceived decline in fertility of dairy cows, a herd reproductive management programme (InCalf) was introduced in New Zealand in 2007. This programme uses a management cycle approach that includes an assessment of the current herd status, identification of areas for improvement, development of a plan, implementation of this plan and finally a review process. The programme uses facilitators who work with farmers either in a oneto-one manner or in a formalised group setting that involves a series of meetings over a 12-month period (the farmer action group). The hypothesis that involvement in a reproductive management programme would improve herd reproductive performance was tested using a herd-level controlled randomised study (the National Herd Fertility Study) involving herds in four geographic regions of New Zealand over 2 years. Within each region, herds were ranked on the basis of the 6-week in-calf rate (i.e. the proportion of the herd pregnant in the first 6 weeks of the seasonal breeding programme) in the year preceding commencement of the study and then randomly assigned to be involved in a farmer action group or left as untreated controls. The key outcome variable of the study was the 6-week in-calf rate. Pregnancy diagnosis was undertaken at 12 weeks after the start of the seasonal breeding programme, which allowed determination of conception dates and hence calculation of the 6-week in-calf rate. Additional measurements including heifer live weight and body condition score (pre-calving and pre-mating) were undertaken to test whether treatment resulted in measurable changes in some of the key determinants of herd reproductive performance. Involvement in the farmer action group of InCalf resulted in a 2 percentage point increase in the 6-week in-calf rate ( P = 0.05). The following additional observations were made in herds involved in the farmer action group relative to control herds: heifers had live weight closer to target; the pre-mating body condition score of cows was higher; and oestrous detection rates were higher. It was concluded that involvement in this herd reproductive management programme improved reproductive outcomes in this New Zealand study. However, to achieve substantial improvements in herd reproductive performance at the regional or national level a greater response to the programme and a high uptake of such programmes is required, as well as use of other industry-level tools such as genetic management programmes.Keywords: dairy cows, fertility, randomised controlled trial, management programme Implications A planned animal health approach to dairy herd fertility was demonstrated, through a controlled randomised study, to improve fertility at herd level. The programme tested (InCalf) used a management cycle approach, that is assessment of current performance against goals and objecti...

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Section: Economics Of Involvement In Incalfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of herd management programmes to improve the reproductive performance of dairy cattle

McDougall¹,

Heuer

Morton³

et al. 2014

Animal

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“…The connection between stockpeople's attitudes and animal welfare has been thoroughly investigated across a variety of livestock types, for example: cattle (Boivin et al, 2007), pigs and dairy cows (Breuer et al, 2000;Hemsworth et al, 2000;Waiblinger et al, 2002;Jansen et al, 2009). These studies consistently indicate a close link between positive attitudes towards livestock, positive behaviours by the stockpeople, and the stress responses of the animals.…”

Section: Cowshed Cultures E Building a Cultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, numerous studies have employed quantitative attitudinal approaches such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) or the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) to explore the behaviour of stockpeople towards animals (e.g. Coleman et al, , 2003Hemsworth et al, 2000;Boivin et al, 2007;Jansen et al, 2009;Kauppinen et al, 2010) and, as a result, approaches to improving standards of care by stockpeople focus strongly on the need to change attitudes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Burton

Peoples

Cooper

2012

Journal of Rural Studies

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a b s t r a c tImproving animal welfare is an important part of the development of the agricultural industry, particularly at a time when intensification and the encroachment of factory-style production systems is making the maintenance of human-animal relations increasingly difficult. Animal science deals with the issue of improving stockmanship by focusing on the relationships between attitudes and behaviour, under the premise that improved attitudes will lead to improved behaviour. From an analysis of 42 interviews with owners, sharemilkers and workers on dairy farms in New Zealand we present a different view, seeing behaviour instead as part of a self-reinforcing culture in which animals, humans and the physical structure all contribute to the development of farm specific ways of doing and being. We further suggest that changing one stockperson's attitude alone is insufficient to ensure a change in the culture as other actors e including animals and non-human actors e reinforce any existing culture that has developed, making both attitudinal and behavioural change difficult. We conclude by discussing the key importance of designing farm systems and structures that promote positive interactions between animals and humans and suggest that this, rather than simply promoting knowledge and attitudinal change, is likely to be the most effective way of maintaining stockmanship in the face of an industrialising agriculture.

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“…Dit model dat veel in de gedragswetenschap wordt toegepast om de factoren die bewust gedrag beïnvloeden is de laatste jaren ook in de landbouw toegepast (Bergevoet et al, 2004;Jansen et al 2009;De Lauwere et al, 2012;Breukers et al, 2012). Uit al deze onderzoeken blijkt onder andere dat ondernemers in de landbouw verschillende redenen hebben om hun gedrag wel of niet te veranderen.…”

Section: Theory Of Planned Behaviour (Tpb)unclassified

Onderzoek naar kritische succesfactoren voor een laag antibioticumgebruik bij vleeskalveren : Rapport van het project Kritische Succesfactoren Vleeskalveren (KSF Vleeskalveren)

Bokma-Bakker

Riel

Lauwere³

et al. 2017

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Explaining mastitis incidence in Dutch dairy farming: The influence of farmers’ attitudes and behaviour

Cited by 167 publications

References 26 publications

Use of herd management programmes to improve the reproductive performance of dairy cattle

Use of herd management programmes to improve the reproductive performance of dairy cattle

Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Onderzoek naar kritische succesfactoren voor een laag antibioticumgebruik bij vleeskalveren : Rapport van het project Kritische Succesfactoren Vleeskalveren (KSF Vleeskalveren)

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