Factors affecting dairy farmers’ attitudes towards antimicrobial medicine usage in cattle in England and Wales

Abstract

There has been growing concern about bacterial resistance to antimicrobials in the farmed livestock sector. Attention has turned to sub-optimal use of antimicrobials as a driver of resistance. Recent reviews have identified a lack of data on the pattern of antimicrobial use as an impediment to the design of measures to tackle this growing problem. This paper reports on a study that explored use of antibiotics by dairy farmers and factors influencing their decision-making around this usage. We found that respondents had either recently reduced their use of antibiotics, or planned to do so. Advice from their veterinarian was instrumental in this. Over 70% thought reducing antibiotic usage would be a good thing to do. The most influential source of information used was their own veterinarian. Some 50% were unaware of the available guidelines on use in cattle production. However, 97% thought it important to keep treatment records. The Theory of Planned Behaviour was used to identify dairy farmers' drivers and barriers to reduce use of antibiotics. Intention to reduce usage was weakly correlated with current and past practice of antibiotic use, whilst the strongest driver was respondents' belief that their social and advisory network would approve of them doing this. The higher the proportion of income from milk production and the greater the chance of remaining in milk production, the significantly higher the likelihood of farmers exhibiting positive intention to reduce antibiotic usage. Such farmers may be more commercially minded than others and thus more cost-conscious or, perhaps, more aware of possible future restrictions. Strong correlation was found between farmers' perception of their social referents' beliefs and farmers' intent to reduce antibiotic use. Policy makers should target these social referents, especially veterinarians, with information on the benefits from, and the means to, achieving reductions in antibiotic usage. Information on sub-optimal use of antibiotics as a driver of resistance in dairy herds and in humans along with advice on best farm practice to minimize risk of disease and ensure animal welfare, complemented with data on potential cost savings from reduced antibiotic use would help improve poor practice.

Assessing the impact of tailored biosecurity advice on farmer behaviour and pathogen presence in beef herds in England and Wales

“…Farm veterinarians, because of their knowledge of pathogens and disease as well as of the 64 specific characteristics and circumstances of individual farms and farmers, should therefore be ideally 65 positioned to advise effectively on individually-tailored biosecurity strategies. While it has been 66 reported that the preferred and most influential source of advice for many farmers is their own vet 67 (Brennan and Christley, 2013;Jones et al, 2015), it has also been acknowledged that veterinary advice 68 is not always followed even when perceived to be useful by farmers (Brennan and Christley, 2013). 69…”

Achieving responsible antimicrobial use: communicating with farmers

“…In a survey of pork producers carried out by ADAS a decade ago, 90 per cent of farmers thought that the situation of medicines use on farms was acceptable (Wheeler 2014), even though many in the public sphere feel that AMs are drastically overused in animal agriculture, including pig production (Morris and others 2016). More recent studies show up to 90 per cent of dairy farmers believe they are following best practice, while almost half are unaware of advice such as the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) guidelines (Jones and others 2015, RUMA 2015). Farmers in a 2016 Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers survey, however, overwhelmingly saw the current antibiotic resistance crisis as something they (along with their vets) need to play a part in tackling (unpublished data).…”

Achieving responsible medicines use at practice and farm level

“…However, this is something that industry is taking seriously. In a more recent UK survey of dairy farmers (Jones and others 2015), 100 per cent of respondents had either reduced or planned to reduce antibiotic use. Seventy per cent thought that reducing antibiotic usage was a good thing to do, with veterinary surgeons being the most influential source of information.…”

“…Seventy per cent thought that reducing antibiotic usage was a good thing to do, with veterinary surgeons being the most influential source of information. Farmers who received a greater proportion of their income from milk production or who were more likely to remain in milk production were more likely to demonstrate a positive intention to reduce antibiotic use (Jones and others 2015). This demonstrates that there is clear recognition among dairy farmers that this is an important aspect of herd health management (HHM) and veterinary surgeons are well placed to drive change in this area.…”