Survey of the operation of dairy herd health schemes by veterinary practices in the United Kingdom

Wassell, T. R.; Esslemont, R. J.

doi:10.1136/vr.130.13.260

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Wassell and Esslemont (1992a) reported that veterinarians considered it difficult to demonstrate cost‐effectiveness of herd health schemes. The present study underlines that ‘demonstrating cost‐effectiveness’ is still a main concern, although several cattle health schemes exist which provide information on the cost of poor health (Statham 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This replacement of the ‘fire brigade’ work from the veterinary profession by proactive herd health and production management (HH&PM) is partly due to the increased pressure on dairy farms to become more efficient in production (Brand and others 1996). Yet, despite the move, which started in the 1970s, towards preventive proactive management, today there is modest evidence of active implementation of HH&PM on farms (Wassell and Esslemont 1992a). HHPs are regularly seen as a mandatory requirement to be eligible to take part in assurance schemes (Bell and others 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Opinions and practices of veterinarians and dairy farmers towards herd health management in the UK

Hall

Wapenaar²

2012

Veterinary Record

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The objective was to compare farm veterinary surgeons' and dairy farmers' opinions on herd health plans and herd health and production management with the aim of discovering and better understanding the differences. Two comparable questionnaires, one for farm veterinarians and one for dairy farmers, were distributed throughout the UK. While listing the 'major roles' of the veterinarian on the farm, veterinarians considered 'optimising milk production', 'decreasing overall cost' and 'being an independent adviser' as important roles, but these were not seem to be perceived as such by the farmers. In addition, when presenting themselves to clients, veterinarians seemed to favour the 'friend of the farmer' approach; a much smaller proportion of farmers seemed to prefer this approach. The majority of farm respondents (98 of 121; 81 per cent) valued the discussions with their veterinarian, and it was apparent from the relatively small proportion of veterinarians instigating a discussion on farm (33 of 125; 26 per cent) that there is the opportunity for a more proactive approach from veterinarians. The study underlines that 'demonstrating cost-effectiveness' is still a main concern for veterinarians and farmers and identifies areas that can be improved by more training and effective communication.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Opinions and practices of veterinarians and dairy farmers towards herd health management in the UK

Hall

Wapenaar²

2012

Veterinary Record

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“…For example, in Ireland, 45% of veterinary practitioners are in practices with one or two vets (according to Damien O'Donoghue, Pfizer, through personal communication). This hypothesis is supported by findings in the UK, where Wassell and Esslemont [14] found that the size of the veterinary practice was the most significant factor determining whether a practice was likely to run a herd health scheme. Devoting extra time to bovine fertility management can be a problem for practitioners with a multi-species traditional 'fire brigade' case load or who earn a substantial proportion of their income from the state through veterinary meat inspection and disease eradication schemes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Veterinary dairy herd fertility service provision in seasonal and non-seasonal dairy industries - a comparison

Mee

2010

Ir Vet J

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The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to bovine fertility management. Three questionnaire surveys were conducted at buiatrics conferences attended by veterinary practitioners on veterinary dairy herd fertility services (HFS) in countries with a seasonal (Ireland, 47 respondents) and non-seasonal breeding model (The Netherlands, 44 respondents and Portugal, 31 respondents). Of the 122 respondents, 73 (60%) provided a HFS and 49 (40%) did not. The majority (76%) of all practitioners who responded stated that bovine fertility had declined in their practice clients' herds with inadequate cow management, inadequate nutrition and increased milk yield as the most important putative causes. The type of clients who adopted a herd fertility service were deemed more educated than average (70% of respondents), and/or had fertility problems (58%) and/or large herds (53%). The main components of this service were routine postpartum examinations (95% of respondents), fertility records analysis (75%) and ultrasound pregnancy examinations (69%). The number of planned visits per annum varied between an average of four in Ireland, where breeding is seasonal, and 23 in Portugal, where breeding is year-round. The benefits to both the practitioner and their clients from running a HFS were cited as better fertility, financial rewards and job satisfaction. For practitioners who did not run a HFS the main reasons given were no client demand (55%) and lack of fertility records (33%). Better economic evidence to convince clients of the cost-benefit of such a service was seen as a major constraint to adoption of this service by 67% of practitioners.

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“…Ideally, VHHM combines animal health, food safety, animal welfare and public health with farm management and economics (Noordhuizen and Wentink 2001, LeBlanc and others 2006). VHHM programmes are used not only in the Netherlands, but on a wider scale, for instance in the UK (Wassell and Esslemont 1992) and Denmark (Kristensen and Enevoldsen 2008). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial aspects of veterinary herd health management programmes

et al. 2014

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Veterinary herd health management (VHHM) programmes have been shown to be economically effective in the past. However, no current information is available on costs and benefits of these programmes. This study compared economics and farm performance between participants and non-participants in VHHM programmes in 1013 dairy farms with over 40 cows. Milk Production Registration (MPR) data and a questionnaire concerning VHHM were used. Based on the level of participation in VHHM (as indicated in the questionnaire), costs of the programmes were calculated using a normative model. The economic value of the production effects was similarly calculated using normative modelling based on MPR data. Participants in VHHM had a better performance with regard to production, but not with regard to reproduction. Over 90 per cent of the VHHM participants were visited at least once every six weeks and most participants discussed at least three topics. In most farms, the veterinarian did the pregnancy checks as part of the VHHM programmes. There was a benefit to cost ratio of about five per cow per year for VHHM participants, and a mean difference in net returns of €30 per cow per year after adjusting for the cost of the programme. This portrays that participation in a VHHM programme is cost-efficient. There is, however, much unexplained variation in the net returns, possibly due to diverse approaches by veterinarians towards VHHM or by other factors not included in this analysis, like nutritional quality or management abilities of the farmer. IntroductionVeterinary herd health management (VHHM) programmes are meant to support herd health and farmers' income (Brand and Guard 1996). They were introduced in the Netherlands in the 1970s (Sol and Renkema 1984) and at present many veterinarians provide them to farmers. VHHM comprises a basic structure of goal setting, planning, execution and evaluation. Farms are visited every four to six weeks, where the veterinarian inspects the animals, evaluates gathered data and provides advice (Brand and Guard 1996). Ideally, VHHM combines animal health, food safety, animal welfare and public health with farm management and economics Wentink 2001, LeBlanc and others 2006). VHHM programmes are used not only in the Netherlands, but on a wider scale, for instance in the UK (Wassell and Esslemont 1992) and Denmark (Kristensen and Enevoldsen 2008).The farmers in Europe have to produce under strict, often expensive and laborious, regulations while competing with commercial farmers outside the EU who are not subjected to the same rules (Cannas de Silva and others 2006). As dairy farmers strive for further efficiency in production, driven by market economics, the risks and consequences of poor health and suboptimal production increase (Sibley 2006). VHHM programmes are meant to help farmers to produce products of high quality for a low cost price (Brand and Guard 1996). Its primary objectives include the optimisation of herd health, productivity, quality of products and profitability of the dairy enterp...

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Survey of the operation of dairy herd health schemes by veterinary practices in the United Kingdom

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Opinions and practices of veterinarians and dairy farmers towards herd health management in the UK

Opinions and practices of veterinarians and dairy farmers towards herd health management in the UK

Veterinary dairy herd fertility service provision in seasonal and non-seasonal dairy industries - a comparison

Financial aspects of veterinary herd health management programmes

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