Search

The article presents a survey on consumer information on animal welfare. The survey revealed that in Sweden, Italy and Great Britain, over 90% of consumers in every country would use product labels as a main source of information. It showed that just 36% of Swedish respondents regarded an assurance mark to be very significant with 39% believing a grading system to be very significant. The survey found that 15% and 17% of Swedish respondents believed that a grading system is not important equated to 9% and 11% of respondents in Great Britain.

The paper explores the likely national, regional and industry level impacts of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Florence Agreement control measures on agricultural land use and employment in England by the year 2000. Three different modelling approaches were combined, involving a dynamic spreadsheet model of UK milk and beef supply,a linear programming-based model of land use and an employment modelbased on input-output and employment relationships within the economy. This modelling exercise found that, by 2000, the impact of the BSEcrisis and the culling policy will have resulted in relatively smallreductions in the output of beef and milk compared to pre-crisis (1995) levels alongside partially compensating increases in the outputs of sheep, pigs and poultry. However, this masks significant likely regional variation. The knock-on effects on employment may also be substantial. The findings highlight the key importance of improving the future demand for UK-produced beef and lifting the world-wide ban on beef exports from the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which farm managers' attitudes, personality, behavior, values, and sociodemographic characteristics influence farm business performance is, at best, only partially understood. The study reported here expands on this understanding by analyzing the attitudes and personal attributes of 80 dairy farmers in Great Britain in relation to the profitability over 3 yr of their farm businesses. Business goals, temperament, purchasing behavior, and having a growth mindset toward the business were found to be associated with profitability. A linear regression model consisting of 5 variables related to the above was presented that predicts 34% of the observed variation in profitability. Each of these variables were questions related to the participants' personal attitudes or beliefs. Other assessed variables, such as specific husbandry behaviors or practices, or management practices and sociodemographic characteristics, did not warrant inclusion in the final model. These results uniquely contribute to understanding how the attitudes, personality, behaviors, and attributes of dairy farmers are associated with, and thus likely to influence, the profitability of their farm businesses., (Copyright © 2018 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many believe the health status of organic dairy herds in Europe should be improved to meet consumers' and legislators' expectations to improve animal welfare. This paper reports on a study in four countries that examined dairy farmers' intentions towards improving the health status of their organic herds through the use of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. It was found that farmers across the countries were positive about taking additional preventative measures to improve the health status of their herds. They believed this would not only improve herd physical performance, such as milk yield and fertility, but also achieve greater cost effectiveness and improved job satisfaction for them. Most study farmers would implement a tailored package of improvement measures designed by the study team with higher uptake most likely being by younger farmers, those who make greater use of veterinarians and professional advisory services, and those supplying specialist milk-marketing chains. Furthermore, farmers will be most likely to take-up additional health promotion if compatible with their everyday activities and if they have strong business performance goals aimed at maximising the physical performance of the herd., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

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., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) identified practices to reduce the risk of animal disease outbreaks. We report on the response of sheep and pig farmers in England to promotion of these practices. A conceptual framework was established from research on factors influencing adoption of animal health practices, linking knowledge, attitudes, social influences and perceived constraints to the implementation of specific practices. Qualitative data were collected from nine sheep and six pig enterprises in 2011. Thematic analysis explored attitudes and responses to the proposed practices, and factors influencing the likelihood of implementation. Most feel they are doing all they can reasonably do to minimise disease risk and that practices not being implemented are either not relevant or ineffective. There is little awareness and concern about risk from unseen threats. Pig farmers place more emphasis than sheep farmers on controlling wildlife, staff and visitor management and staff training. The main factors that influence livestock farmers' decision on whether or not to implement a specific disease risk measure are: attitudes to, and perceptions of, disease risk; attitudes towards the specific measure and its efficacy; characteristics of the enterprise which they perceive as making a measure impractical; previous experience of a disease or of the measure; and the credibility of information and advice. Great importance is placed on access to authoritative information with most seeing vets as the prime source to interpret generic advice from national bodies in the local context. Uptake of disease risk measures could be increased by: improved risk communication through the farming press and vets to encourage farmers to recognise hidden threats; dissemination of credible early warning information to sharpen farmers' assessment of risk; and targeted information through training events, farming press, vets and other advisers, and farmer groups, tailored to the different categories of livestock farmer., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)