The objectives were to determine the socio-demographic profiles of small ruminant dairy farmers and to study associations with management practices, production outcomes and health parameters on their farms. In total, 325 sheep flocks and 119 goat herds across Greece were included in the study and visited for collection of information. Socio-demographic characteristics of the dairy farmers and details of management practices, production outcomes and health parameters on their farms were recorded. For the analysis of results, multivariable models were created using mixed-effects logistic regression, with farms as the random effect. Most dairy farmers were male (93.2%), most were full-time professionals in farming (89.4%) and most had a farming family tradition (86.9%). The mean age was 47.0 years and the mean farming experience was 24.3 years. For 17.3% of the farmers, the highest level of education received was primary education, for 54.3% it was secondary education, for 16.4% it was post-secondary vocational training and for 12.0% it was tertiary education. In 35.4% of dairy farms, external farm workers were employed. Of the socio-demographic characteristics, farming experience was associated with geographical location of farms, management system, breed of animals, application of quarantine measures, laboratory evaluation of feedstuffs, ultrasonographic examination for pregnancy diagnosis, application of vaccination against clostridial infections, means of calculation of bodyweight for drug administration to animals, maintenance of colostrum bank, number of annual veterinary visits, annual milk production per animal, number of newborns and somatic cell counts and total bacterial counts in milk. Further, the employment of external farm workers on the farm was associated with management system, machine-milking, number and breed of animals, application of quarantine measures, laboratory evaluation of feedstuffs, ultrasonographic examination for pregnancy diagnosis, number of annual veterinary visits, annual milk production per animal, protein content in milk and number of newborns. The findings indicate that dairy sheep/goat farming is still a family-driven business, but, nevertheless, there are now younger people among these farmers, many of them with post-secondary education. Socio-demographic characteristics may influence the management practices applied, which in turn can have consequences for production and health results of the farms.
Effects of weather and other factors on milk production in the Churra dairy sheep breed
