scholarly journals Motivations and Barriers for Veterinarians When Facilitating Fertility Management on UK Dairy Farms

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
James John Brocket ◽  
Emma Fishbourne ◽  
Robert Frank Smith ◽  
Helen Mary Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Training ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Post Graduate Training ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Training And Support

It is economically essential, but challenging, for dairy farmers to manage bovine fertility. Vets can help farmers to improve fertility, and this is cost-effective bringing benefits for production, animal health and welfare, and the environment. However, the extent to which vets are involved in fertility varies considerably between farms, for reasons that are unclear. This study investigated the motivators and barriers that vets perceive when trying to increase their involvement with fertility management on UK dairy farms. Interviews were conducted with 20 vets and four themes identified. The first, “clinical baggage,” highlighted vets' disillusionment due to past experiences of low uptake of their advice by farmers. Consequently, some vets made assumptions about farmer needs and behaviours, and exhibited ageist stereotyping. These issues, along with concerns and fatigue associated with repeatedly offering the same advice which was not acted upon, negatively influenced vets' engagement with farmers. The second theme “stuck in the comfort zone” revealed a loss of enthusiasm by some senior vets, whilst others lacked confidence to engage due to perceived gaps in their knowledge. Vets also reported farmers not perceiving their problems and lack of farm data or facilities, as barriers. The “vet-farmer relationship” theme highlighted building trust and developing strong relationships which were key drivers for vets to proactively engage and to “go the extra mile” for their clients. The final theme “money matters” explored vets' motivations to improve their clients' profitability and included the future sustainability of their own businesses. Our themes provide useful insight into the challenges vets face and provide key areas that can be targeted in future interventions to improve veterinary involvement in fertility management. For example, post-graduate training and support for vets needs to consider factors such as reflection, mentorship, stereotyping, relationships, communication, and leadership skills. This type of postgraduate support is currently limited for vets and requires investment from stakeholders if improvements in production, animal health and welfare, and the environment are to be achieved. Our findings are informative for facilitating veterinary involvement in any disease context, and are relevant for stakeholders including governments, educators, charities, farmer representatives, environmentalists, and veterinary leaders.

scholarly journals Tall fescue use on dairy farms

1997 ◽  
pp. 163-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.D. Milne ◽  
R. Shaw ◽  
R. Powell ◽  
B. Pirie ◽  
J. Pirie
Keyword(s):  
Tall Fescue ◽  
Festuca Arundinacea ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Costelytra Zealandica ◽  
Listronotus Bonariensis ◽  
Summer Growth

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is now well proven on New Zealand dairy farms as a pasture species capable of producing high levels of milk production. Compared with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) it offers benefits of higher annual and summer growth, higher clover contents in pasture, higher green leaf to stem ratios in summer, reduced plant pulling, better animal health, grass grub (Costelytra zealandica) and Argentine stem weevil (Listronotus bonariensis) tolerance, tolerance of wet soils, and drought tolerance and growth. Tall fescue can be recommended for dairy farmers in areas where summer growth and quality of ryegrass is reduced by moisture stress or high temperatures, and for those willing to adjust their grazing and establishment practices to suit tall fescue. Keywords: dairy farms, Festuca arundinacea, tall fescue

scholarly journals Benefits of Veterinary Herd Health Management on German Dairy Farms: Status Quo and Farmers' Perspective

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ries ◽  
Katharina Charlotte Jensen ◽  
Kerstin-Elisabeth Müller ◽  
Christa Thöne-Reineke ◽  
Roswitha Merle
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Herd Health ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Cross Sectional

Veterinary Herd Health Management plays an important role in veterinary medicine on dairy farms and has also been mandatory at the European Union level since April 21, 2021. Despite the increasing importance of VHHM, little is known about the extent of utilization of VHHM by dairy farmers and their view on this type of collaboration. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to determine the status quo of the currently practiced VHHM in Germany. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted among dairy farmers in November and December 2020. From 216 analyzed questionnaires, about half (n = 106) of the surveyed dairy farmers used VHHM at different scopes. However, regardless of the group, the term “veterinary herd health management” generally was given most relative importance by the participants as a veterinary service for herd fertility improvement, rather than the actual definition of a holistic approach. In contrast to this, the actual motivation of the VHHM participants, to take part in such a program was primarily based on the desire to safeguard animal health by employing preventive measures, that is, to avoid the occurrence of diseases via improved management and to improve farm performance (and profitability). Dairy farmers who opted for VHHM tended to manage larger higher yielding herds than those who did not. Additionally, the farmers in latter farms were more likely to make joint animal health decisions with their veterinarians. Using a latent class analysis, two groups of farmers among farms that were not currently using VHHM were identified, one of which expressed great interest in using VHHM while the other did not. Since the new legal basis makes the topic even more relevant than before, dairy farmers, animals, and veterinarians might benefit from the study to exploit hidden opportunities for VHHM collaboration.

The IBM-PC in electron microscopy

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 612-613
Author(s):  
James F. Mancuso
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Image Acquisition ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Financial Applications ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Instrument Control ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Training And Support ◽  
Control Image ◽  
Ibm Pc

IBM PC compatible computers are widely used in microscopy for applications ranging from control to image acquisition and analysis. The choice of IBM-PC based systems over competing computer platforms can be based on technical merit alone or on a number of factors relating to economics, availability of peripherals, management dictum, or simple personal preference.IBM-PC got a strong “head start” by first dominating clerical, document processing and financial applications. The use of these computers spilled into the laboratory where the DOS based IBM-PC replaced mini-computers. Compared to minicomputer, the PC provided a more for cost-effective platform for applications in numerical analysis, engineering and design, instrument control, image acquisition and image processing. In addition, the sitewide use of a common PC platform could reduce the cost of training and support services relative to cases where many different computer platforms were used. This could be especially true for the microscopists who must use computers in both the laboratory and the office.

The EPA Guidance Project: Guidance for Mental Healthcare in Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
I. Großimlinghaus ◽  
J. Zielasek ◽  
W. Gaebel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Graduate Training ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
World Health ◽  
Post Graduate Training ◽  
Health Organization

Summary Background: The development of guidelines is an important and common method to assure and improve quality in mental healthcare in European countries. While guidelines have to fulfill predefined criteria such as methodological accuracy of evidence retrieval and assessment, and stakeholder involvement, the development of guidance was not standardized yet. Aim: In 2008, the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) initiated the EPA Guidance project in order to provide guidance in the field of European psychiatry and related fields for topics that are not dealt with by guideline developers – for instance due to lack of evidence or lack of funding. The first three series of EPA Guidance deal with diverse topics that are relevant to European mental healthcare, such as quality assurance for mental health services, post-graduate training in mental healthcare, trust in mental health services and mental health promotion. Results: EPA Guidance recommendations address current and future challenges for European psychiatry. They are developed in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) European Mental Health Action Plan.

EXPERIENCE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTINUOUS INTEGRATED TRAINING SYSTEM FOR SPECIALISTS OF MEDICO-PREVENTIVE BUSINESS IN THE SVERDLOVSK REGION

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
O.P. Kovtun ◽  
S.V. Kuzmin ◽  
O.V. Dikonskaya ◽  
B.I. Nikonov ◽  
V.B. Gurvich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Training ◽  
Training System ◽  
The State ◽  
Post Graduate ◽  
Post Graduate Training ◽  
Medical University ◽  
Long Term Experience ◽  
Modern Technologies

The paper presents long-term experience of interaction between practitioners of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service (until 2005) and Rospotrebnadzor (since 2005), the institutions of science for Rospotrebnadzor, Ural State Medical University in preparing graduates of a medical-preventive profile, starting from pre-university work with schoolchildren to the introduction of modern technologies of practice-oriented training of students, specialists post-graduate training of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service and Rospotrebnadzor.

scholarly journals Keeping Dairy Cows for Longer: A Critical Literature Review on Dairy Cow Longevity in High Milk-Producing Countries

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 808
Author(s):  
Gabriel M. Dallago ◽  
Kevin M. Wade ◽  
Roger I. Cue ◽  
J T. McClure ◽  
René Lacroix ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Dairy Cow ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Dairy Farmers ◽  
Age At First Calving ◽  
Productive Life ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Critical Literature

The ability of dairy farmers to keep their cows for longer could positively enhance the economic performance of the farms, reduce the environmental footprint of the milk industry, and overall help in justifying a sustainable use of animals for food production. However, there is little published on the current status of cow longevity and we hypothesized that a reason may be a lack of standardization and an over narrow focus of the longevity measure itself. The objectives of this critical literature review were: (1) to review metrics used to measure dairy cow longevity; (2) to describe the status of longevity in high milk-producing countries. Current metrics are limited to either the length of time the animal remains in the herd or if it is alive at a given time. To overcome such a limitation, dairy cow longevity should be defined as an animal having an early age at first calving and a long productive life spent in profitable milk production. Combining age at first calving, length of productive life, and margin over all costs would provide a more comprehensive evaluation of longevity by covering both early life conditions and the length of time the animal remains in the herd once it starts to contribute to the farm revenues, as well as the overall animal health and quality of life. This review confirms that dairy cow longevity has decreased in most high milk-producing countries over time and its relationship with milk yield is not straight forward. Increasing cow longevity by reducing involuntary culling would cut health costs, increase cow lifetime profitability, improve animal welfare, and could contribute towards a more sustainable dairy industry while optimizing dairy farmers’ efficiency in the overall use of resources available.

BioWorma as an Aid for Controlling Ruminant Nematode Parasites

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 36-36
Author(s):  
James E Miller ◽  
Joan M Burke ◽  
Thomas H Terrill
Keyword(s):  
Delivery System ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gastrointestinal Nematodes ◽  
Mineral Supplement ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Nematode Parasites

Abstract Nematode-trapping fungi are biological control agents used against the larval stages of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock feces. These fungi are normal soil inhabitants where they feed on a variety of non-parasitic soil nematodes. Of the various fungi tested, Duddingtonia flagrans spores (BioWorma, International Animal Health Products, Australia) have been shown to survive passage through the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants. After defecation, the spores germinate and grow in the feces to form sticky, sophisticated traps/loops which are able to trap the developing larval stages in the fecal environment. This form of control has been successfully applied under field conditions and is an environmentally safe biological approach for forage-based feeding systems. BioWorma has recently been approved for use in the United States. The primary delivery system is mixing BioWorma into supplement feedstuffs daily where each animal has the opportunity to consume an adequate amount of the mixture. To achieve optimum control of larvae during the transmission season (May–October), BioWorma needs to be fed for a period of no shorter than 60 days, starting at the beginning of the grazing season (especially young after weaning). Feeding BioWorma to dams during late pregnancy and lactation will also help to reduce pasture contamination, especially for growing young that will graze the same pasture. Another delivery system is mixing BioWorma into loose mineral supplement where animals will consume it free choice. The mineral needs to be kept covered and dry. The spores cannot be incorporated into pellets as the heat of the pelleting process will kill the spores. One drawback in using BioWorma is the relatively high cost. Research is being conducted to evaluate other delivery schemes that could be more cost effective. This product is the only control method that targets nematodes on pasture, where a majority of the total population reside.

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