TY - JOUR

T1 - German Farmers' Awareness of Lameness in Their Dairy Herds

AU - Jensen, Katharina Charlotte

AU - Oehm, Andreas W.

AU - Campe, Amely

AU - Stock, Annegret

AU - Woudstra, Svenja

AU - Feist, Melanie

AU - Müller, Kerstin Elisabeth

AU - Hoedemaker, Martina

AU - Merle, Roswitha

N1 - Funding Information: This study was conducted as part of a large cross-sectional study on the health, biosecurity, and housing environment of dairy farms in Germany (). The project was initiated and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). Funding Information: Farmers frequently underestimate the percentage of lame cows within their herds (–), as well as the financial consequences (). To date, there has been limited understanding of why farmers have a poor awareness of lameness in their herds. In a study by Leach et al. (), the estimation of farmers corresponded to the number of cows diagnosed as severely lame by the researchers. It was hypothesized that farmers overlook cows with moderate lameness and often have another definition of “lameness.” This finding is supported by the observation that farmers avoid the term “lame” and prefer “impaired mobility” (). A second hypothesis for the underestimation is that individual cows gain less attention from farmers () due to increasing herd sizes and other tasks apart from the stable, like, e.g., documentation. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Jensen, Oehm, Campe, Stock, Woudstra, Feist, Müller, Hoedemaker and Merle.

PY - 2022/3/24

Y1 - 2022/3/24

N2 - Lameness is one of the most challenging problems in the dairy industry. Control is impeded because farmers often underestimate the number of lame cows. The objectives of this study were to assess German farmers' awareness of lameness in their herds and to determine the associations between farmers' awareness and their management practices, farm characteristics as well as with farmers' education, personality traits and attitudes. As a part of a large cross-sectional study, veterinarians visited farms in three structurally different regions of Germany: north (n = 253), east (n = 252), and south (n = 260). The cows (n = 84,998) were scored for locomotion and farmers were asked to estimate the number of cows that were lame or did not walk soundly. The ratio of farmers' estimated prevalence and the veterinarians' observed prevalence (Farmer's Detection Index; FDI) was calculated. The median lameness prevalence assessed by the veterinarians was 23.1, 39.1, and 23.2%, and the median prevalence of lame cows estimated by the farmers was 9.5, 9.5, and 7.1% in the north, east, and south, respectively. On average, farmers were conscious of only 45.3% (north), 24.0% (east), and 30.0% (south) of their lame cows. Farmers managing their herds according to organic principles had a higher FDI than farmers who managed their herds conventionally. Surprisingly, no significant associations between FDI and factors concerning claw health management could be detected. Therefore, increased awareness did not seem to be necessarily linked to improved management. Moreover, the FDI was not significantly associated with farmers' education or herd size. In the south, more extraverted farmers had a lower FDI. Those farmers who totally agreed with the statement, “I am satisfied with my herd's health,” had a lower FDI than farmers who disagreed or were undecided. Moreover, farmers who disagreed or were undecided with the statement, “It affects me to see a cow in pain” had a higher FDI than those farmers who agreed to the statement. The results indicate that poor awareness of lameness was linked to the farmers' attitude and personality. Therefore, new approaches concerning the consultation regarding lameness control, such as the use of Motivational Interviewing, might be useful in the future.

AB - Lameness is one of the most challenging problems in the dairy industry. Control is impeded because farmers often underestimate the number of lame cows. The objectives of this study were to assess German farmers' awareness of lameness in their herds and to determine the associations between farmers' awareness and their management practices, farm characteristics as well as with farmers' education, personality traits and attitudes. As a part of a large cross-sectional study, veterinarians visited farms in three structurally different regions of Germany: north (n = 253), east (n = 252), and south (n = 260). The cows (n = 84,998) were scored for locomotion and farmers were asked to estimate the number of cows that were lame or did not walk soundly. The ratio of farmers' estimated prevalence and the veterinarians' observed prevalence (Farmer's Detection Index; FDI) was calculated. The median lameness prevalence assessed by the veterinarians was 23.1, 39.1, and 23.2%, and the median prevalence of lame cows estimated by the farmers was 9.5, 9.5, and 7.1% in the north, east, and south, respectively. On average, farmers were conscious of only 45.3% (north), 24.0% (east), and 30.0% (south) of their lame cows. Farmers managing their herds according to organic principles had a higher FDI than farmers who managed their herds conventionally. Surprisingly, no significant associations between FDI and factors concerning claw health management could be detected. Therefore, increased awareness did not seem to be necessarily linked to improved management. Moreover, the FDI was not significantly associated with farmers' education or herd size. In the south, more extraverted farmers had a lower FDI. Those farmers who totally agreed with the statement, “I am satisfied with my herd's health,” had a lower FDI than farmers who disagreed or were undecided. Moreover, farmers who disagreed or were undecided with the statement, “It affects me to see a cow in pain” had a higher FDI than those farmers who agreed to the statement. The results indicate that poor awareness of lameness was linked to the farmers' attitude and personality. Therefore, new approaches concerning the consultation regarding lameness control, such as the use of Motivational Interviewing, might be useful in the future.

KW - attitude

KW - claw health

KW - Farmers' Detection Index

KW - locomotion score

KW - mobility score

KW - personality trait

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128209870&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fvets.2022.866791

DO - 10.3389/fvets.2022.866791

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35400109

AN - SCOPUS:85128209870

VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Veterinary Science

JF - Frontiers in Veterinary Science

SN - 2297-1769

M1 - 866791

ER -