title: Socioeconomic implications of biosecurity practices in small-scale dairy farms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biosecurity plays a crucial role in preventing contagious diseases and in increasing farm productivity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine technical and economic biosecurity scores of farms, and to examine the associations between biosecurity practices (BP) and producers' socioeconomic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted on a total of 50 small-scale dairy farms that were randomly selected in Hatay, Turkey. A checklist consisting of 19 biosecurity practices was addressed to the farms. The technical and economic scoring systems were developed by the authors according to presence and cost of the each of the biosecurity practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean of the technical and economic scores were found to be 9.30 and 17.04, respectively. 'Treatment of sick animals' (98%), 'vaccination against the most common contagious diseases' (90%), and 'barn lime' (86%) were found to be the most commonly used applications. 'Testing for the most common contagious diseases before buying' (10%) was used at the lowest rate. Significant differences were found among the groups regarding education level (<.05), income class (<.05), and herd size (<.01). Biosecurity scores were significantly positively correlated with herd size (<.05) and producers' education level (<.01). There were statistically significant associations between the producers' socioeconomic characteristics and some of the biosecurity practices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Training programs should be arranged to change the attitudes and perception of small-scale producers concerning poor biosecurity practices. In order to encourage producers to increase biosecurity scores, regulations regarding financial support and penalties could be quite useful at both the regional and national levels.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Animal Health Economics and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , Mustafa Kemal University , Antakya 31600 , Hatay , Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet Ferit
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Can
authors.forename: Nuri
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Altuğ
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D003612:Dairying / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D004522:Educational Status; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey
keywords: biosecurity; economic; farm; producer; score