Survey of farmer knowledge and attitudes to endemic disease management in South Australia, with a focus on bovine viral diarrhoea (bovine pestivirus).
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to establish the attitudes of South Australian cattle farmers towards endemic animal disease prevention and control, with a particular focus on the awareness of and attitudes towards bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD).


METHODS
This cross-sectional postal survey involved mailing a questionnaire to all South Australian cattle owners with 35 or more head of cattle.


RESULTS
Worms and lice were the most common animal disease concerns. Less than half of responding farmers were adequately vaccinating their herds against clostridial diseases, but 53.0% stated that they utilised quarantine procedures. Less than 20% of respondents had actively taken part in BVD educational opportunities, or had vaccinated or tested their herd for BVD; less than 20% of respondents were actively involved in any systematic control of Johne's disease. Overall, farmers' actual knowledge of BVD was lower than their perceived understanding, although their interest in BVD and its control was high.


CONCLUSIONS
Disease prevention measures such as vaccination, quarantine and participation in systematic control schemes were used by a minority of respondents. The results suggest that respondents acknowledge BVD as an important and relevant disease, despite many believing it was not a problem in their herd. Interest in BVD appears to be high and it is likely that an education program would be well received.
School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia 5371, Australia.
S R
SR
Lanyon
M L
ML
Anderson
M P
MP
Reichel
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000818:Animals; D001912:Bovine Virus Diarrhea-Mucosal Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002417:Cattle; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001908:Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
bovine viral diarrhoea; disease control; farmer attitudes; pestivirus; preventative health surveys