title: Assessing, and understanding, European organic dairy farmers' intentions to improve herd health.
abstract: Many believe the health status of organic dairy herds in Europe should be improved to meet consumers' and legislators' expectations to improve animal welfare. This paper reports on a study in four countries that examined dairy farmers' intentions towards improving the health status of their organic herds through the use of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. It was found that farmers across the countries were positive about taking additional preventative measures to improve the health status of their herds. They believed this would not only improve herd physical performance, such as milk yield and fertility, but also achieve greater cost effectiveness and improved job satisfaction for them. Most study farmers would implement a tailored package of improvement measures designed by the study team with higher uptake most likely being by younger farmers, those who make greater use of veterinarians and professional advisory services, and those supplying specialist milk-marketing chains. Furthermore, farmers will be most likely to take-up additional health promotion if compatible with their everyday activities and if they have strong business performance goals aimed at maximising the physical performance of the herd.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Agricultural Strategy, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sok
authors.affiliation: Centre for Agricultural Strategy, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK. Electronic address: r.b.tranter@reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Tranter
authors.affiliation: Animal Welfare Subprogram, IRTA, Veïnat de Sies s/u E-17121, Monells, Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Blanco-Penedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), PO Box 7054, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fall
authors.affiliation: BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, La Chantrerie, 44307 Nantes, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fourichon
authors.affiliation: Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hogeveen
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstrasse 1a, D-37213 Witzenhausen, Germany.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstrasse 1a, D-37213 Witzenhausen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sundrum
mesh_terms: D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003612:Dairying / Q000379:methods*; D005060:Europe; D000067565:Farmers / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D033182:Intention; D058871:Organic Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Farmers’ attitude; Health improvements; Health promotion; Veterinarians