4 Sep 2018
Vaccination is a commonly used disease control strategy in dairy farming in the UK. Farmers perceive their veterinarian to be the most important source of information for vaccination advice. However, poor compliance and perceived confusion on appropriate vaccination strategies suggest that there is variation in the advice that farmers are receiving. This study compared veterinarians’, veterinary students’ and farmers’ perceptions and approach to
vaccination strategies on dairy farms through the use of survey questions, discussion groups and a posed case scenario. The vaccination advice for one case scenario was variable between many participants in this study. Results suggest that although veterinarians are aware of suboptimal farmer compliance, and they recognise the motivators and barriers of farmers to comply with vaccination, actions to improve farmer compliance could be improved. Suggestions are given to provide veterinarians with, currently lacking, information which is helpful in the decision-making process to achieve the best vaccination advice. The study also addresses potential areas which may aid communication and compliance when implementing vaccination strategies on UK dairy farms.
