Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T03:24:40.996Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluation of the impact of a Herd Health and Production Management programme in organic dairy cattle farms: a process evaluation approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2017

J. E. Duval ,
N. Bareille ,
A. Madouasse ,
M. de Joybert ,
K. Sjöström ,
U. Emanuelson ,
F. Bonnet-Beaugrand  and
C. Fourichon
J. E. Duval*
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
N. Bareille
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
A. Madouasse
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
M. de Joybert
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
K. Sjöström
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Ruminant Medicine and Veterinary Epidemiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7054, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
U. Emanuelson
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Ruminant Medicine and Veterinary Epidemiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7054, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
F. Bonnet-Beaugrand
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
C. Fourichon
Affiliation:
BIOEPAR, INRA, Oniris, 44307 Nantes, France
*
† E-mail: julie.duval@oniris-nantes.fr
Get access

Abstract

Animal health planning activities are not always providing a satisfactory positive impact on herd health and welfare. Moreover, evaluating the impact of advisory programmes is complex due to multiple interacting elements that influence its outcome. Therefore, measuring solely health outcomes is not sufficient: the whole process of the implementation and use of such programmes should be evaluated. In order to evaluate the impact of an intervention with a Herd Health and Production Management (HHPM) programme a process evaluation framework was designed and used. The intervention involved 20 organic dairy cattle farmers and their advisors, in both France and Sweden. In both countries 20 organic dairy farms were selected as control herds. The evaluation of the HHPM programme was based on: (a) the compliance to the programme; (b) the programme’s functions influencing herd health management practices and stimulating dialogue between farmers and advisors; (c) its effectiveness in terms of improving herd health compared with control farms. Complete compliance to the programme was fulfilled by 21 out of 40 farmers–advisors. Results from a questionnaire showed that the programme functioned as intended (e.g. by allowing early identification of herd health problems), stimulated change in farmers’ herd health management practices and farmer–advisor dialogue. Even though the majority of the users perceived that the programme contributed to herd health improvements, no significant differences in health outcomes were found when compared with control farms 12 months after the start of the intervention. The programme allowed creating an environment promoting the exchange of information between farmers and advisors, necessary to define pertinent advice in a farm-specific situation. Future research should aim at improving methods for the evaluation of the effect of advisory programmes, by identifying early indicators for effective advice and developing methods to evaluate the quality of advisory situations without interfering with them.

Keywords

dairy cattleanimal health planningadvisorsextension servicescomplex interventions
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 12 , Issue 7 , July 2018 , pp. 1475 - 1483
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous 2007. Council regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.Google Scholar
Beekhuis-Gibbon, L, Devitt, C, Whyte, P, O’Grady, L, More, SJ, Redmond, B and Doherty, ML 2011. A HACCP-based approach to mastitis control in dairy herds. Part 2: implementation and evaluation. Irish Veterinary Journal 64, 7.Google Scholar
Bell, NJ, Bell, MJ, Knowles, TG, Whay, HR, Main, DJ and Webster, AJF 2009. The development, implementation and testing of a lameness control programme based on HACCP principles and designed for heifers on dairy farms. The Veterinary Journal 180, 178–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brand, A, Noordhuizen, JPTM and Schukken, YH 2001. Herd Health and Production Management in dairy practice. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Cerf, M, Jeuffroy, MH, Prost, L and Meynard, JM 2012. Participatory design of agricultural decision support tools: taking account of the use situations. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 32, 899–910.Google Scholar
Craig, P, Dieppe, P, Macintyre, S, Health, P, Unit, S, Michie, S and Petticrew, M 2008. Developing and evaluating complex interventions: the new Medical Research Council Guidance. British Medical Journal 337, 1655.Google Scholar
Duval, JE, Bareille, N, Fourichon, C, Madouasse, A and Vaarst, M 2016a. Perceptions of French private veterinary practitioners on their role in organic dairy farms and opportunities to improve their advisory services for organic dairy farmers. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 128, 10–21.Google Scholar
Duval, JE, Fourichon, C, Madouasse, A, Sjöström, K, Emanuelson, U and Bareille, N 2016b. A participatory approach to design monitoring indicators of production diseases in organic dairy farms. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 133, 12–22.Google Scholar
Garforth, C 2011. Effective communication to improve udder health: can social science help? In Udder health and communication (ed. H Hogeveen and TJGM Lam), pp. 55–66. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Utrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Green, MJ, Leach, KA, Breen, JE, Green, LE and Bradley, AJ 2007. National intervention study of mastitis control in dairy herds in England and Wales. Veterinary Record 160, 287–293.Google Scholar
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements 2005. Principles of organic agriculture. IFOAM. Retrieved on 13 February 2017 from http://www.ifoam.bio/en/organic-landmarks/principles-organic-agriculture.Google Scholar
Ivemeyer, S, Smolders, G, Brinkmann, J, Gratzer, E, Hansen, B, Henriksen, BIF and Walkenhorst, M 2012. Impact of animal health and welfare planning on medicine use, herd health and production in European organic dairy farms. Livestock Science 145, 63–72.Google Scholar
Ivemeyer, S, Walkenhorst, M, Heil, F, Notz, C, Maeschli, A, Butler, G and Klocke, P. 2009. Management factors affecting udder health and effects of a one year extension program in organic dairy herds. Animal 3, 1596–1604.Google Scholar
Janz, NK and Becker, MH 1984. The health belief model: a decade later. Health Education Quarterly 11, 1–47.Google Scholar
Klerkx, L and Jansen, J 2010. Building knowledge systems for sustainable agriculture: supporting private advisors to adequately address sustainable farm management in regular service contacts. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 8, 148–163.Google Scholar
Krieger, M, Sjöström, K, Blanco-Penedo, I, Madouasse, A, Duval, JE, Bareille, N, Fourichon, C, Sundrum, A and Emanuelson, U. 2017. Prevalences of production diseases in European organic dairy herds. Livestock Science 198, 104–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malterud, K 2001. The art and science of clinical knowledge: evidence beyond measures and numbers. The Lancet 358, 397–400.Google Scholar
Moore, GF, Audrey, S, Barker, M, Bond, L, Bonell, C, Hardeman, W and Baird, J 2015. Process evaluation of complex interventions: Medical Research Council guidance. British Medical Journal 350, h1258.Google Scholar
Oakley, A, Strange, V, Bonell, C, Allen, E, Stephenson, J, and RIPPLE Study Team. 2006. Process evaluation in randomised controlled trials of complex interventions. British Medical Journal 332, 413–416.Google Scholar
Vaarst, M, Bennedsgaard, TW, Klaas, I, Nissen, TB., Thamsborg, SM and Østergaard, S 2006. Development and daily management of an explicit strategy of nonuse of antimicrobial drugs in twelve Danish organic dairy herds. Journal of Dairy Science 89, 1842–1853.Google Scholar
Vaarst, M, Winckler, C, Roderick, S, Smolders, G, Ivemeyer, S, Brinkmann, J and Huber, J 2011. Animal health and welfare planning organic dairy cattle farms. The Open Veterinary Science Journal 5, 19–25.Google Scholar
Waters, E, Hall, BJ, Armstrong, R, Doyle, J, Pettman, TL and De Silva-Sanigorski, A 2011. Essential components of public health evidence reviews: capturing intervention complexity, implementation, economics and equity. Journal of Public Health 33, 462–465.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Duval et al supplementary material 1

Duval et al supplementary material

Download Duval et al supplementary material 1(File)
File 637.1 KB