Abstract
One part of dairy herd management is to handle dise ase occurrence by means of health promotion, diseas e prevention, timely medical treatments, or eradicati on of disease. Supporting this part of herd managem ent is an essential task for the cattle veterinarian. The stu dy objective was to identify principles and tools f or analysis of herd health data in industrialized dairy herds. The analysis takes into account the additional complex ity caused by changes in behavior among herd managers and herd personnel due to, for instance, legislative change s to promote animal welfare or food safety. Methods from herd management science were combined with context- specific information about social mechanisms. The r esults were synthesized into a concrete 7-step plan of action, as follows: (1) As the foundation, use cont inuously process behavior charts primarily based on animal- level data. (2) Assure strict definition of the mea surements considering purpose, collector and meaning in terms of biology and management. (3) Interpret the patterns in the process behavior charts and search for and remove causes of exceptional variation in a dialogu e with the herd manager. (4) Search for options to reduce routine variation. Multivariable or multivariate st atistical models can give additional information be cause of their ability to reveal hidden sources of variation . (5) Set targets at the tactical and strategic lev els while accounting for costs and benefits with appropriate methods suggested in the study. Issues related to n on- financial effects are addressed. (6) Adjust measure ment and intervention theory. The previous five ste ps should initiate an iterative process in which the i ntervention is evaluated and updated based on the r esults achieved thus far. (7) Develop a framework in the v eterinary practice unit to support the health perfo rmance measurement process. The activities in step 7 will almost certainly require expert statistical assista nce.
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