Abstract
During the transition period three weeks before and after calving the dairy cow is at greater risk of developing disease, to the detriment of welfare and production. An understanding of the reasons why and how farmers and their advisors engage in efforts to control metabolic disease during the transition period is required if these diseases are to be more successfully controlled. The study reported here, based on interview research, investigates the opinions and behaviours of farm advisors on transition cow management and nutrition, their experiences of working with their respective farm clients, and interactions with other farm advisors to help manage transition cow health and productivity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 veterinary advisors and 12 non-veterinary advisors (nutritionists, feed company representatives and independent consultants) in England. A key theme emerging from this qualitative data was a perceived lack of focussed transition management advice provided by advisors. Reasons for suboptimal or lack of appropriate advice included: time pressures for advisors to visit as many farms as possible; avoiding the investigation of areas of potential improvement, for fear of not meeting transition health and performance targets; financial disincentives for nutritionists, as the sales commission attributed to transition cow feeding was small relative to the main milking herd; and a lack of confidence in the subject. Other aspects included the responsibility of providing transition advice which was perceived to be high-risk, a lack of cooperation between veterinarians and nutritionists, and the perceived varying competencies of nutritionists. The findings demonstrate the importance of the varied influences of ‘people factors’ on transition cow health such as the nature of the advisor-farmer relationship, advisor-farmer communication and herd-level advisor collaboration on transition cow health and management.
Highlights
During the transition from the dry period to lactation the dairy cow undergoes a period of physiological, metabolic, and immunological change and is at greater risk of developing disease, to the detriment of welfare and production (Drackley, 1999)
All the participating farm advisors were employed by different companies and had different levels of experience
The main themes presented demonstrate a perceived lack of focussed transition management advice provided by advisors, and these related to advisors’ commercial interests, a nervousness for advisors to get involved with transition cow management, advisors not feeling valued, communication difficulties, and the perceived varying competencies of nutritionists
Summary
During the transition from the dry period to lactation the dairy cow undergoes a period of physiological, metabolic, and immunological change and is at greater risk of developing disease, to the detriment of welfare and production (Drackley, 1999). According to Mulligan and Doherty (2008) and Mills et al (2020), dairy herds still experience high rates of metabolic diseases, with rates in well-managed herds remaining similar to those published decades ago, indicating a perennial problem for dairy cow welfare and farm profitability. This suggests that there are barriers to implementing best practice, or advisors are failing to understand the local and situated contexts that influence farmer behaviour and responses to their advice (Bard et al, 2019)
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