Cattle farmer psychosocial profiles and their association with control strategies for bovine viral diarrhea.

Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is endemic in the United Kingdom and causes major economic losses. Control is largely voluntary for individual farmers and is likely to be influenced by psychosocial factors, such as altruism, trust, and psychological proximity (feeling close) to relevant "others," such as farmers, veterinarians, the government, and their cows. These psychosocial factors (factors with both psychological and social aspects) are important determinants of how people make decisions related to their own health, many of which have not been studied in the context of infectious disease control by farmers. Farmer psychosocial profiles were investigated using multiple validated measures in an observational survey of 475 UK cattle farmers using the capability, opportunity, motivation-behavior (COM-B) framework. Farmers were clustered by their BVD control practices using latent class analysis. Farmers were split into 5 BVD control behavior classes, which were tested for associations with the psychosocial and COM-B factors using multinomial logistic regression, with doing nothing as the baseline class. Farmers who were controlling disease both for themselves and others were more likely to do something to control BVD (e.g., test, vaccinate). Farmers who did not trust other farmers, had high psychological capability (knowledge and understanding of how to control disease), and had high physical opportunity (time and money to control disease) were more likely to have a closed, separate herd and test. Farmers who did not trust other farmers were also more likely to undertake many prevention strategies with an open herd. Farmers with high automatic motivation (habits and emotions) and reflective motivation (decisions and goals) were more likely to vaccinate and test, alone or in combination with other controls. Farmers with high psychological proximity (feeling of closeness) to their veterinarian were more likely to undertake many prevention strategies in an open herd. Farmers with high psychological proximity to dairy farmers and low psychological proximity to beef farmers were more likely to keep their herd closed and separate and test or vaccinate and test. Farmers who had a lot of trust in other farmers and invested in them, rather than keeping everything for themselves, were more likely to be careful introducing new stock and test. In conclusion, farmer psychosocial factors were associated with strategies for BVD control in UK cattle farmers. Psychological proximity to veterinarians was a novel factor associated with proactive BVD control and was more important than the more extensively investigated trust. These findings highlight the importance of a close veterinarian-farmer relationship and are important for promoting effective BVD control by farmers, which has implications for successful nationwide BVD control and eradication schemes.

Footbathing, formalin and foot trimming: The 3Fs associated with granulomas and shelly hoof in sheep.

Granulomas and shelly hoof (SH), are lesions of sheep feet. Our objective was to use data from four questionnaires on lameness sent to English sheep farmers in 2004, 2013, 2014 and 2015 to further understanding of the risks and aetiologies of both lesions. Granulomas were more likely in flocks where routine foot trimming (odds ratio [OR]=3.17; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.11-11.47) and routine footbathing (OR=2.38; 95% CI 1.19-4.83) were practised than where these management protocols were not. SH was more likely in flocks that were footbathed in formalin compared with not footbathing (OR=1.65; 95% CI 1.19-2.30), and was less common in flocks that stocked ewes at more than eight vs. four per acre (OR=0.34; 95% CI 0.17-0.68). There were weak associations between SH and foot trimming. In 2004 only, SH was more likely in flocks where therapeutic foot trimming was practised than not practised (OR=2.24; 95% CI 1.12-4.68). In 2014 only, SH was marginally less likely in flocks where no feet bled during trimming, compared with flocks not routinely trimmed (OR=0.55; CI 0.30-1.00); SH was not related to foot trimming once severe footrot was included. We propose that flocks with granulomas and SH would decrease if farmers stopped footbathing in general, in particular with formalin, and avoided foot trimming whether as a therapeutic or routine practice. Further work is needed to understand the role of stocking density.