Kato H, Ono H, Sato M, Noguchi M, Kobayashi K
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan.
College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa 252-0880, Japan.
J Dairy Sci. 2022 Jan;105(1):441-452. doi: 10.3168/jds.2021-20666. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
To facilitate sustainable dairy farming, it is essential to assess and support the mental health of dairy farm workers, which is affected more than that of workers in other industries, as indicated by the relatively few studies to date. In addition, the limited investigations on mental health in dairy workers minimize the opportunities to suggest practical approaches of improvement of their mental health. Therefore, further data acquisition and analysis is required. In the present study, we undertook quantitative surveys on 17 management factors and administered a mental health questionnaire to 81 dairy farm managers (80 male, 1 female) in Hokkaido, northern Japan. The management factors were categorized into 3 groups: production input, production output, and facility indicator; mental health was evaluated based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Principal component analysis assigned the factors into 2 groups: intensiveness factors of dairy production systems (PC1: livestock care cost, fat- and protein-corrected milk, stocking density, medical consultation fee per unit time per animal unit, nonfamily wages, fertilizer and pesticide expenses, and net agricultural income ratio) and basic dairy management factors (PC2: net agricultural income ratio, quantity of concentrate feed, and milk quality variable). The depression symptoms of dairy farm managers were not significantly associated with PC1 and milking methods; however, they were significantly negatively associated with PC2, which integrated 3 management factors, including factors related to finances, feeding, and milk quality. According to the findings of the present study, the efforts needed for stable economic farm management, adequate feed supply, and milk quality maintenance may increase the depression levels of dairy farm managers and negatively affect their mental health. These findings could be the basis for future studies on the relationship between the mental health of farm managers and sustainable dairy farm management and production.
为促进可持续奶牛养殖，评估并支持奶牛场工人的心理健康至关重要。正如迄今为止相对较少的研究所表明的那样，奶牛场工人的心理健康比其他行业的工人受到的影响更大。此外，对奶牛场工人心理健康的有限调查减少了提出改善其心理健康实用方法的机会。因此，需要进一步的数据收集和分析。在本研究中，我们对17个管理因素进行了定量调查，并对日本北部北海道的81名奶牛场经理（80名男性，1名女性）进行了心理健康问卷调查。管理因素分为3组：生产投入、生产产出和设施指标；心理健康基于流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）进行评估。主成分分析将这些因素分为2组：奶牛生产系统的集约化因素（PC1：牲畜护理成本、脂肪和蛋白质校正乳、饲养密度、每动物单位每单位时间的医疗咨询费、非家庭工资、肥料和农药费用以及农业纯收入比率）和基本奶牛管理因素（PC2：农业纯收入比率、精饲料数量和牛奶质量变量）。奶牛场经理的抑郁症状与PC1和挤奶方法无显著关联；然而，它们与PC2显著负相关，PC2整合了3个管理因素，包括与财务、饲养和牛奶质量相关的因素。根据本研究的结果，稳定农场经济管理、充足饲料供应和维持牛奶质量所需的努力可能会增加奶牛场经理的抑郁水平，并对他们的心理健康产生负面影响。这些发现可为未来关于农场经理心理健康与可持续奶牛养殖管理及生产之间关系的研究奠定基础。
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