Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.
ACER Consulting, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 5L3.
J Dairy Sci. 2022 Jul;105(7):6364-6377. doi: 10.3168/jds.2021-21745. Epub 2022 May 28.
Lameness represents a significant management challenge in the dairy industry worldwide. In addition to farmers, many advisors are involved in lameness management, including veterinarians, hoof trimmers, and nutritionists. These advisors support farmers through lameness prevention practices, treatments, and advice, but little is known about how advisors view others' roles and the extent to which they work together. This study used qualitative participatory methods to facilitate the formation of lameness advisory groups among 13 advisors (4 veterinarians, 5 hoof trimmers, and 4 nutritionists), with the aims of promoting advisors' engagement with one another and documenting their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of the research activities through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Participants shared predominantly positive views toward the project and voiced appreciation about the quality of discussions and the opportunity to connect and build relationships with other advisors. Participants reported improved communication with others via sharing reports and farm information, as well as increased confidence in reaching out to other advisors. Reported challenges included time constraints and discomfort in leading the lameness advisory group meetings. Difficulties were also found in bringing issues to farmers' attention when they might not align with the farmers' goals or priorities, as well as participants' questioning other advisors' knowledge and intentions. This study describes a promising avenue of facilitating advisor engagement, although more work is needed to determine whether such engagement translates to a reduction of lameness on farms.
跛行是全球奶牛养殖业面临的重大管理挑战。除了农民，许多顾问也参与到跛行管理中，包括兽医、蹄修师和营养师。这些顾问通过跛行预防措施、治疗和建议为农民提供支持，但对于顾问如何看待他人的角色以及他们合作的程度，人们知之甚少。本研究采用定性参与式方法，在 13 位顾问（4 位兽医、5 位蹄修师和 4 位营养师）中促成了跛行顾问小组的组建，旨在促进顾问之间的互动，并通过半结构化访谈和主题分析记录他们对研究活动的益处和挑战的看法。参与者普遍对该项目持积极态度，并对讨论的质量和与其他顾问建立联系和建立关系的机会表示赞赏。参与者报告称，通过分享报告和农场信息，他们与他人的沟通得到了改善，并且在与其他顾问联系时更有信心。报告的挑战包括时间限制以及在跛行顾问小组会议上担任领导的不自在。当问题可能与农民的目标或优先事项不一致时，向农民提出问题也很困难，此外，参与者还对其他顾问的知识和意图提出质疑。本研究描述了一种促进顾问参与的有前途的途径，但仍需要更多的工作来确定这种参与是否能减少农场的跛行问题。
