Veldhuis Anouk M B, Brouwer-Middelesch Henriëtte, Paarlberg Nienke, Deterink Angela, Dijkstra Thomas, Heres Lourens, Smits Debora, Poll Thijs, Stoelinga Sabine, Santman-Berends Inge
Royal GD, PO Box 9, Deventer 7400 AA, the Netherlands.
Department Population Health Sciences, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, Utrecht 3584 CM, the Netherlands.
Prev Vet Med. 2025 Nov;244:106637. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2025.106637. Epub 2025 Jul 31.
Since 2018, dairy farmers in the Netherlands have access to a census data-driven tool to monitor calf rearing quality, called "KalfOK". Participants (N ≈ 12,000; 95 % of the population of dairy farms) receive a quarterly farm report with a score ranging between 0 and 100 points. The score is built on points graded for the value of 12 indicators for youngstock rearing quality (e.g. 'percentage of live births'). This study aimed to validate KalfOK's performance to distinguish farms with either reduced or excellent calf health, by the assessment of 205 farm visits by independent veterinarians. In a second part of the study, KalfOK was evaluated by means of a questionnaire amongst 324 randomly selected dairy farmers. They were surveyed on their experiences with KalfOK and suggestions for improvement. Feasible suggestions were included in a scenario analysis to quantify the impact of these proposed changes on the performance of KalfOK. Results showed that KalfOK's sensitivity to distinguish farms with very high calf rearing quality is 83.3 % (95 % CI: 36-100), with a corresponding specificity of 63.8 % (95 % CI: 55-72). The sensitivity to detect farms with supposedly low calf rearing quality was estimated to be 83.3 % (95 % CI: 36-100), with corresponding specificity of 75.6 % (95 % CI: 67-83). Surveyed farmers made a number of suggestions for improvement of KalfOK related to alternative calculation of health indicators, such as adapting the temporal unit used for calculating indicators from quarterly to annually, and clemency in the event of perinatal mortality of twin/triplet calves. Scenario analyses revealed that such alternatives, perceived by farmers as improvement options, are not always in their interest as they either lead to lower scores or they reduce KalfOK's performance in distinguishing high and low performing farms. Results also revealed that about 50 % of the dairy farmers do not actively use the tool in their calf rearing management. This means that in order to improve uptake of KalfOK by farmers, substantial communication efforts should be made to change farmer's perceptions of KalfOK by emphasizing the tool's possibilities, limitations and added value.
自2018年以来，荷兰奶农可以使用一种由普查数据驱动的工具来监测犊牛饲养质量，该工具名为“KalfOK”。参与者（N≈12000；占奶牛场总数的95%）每季度会收到一份农场报告，分数在0到100分之间。该分数基于对12项幼畜饲养质量指标（如“活产百分比”）的评分。本研究旨在通过独立兽医对205个农场的走访评估，验证KalfOK区分犊牛健康状况不佳或极佳农场的性能。在研究的第二部分，通过对324名随机选择的奶农进行问卷调查来评估KalfOK。调查了他们使用KalfOK的经历以及改进建议。可行的建议被纳入情景分析，以量化这些提议的更改对KalfOK性能的影响。结果显示，KalfOK区分犊牛饲养质量非常高的农场的敏感性为83.3%（95%置信区间：36 - 100），相应的特异性为63.8%（95%置信区间：55 - 72）。检测犊牛饲养质量据称较低的农场的敏感性估计为83.3%（95%置信区间：36 - 100），相应的特异性为75.6%（95%置信区间：67 - 83）。接受调查的奶农对改进KalfOK提出了一些建议，这些建议与健康指标的替代计算方法有关，例如将计算指标所用的时间单位从季度改为年度，以及对双胞胎/三胞胎犊牛围产期死亡情况的宽容处理。情景分析表明，农民认为这些改进选项并不总是符合他们的利益，因为它们要么导致分数降低，要么降低KalfOK区分表现好和表现差的农场的性能。结果还显示，约50%的奶农在犊牛饲养管理中未积极使用该工具。这意味着，为了提高奶农对KalfOK的接受度，应做出大量沟通努力，通过强调该工具的可能性、局限性和附加值来改变奶农对KalfOK的看法。
