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Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms

Although calf mortality is a multifactorial problem, little is known about the attitudes and personalities of calf care workers (CCWs) and their association with calf mortality. This study aimed to describe the attitudes, satisfaction, and personality of CCWs in large Estonian dairy herds and to ana...

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Autores principales: Viidu, Dagni-Alice, Ferguson, Eamonn, Kaart, Tanel, Mõtus, Kerli
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9614149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36311656
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.959548
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author Viidu, Dagni-Alice
Ferguson, Eamonn
Kaart, Tanel
Mõtus, Kerli
author_facet Viidu, Dagni-Alice
Ferguson, Eamonn
Kaart, Tanel
Mõtus, Kerli
author_sort Viidu, Dagni-Alice
collection PubMed
description Although calf mortality is a multifactorial problem, little is known about the attitudes and personalities of calf care workers (CCWs) and their association with calf mortality. This study aimed to describe the attitudes, satisfaction, and personality of CCWs in large Estonian dairy herds and to analyze their associations with herd calf mortality. A questionnaire registering CCWs' attitudes toward their work and calf mortality, personality characteristics, satisfaction and importance of different job-related factors was developed. In total, completed questionnaire data of 161 CCWs from 108 large (>100 cows) Estonian dairy farms were analyzed. Herd-level yearly calf mortality risk (MR) was calculated. Cluster analysis and variance partitioning analysis were applied to reveal the explanatory capacity of CCWs' attitudes and personalities on calf mortality. The mean yearly herd-level calf MR was 5.4% during the first 21 days of life and 2.7% during 22–90 days of life. Although good calf health and low calf mortality was important for CCWs, dead calves were often seen as inevitable. CCWs were generally doubtful regarding their capacity and available knowledge to influence calf mortality. In high-mortality herds, CCWs were dissatisfied with the calf health situation and farm working equipment and felt that the situation was out of their control. Despite striving, they had less faith that farmworkers could affect the outcomes, such as calf mortality. CCWs' personality domains explained <5% of the variance in the herd's calf MR, whereas their attitudes and satisfaction explained 20% of the variability in calf MR. The current study revealed the importance of the attitudes and satisfaction of CCWs on calf mortality and highlighted the need to allocate proficient assistance to herds with high calf mortality to mitigate calf health problems and the resulting consequences for CCWs.
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spelling pubmed-96141492022-10-29 Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms Viidu, Dagni-Alice Ferguson, Eamonn Kaart, Tanel Mõtus, Kerli Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Although calf mortality is a multifactorial problem, little is known about the attitudes and personalities of calf care workers (CCWs) and their association with calf mortality. This study aimed to describe the attitudes, satisfaction, and personality of CCWs in large Estonian dairy herds and to analyze their associations with herd calf mortality. A questionnaire registering CCWs' attitudes toward their work and calf mortality, personality characteristics, satisfaction and importance of different job-related factors was developed. In total, completed questionnaire data of 161 CCWs from 108 large (>100 cows) Estonian dairy farms were analyzed. Herd-level yearly calf mortality risk (MR) was calculated. Cluster analysis and variance partitioning analysis were applied to reveal the explanatory capacity of CCWs' attitudes and personalities on calf mortality. The mean yearly herd-level calf MR was 5.4% during the first 21 days of life and 2.7% during 22–90 days of life. Although good calf health and low calf mortality was important for CCWs, dead calves were often seen as inevitable. CCWs were generally doubtful regarding their capacity and available knowledge to influence calf mortality. In high-mortality herds, CCWs were dissatisfied with the calf health situation and farm working equipment and felt that the situation was out of their control. Despite striving, they had less faith that farmworkers could affect the outcomes, such as calf mortality. CCWs' personality domains explained <5% of the variance in the herd's calf MR, whereas their attitudes and satisfaction explained 20% of the variability in calf MR. The current study revealed the importance of the attitudes and satisfaction of CCWs on calf mortality and highlighted the need to allocate proficient assistance to herds with high calf mortality to mitigate calf health problems and the resulting consequences for CCWs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9614149/ /pubmed/36311656 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.959548 Text en Copyright © 2022 Viidu, Ferguson, Kaart and Mõtus. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Viidu, Dagni-Alice
Ferguson, Eamonn
Kaart, Tanel
Mõtus, Kerli
Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title_full Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title_fullStr Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title_full_unstemmed Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title_short Calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
title_sort calf care workers' attitudes and personality and their association with calf mortality in large-scale dairy farms
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9614149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36311656
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.959548
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