‘It's cheaper than a dead cow’: Understanding veterinary medicine use on dairy farms

Gwen Rees*, Henry Buller, Kristen K Reyher, David C. Barret

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study offers a detailed and original assessment of the practices of prescription veterinary medicine use on UK dairy farms. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance as a global threat has necessitated an increasing focus on medicine use in agriculture. While an abundance of studies have recently emerged to demonstrate and evaluate strategies for medicine reduction, this paper seeks to understand the context and the on-farm culture within which treatment practices occur on a sample of UK dairy farms. Arguing that the experiential knowledge, on-farm culture and informal information flows are as important as ‘science’ in the practice of treatment decision making and drawing on extensive participant observation fieldwork combined with semi-structured interviews, this paper identifies and discusses three key themes that develop and, in places, challenge our current understanding of farmer treatment practices. These areas - treatment knowledge and understanding, a duty of care and autonomy of treatment practice - are seen to have complex effects on the use of veterinary medicines in dairy cattle and, as such, highlight critical areas for further research and opportunities for policy interventions aimed at improving responsible medicine use.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)587-598
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Rural Studies
Volume86
Early online date31 Jul 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2021

Keywords

  • Dairy farming
  • Ethnography
  • Veterinary medicine

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