Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland
To ensure that research priorities are aligned closely with the priorities of the industry, we have designed and analysed a survey of sheep farmers who are members of the Moredun Foundation. Our analysis identified the animal health issues that were perceived as the biggest threats to the farmers own holdings, and allowed differentiation between acute and non-acute risks. By making innovative use of generalised linear models, we identified differences in perceived risk between farmers in Scotland and England for a number of diseases including sheep scab and coccidiosis. We also found that the average reported perceptions of risk to farmers own holdings sometimes differed from the average perception of risks to the industry as a whole, with some diseases such as orf being perceived much more frequently as a threat at the farm level than at the national scale.
Percentage of Scottish farms in which each issue was reported as amongst the five most serious issues on a farmer’s own holding. Blue bars represent national estimates, while other colours identify issues (mastitis and sheep scab) with statistically significant geographical differences.
Further details from: Iain McKendrick
Article date 2007
