Production and veterinary herd health management in dairy farms from São Miguel Island (Azores): veterinarians’ and farmers’ perceptions

• Autor(a) principal: Medeiros, Ivo Rodrigues
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/11189
• topic: Herd health; dairy cows

The intensification of the dairy sector, with the increase in competitiveness in the liberal market, has forced the entire sector to join forces to increase yields of bovine dairy farms. Several types of technology and changes in the production and health management of the dairy herds have been implemented in farms, which have allowed them to increase competitivity. The Azores is a Portuguese, ultra-peripheral archipelago, and its climate allows for the growth of grass all year round, which permits farmers to base their milk production on pasture-based systems. This master’s thesis aims at evaluating, from the perspective of veterinarians and producers, farm and health management, as well as the main problems that farms from the largest island in the Azores, São Miguel, are facing. Therefore, two independent surveys were made in 2020/2021 to approach these issues. There are two types of veterinarians in the Azores: Cooperative Veterinarians (Coop Vets), and Private Veterinarians (Private Vets). In our study, we found several differences in veterinary activity between both groups. Although individual medicine was the main service provided by both types of Veterinarians (56%), 78% fulfilled health plans, more frequently seen by Private Vets. These veterinarians also tended to more usually address prevention policies such as faecal-sampling (P =0.08) and reproductive programmes (P =0.10), whereas Coop Vets covered predominantly individual problems (surgery, P =0.10; dystocia, P =0.06), and brucellosis and tuberculosis surveillance (P =0.04). As described in other parts of the world, farms on the Island of São Miguel are starting to opt for indoor or semi-indoor productions systems, supported by Fixed Milking Parlours (FMP). This is at the expense of traditional pasture-based systems, supported by Mobile Milking Systems (MMS). FMP-farms were associated (P ≤0.05) to bigger herd sizes, better facilities, specialized management and greater, but insufficient, adoption of preventive and biosecurity measures. MMS farms implemented preventive control of disease programmes less frequently, and showed a wider vocation to dual-purpose (milk and beef production). In general, independently of the veterinary service, neonatal diarrhea, calf pneumonia, infertility, and mastitis, were the main problems affecting our dairy farms. In conclusion, the two surveys corroborate the notion that preventive and biosecurity measures should be increased in São Miguel dairy farms, especially in MMS farms. The implementation of Veterinary Herd Health Management (VHHM) programmes should be stimulated, without neglecting individual medicine and pasturebased systems, in order to combat current problems and prevent future issues. The creation of sustainable products, certified in health and animal welfare, should also be encouraged.