Antibiotic use by farmers to control mastitis as influenced by health advice and dairy farming systems
Résumé
Mastitis is a bacterial disease common in dairy farms. The main purpose of this article is thus to analyse the choices of antibiotic and alternative medicine use for mastitis treatment and investigate the possible influence of two drivers: health advice offered to farmers, and dairy farming system. Research was based on 51 individual semi-structured interviews with farmers and their veterinarians and farm advisors. The advisory relationships influenced the implementation of selective dry cow therapy, but had very little influence regarding the use of alternative medicines by farmers. The dairy farming system had very little influence on antibiotic use.