Abstract：
Milk recording is a critical tool in dairy farming, providing individual cow information. When used effectively, this data contributes to on-farm productivity, herd health management decisions and supports prudent veterinary prescribing of antimicrobials. Although an industry and government priority, uptake has been relatively slow in Ireland. This multi-methods, three-part study aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the benefits to farm performance, and factors driving uptake of milk recording on Irish dairy farms. It involved an economic analysis of N=516 farms from 2008-2019, a workshop with N=26 stakeholders and an online survey of N=197 non-milk-recording farmers. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using econometric models and thematic analysis respectively. Results were synthesised using the COM-B model to gain a deeper understanding of what drives the target behaviour. The study revealed that agricultural education, farm location, farm specialisation in dairy and membership of a farmer discussion group were the main factors influencing uptake of milk recording. Milk recording was associated with a €39.04/cow increase in gross margin, a 177.58 litres/cow increase in milk yield and a reduction of 13,450 cells/ml in bulk milk tank somatic cell count readings. Infrastructural constraints, cost, lack of benefits and workload were the most reported perceived barriers to milk recording by farmers. The Behaviour Change Wheel illustrates how to utilise findings and systematically develop future interventions to increase milk recording uptake. This study highlights the importance of a multi-methods approach to agricultural technology adoption and the need for evidence-based methodology when developing behaviour change interventions.
摘要：
牛奶记录是奶牛养殖的重要工具，提供个体奶牛信息。当有效使用时，这些数据有助于农场生产力，牛群健康管理决策，并支持谨慎的兽医处方抗菌药物。虽然是行业和政府的优先事项，爱尔兰的吸收相对较慢。这种多方法，三部分研究旨在全面了解对农场绩效的好处，以及推动爱尔兰奶牛场吸收牛奶记录的因素。它涉及2008-2019年对N=516个农场的经济分析，与N=26个利益相关者的研讨会以及对N=197个非牛奶记录农民的在线调查。分别使用计量经济模型和主题分析对定量和定性数据进行分析。使用COM-B模型综合结果，以更深入地了解驱动目标行为的因素。研究表明，农业教育，农场位置,乳制品的农场专业化和农民讨论小组的成员资格是影响牛奶记录吸收的主要因素。牛奶记录与39.04欧元/牛的毛利率增长有关，177.58升/头牛的产奶量增加，散装牛奶罐体细胞计数读数减少13,450个细胞/毫升。基础设施限制，成本,据报道，缺乏福利和工作量是农民对牛奶记录的最大障碍。行为变化轮说明了如何利用发现并系统地开发未来的干预措施来增加牛奶记录的吸收。这项研究强调了多方法方法对农业技术采用的重要性，以及在制定行为改变干预措施时需要基于证据的方法。
