Development and implementation of an onfarm animal health and diagnostic educational training program for farm workers in antimicrobial stewardship in adult dairy cattle

Abstract

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a holistic approach, which promotes judicious use of antimicrobial drugs to preserve their effectiveness and availability. Dairy farm workers are com­monly responsible for disease diagnosis and routine treatment decisions. This highlights the importance of farm workers’ knowledge and skills to successfully implement judicious use of antimicrobials in livestock production systems. Knowledge gaps in animal health and behavior have been recognized be­fore as an important reason to provide training to farm work­ers. A better understanding of cattle sickness behavior will improve early identification of clinical signs of disease and im­prove treatment success. The main objective of this project was to develop and implement an on-farm educational training pro­gram for farm workers in antimicrobial stewardship in adult dairy cattle.