Herd health management and quality risk control on large dairy farms

摘要

Herd health and production management have been and are being implemented during many years. They differ in contents, focus, intensity and quality. Issues of marketing, communication and professionalism are often lacking. This paper presents an overview of the developments in herd health programmes, their current status and characteristics of professionalism. Furthermore, the latest developments regarding quality risk management programmes, as applicable on dairy farms, are highlighted. The 12 stepsto develop and introduce such a programme on dairy farms are presented. Finally, it is discussed how the two approaches can be integrated into one, on-farm, veterinary advisory programme to serve both the operational management needs, and the more tactical objectives of quality assurance.