Outcome mapping is a progress measurement system to evaluate behavioral changes made in response to a project in a developing country.^ It is a formal process used to gather information about people who interacted directly with a research team and others living in the community. The outcome mapping system is based on a repeating cycle of record keeping, data analyses, evaluation, and adjusting the inputs, followed by another complete cycle. Although I am new to outcome mapping, the fundamental concepts remind me of herd health. It is also a cycle of evaluating herd records, visiting the herd, working with the producers, determining the health of the pigs, making recommendations, and (then repeating the cycle on a routine basis. I wonder, though, howoften do we stop to measure the behavior changes of all of the people on the farm? Do we stop to ask the question "What have you done in response to my working relationship with you?" Perhaps we know what the herd manager does. Do we know what all of the staff do? I remember working with a herd that had too many post-castration problems. I described the problem to the herd owner and asked him to change his method. I was frustrated when nothing changed - that is, until I learned the castration was being done by his young teenage son. My message was not being transmitted from father to son. I needed to meet with his son to effect real change.
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