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Table 2 Participants information (%) obtained from both the questionnaire and the face-to-face semi-structured interview process of farmers included in the study (n = 30)

From: Why do Irish pig farmers use medications? Barriers for effective reduction of antimicrobials in Irish pig production

Variable

Information

  

1. Production systema

Farrow-to-finish

Specialised farm

 

Participants (%)

80.7

19.3

 

2. Level of education

Primary

Secondary

Thirdb

Participants (%)

10.0

43.3

46.7

3. Antimicrobial (AM) use

In-feed AM

No in-feed AM

 

Participants (%)

80.6

19.4

 

4. Farm health statusc

Low level of diseases

Medium level of diseases

High level of diseases

Participants (%)

58.1

25.8

16.1

5. Type of veterinariand

Only Irish

Only non-Irish

Irish and non-Irish

Participants (%)

75.8

3.5

20.7

6. Farm locatione

North

Centre

South

Participants (%)

35.5

22.6

41.9

7. Type of advice-networkf

Veterinarians

Farmers

Other sources

Participants (%)

43.3

36.7

33.3

  1. aIdentify the type of farm based on how the farm is structured: Farrow-to-finish farm = all stages of the production cycle are located in the same farm; Specialised farm = production stages placed in different locations (i.e. farrowing and weaner stages are located in one place while finisher stage is located in another place)
  2. bThird level of education identifies farmers who hold a certificate/diploma, an undergraduate degree, an MSc or any other higher education than secondary level
  3. cHealth status of the farm based on farmers’ own evaluation. Farms were classified as follows: High level of diseases = i.e. poor health status; Medium level of diseases = i.e. medium health status; Low level of diseases = i.e. high health status
  4. dNationality and location of the pig veterinarian consulted. They were classified as follows: Only Irish = veterinarians based in Ireland; Only non-Irish = veterinarians based outside Ireland; Irish and non-Irish = a mix of both veterinarians
  5. eIreland was divided in three areas: south, centre and north based on the farm distance from the central point. Specifically, county of Dublin was set as the central point of the country and each farm location was identified with the belonging county. Then, all counties closer to the county of Dublin were classified as ‘Centre’, all counties above and far from the county of Dublin were classified as ‘North’ while all counties below and far from the county of Dublin were classified as ‘South’
  6. fCategories of the type of people that farmers prefer to consult when they are looking for information on farm management and different issues: Veterinarians = farmers prefer to consult veterinarians; Farmers = farmers prefer to consult other farmers; Other sources = farmers who consult other categories of pig stakeholders such as nutritionists and Teagasc pig advisors or farmers who prefer to rely on their own judgment. Occasionally, the three categories were overlapped among them with cases in which one or more farmers gave two different responses
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Irish Veterinary Journal

ISSN: 2046-0481