Dairy farmers' reasons for participation in the Danish control programme on bovine paratuberculosis

The Danish dairy industry initiated a voluntary, producer-paid control programme on Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) in 2006. Approximately 28% of the dairy herds, including 40% of the cows, are part of the programme. Farmers' reasons for participation are of great importance for the success of voluntary disease control programmes. This study was carried out to determine these reasons. Questionnaires with seven close-ended questions were mailed to the 1177 voluntary participants in 2008. A total of 1013 (86%) responded, and multiple reasons could be given by each farmer. The distribution of reasons for participation in the programme was: (1) control to increase animal health (91%); (2) certification "free of MAP infection" within 4-10 years (87%); (3) control to avoid production losses associated with MAP infections (86%); (4) control of MAP infections to increase consumer safety (64%); (5) certification for sale of livestock (58%); (6) control following production losses (48%); and (7) certification "free of MAP infection" within 1-3 years (31%). It was not possible to rank the reasons for participation since weighting of responses was not included. Therefore, the relative importance of the reasons given could not be determined. Based on the farmers' responses, control of MAP infections to increase animal health and avoid production losses were frequent reasons for participating in the Danish paratuberculosis control programme. The results also indicate that implementation of a certification programme would be desired by farmers. Animal health advisors should consider the diversity of participation reasons and address the specific reasons of individual farmers when establishing a strategy for control of MAP infections in a herd.