Selection of participating farms an

Selection of participating farms and animals

A list frame of all districts with dairy cattle was obtained from the provincial livestock office (n=11), then the number of dairy cattle in each district was obtained. Since the target sample size was 400 heifers and heifer calves, a simple random procedure was used to select a proportionate number of heifer and heifer calves according to the proportion of dairy cattle in each district compared to the total number of dairy cattle in the province. The criteria for participating farms were to have Holstein dairy cows. Informed consent from farm owners was achieved through the district livestock officer.