4. Discussion and further commentary
This is the first paper to authors’ knowledge to explore sheep farmers’ opinions of current use of their veterinarian and whether sheep farmers view veterinarians as a route to add value to their farm business through flock health planning. There are few flock health schemes that survive unsubsidised (Osmond, 2009; personal communications) and it is not clear why this is the case and this paper sought to explore this issue from the farmers’ viewpoint.
5. Conclusions
In conclusion, there were strong convergences within themes, theme saturation and similar opinions that emerged from farmers with a range of flock sizes, ages and from different geographical locations. The majority of sheep farmers who participated in the study considered their veterinarian as a ‘fire-fighter’. They could not easily conceive that veterinarians had a major role to play in flock health planning because of their lack of expertise in sheep husbandry and farming in general and of their sheep farm in particular. In addition, sheep farmers considered paying a veterinarian for the time required for sheep health planning to be too great a cost, however, they did not know where they made and lost money in their flock because they relied heavily on income from the single payment scheme. We consider that this is an impasse: flock health planning will not be common practice until veterinarians demonstrate greater expertise in sheep health, husbandry and farming and provide a model of how flock health planning would be financially beneficial and also develop a trusting relationship with their clients. In addition, until sheep farmers keep sufficient records and financial accounts to understand where they gain and lose money they will not appreciate whether and how flock health planning could benefit their flock and their income. Including the requirement to keep health and production records as part of SPS and so provide baseline records might lead to flock health planning being adopted at a faster rate and so develop the UK sheep industry and make it more environmentally sustainable by reducing waste from disease and low productivity.