2. Materials and methods
2.1. Selection of farms
Recruitment of farms was supported by agricultural
chambers or farmer groups who provided a preliminary
list of potential participants. To be included in the study,
farms had to fulfil the following criteria:
housing systems with littered lying area or cubicles
with soft rubber mats;
At least three pens with finishing bulls (4350 kg live
weight).
Farmers were either contacted by phone or at farmer
meetings. The project was briefly explained and subsequently they were asked if they would accept an interview
and be willing to receive three more visits within a period
of 1 year, during which WQs on-farm assessments including behaviour observations, clinical scoring of the animals
and an interview on management practices would be
carried out (Kirchner et al., submitted). One to two farms
per country were not willing to participate for time
reasons or because they had previously taken part in other
scientific studies. This resulted in a list of approximately 35
potential participants per country, which were contacted
again for arranging an interview date. According to availability, in total 90 interviews were carried out in three
countries (Austria: 30, Germany: 31, Italy: 29 farmers). All
farms were visited in February and March 2008 by one
person per country. Depending on the location of the
farms and the availability of the farmers, one to three
interviews were carried out on the same day.