Knowledge transfer in cattle husbandry: New management practices, attitudes and adaptation

249 Pages·2005·7.05 MB·English

by  Abele Kuipers, Marija Klopcic, Cled Thomas

Knowledge transfer in
cattle husbandry
EAAP publication No.117,2005
Knowledge transfer in cattle husbandry
The EAAP series is published under the direction of Dr. P. Rafai
EAAP – European Association for Animal Production
The European Association for Animal Production wishes to express its appreciation to the
Ministero per le Politiche Agricole e Forestaliand the Associazione Italiana Allevatorifor their
valuable support of its activities
Knowledge transfer in
cattle husbandry
New management practices, attitudes
and adaptation
EAAP publication No. 117
Editors:
Abele Kuipers, Marija Klopcic, Cled Thomas
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Subject headings:
Management practices The individual contributions in this
Attitudes publication and any liabilities arising from
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Table of Contents

Preface 9
Abele Kuipers

From agricultural extension to communication for innovation 11
Cees Leeuwis

Different approaches to advise cattle farmers: the charter of good practices in cattle 31
breeding
Anne-Charlotte Dockes and Caroline Hedouin

How environmental problems are addressed to farmers – pyramid model, research, 47
knowledge transfer, practices and attitudes
Abele Kuipers, Karin de Grip and Paul Galama

Extending the University to Oregon livestock producers 59
James R. Males

Extension work in milk and beef production in Slovenia 63
Marija Klopcic and Joze Osterc

Knowledge transfer in Slovak cattle production during the transformation period 77
Stefan Mihina, Bill Mitchell and Vojtech Brestensky

Know-how transfer in animal breeding – the power of integrated cow data bases for 85
farmer’s selection of bulls to improve functional traits in dairy cows
Jan Philipsson, Jan-Ake Eriksson and Hans Stalhammar

Producers’ attitudes towards modernization and expansion 97
Roger W. Palmer and Jeffrey Bewley

Quality management systems (QMS) as a basis for improvement of milk quality in 117
extension services
Lothar Doring and Hermann H. Swalve

Focused research, information transfer and advice: first evaluation of a new 125
approach undertaken in Emilia-Romagna
Adelfo Magnavacchi and Giancarlo Cargioli

The impact of the Zimbabwean change process on dairy farming and farmer attitudes 135
Stanley Marshall Makuza and Clemens B.A. Wollny

Factors determining technology adoption by beef producers in the United States 143
Larry L. Berger

Use of management practices to differentiate dairy herd environments in 149
Southeastern Sicily
Emiliano Raffrenato, Pascal Anton Oltenacu, Robert W. Blake and Giuseppe Licitra
New management practices, attitudes and adaptation 7
Strategic challenge of Lithuanian cattle breeding sector and attitudes involved 155
Valdas Dalinkevicius, Donata Uchockiene, Peter Doubravsky and Gintaras Kascenas

Design of large scale dairy cattle units in relation to management and animal welfare 161
Roger W. Palmer

Health management in large-scale dairy farms 189
Jos P.T.M. Noordhuizen and Kerstin E. Müller

Use of longevity data for genetic improvement and management of sustainable dairy 199
cattle in the Netherlands
Rene van der Linde and Gerben de Jong

Labour efficiency and multi-functionality on Irish dairy farms 205
Bernadette O’Brien, Kevin O’Donovan and David Gleeson

Practical experiences with smallholder milk recording in Malawi: a case of 215
Lilongwe milkshed area
Agnes C.M. Msiska, Mizeck G.G. Chagunda, Hardwich Tchale, James W. Banda
and Clemens B.A. Wollny

Online-available milk-recording data for efficient support of farm management 227
Betka Logar, Peter Podgoršek, Janez Jeretina, Boris Ivanovic and Tomaz Perpar

Influence of work routine elements of milking on milking parlour performance 231
Bernadette O’Brien, Kevin O’Donovan and David Gleeson

Transfer of knowledge to practice in Slovenia 237
Marija Klopcic, Joze Osterc, Marko Cepon and Branko Ravnik

Keyword index 243

Author index 245

8 Knowledge transfer in cattle husbandry
Preface

Transfer and utilization of knowledge is of great importance to justify the research efforts
made by many institutes and organizations. In this context, it is not surprising that more
attention for the demand side is advocated nowadays. However, in animal production
meetings processes of knowledge utilization and transfer are certainly not common topics.
The EAAP meetings held in 2003 in Rome, Italy and in 2004 in Bled, Slovenia were
different. In both meetings a session was devoted to principles and examples of knowledge
transfer and dissemination of research results. Also different organizational forms of
extension and knowledge transfer have been described. The focus was especially on the
adoption of new management practices in the field and the processes involved in this. One
important factor is the attitude of the potential user towards the knowledge product and more
in general towards innovation.

Effective knowledge utilization requires that insights and applications developed in the
animal sciences are combined with social science approaches. A relevant insight from
innovation studies, for example, is that innovations consist of three dimensions:
• Hardware: the technical devices and zoological know-how available
• Software: the intentions of the participants to work together and have the same goals in mind
• Orgware: the organisational structure in which activities are embedded

Successful innovation depends on the balancing and integration of these three dimensions.
Often, however, we see that some dimensions are overlooked. In the world of animal sciences
the emphasis tends to be on the “hardware”, because this is seen as the core business of
knowledge organisations. The “orgware” and “software” dimensions are too often neglected
as critical factors to success.

In this book, the “orgware” and ”software” concepts also receive some attention.
Organisational aspects cannot be ignored, because the results of research must be often
implemented in a complex structure (chain) of producer and consumer oriented organisations.
Software aspects as attitude, personal preference, view towards the future and having a
successor or not determine significantly the likelihood of the adoption of an innovation.

The contributions in this book are partly derived from the presentations in the sessions
mentioned and partly collected elsewhere. Some more theoretical papers are followed by
practical examples of implementation in the field and descriptions of extension networks and
services. A large variety of papers is presented: from the power of the researcher and
consultant to the power of data banks to the power of the client and producer in the
dissemination process; from input driven to demand driven.

I like to thank my co-editors, Marija Klopcic for the endless hours she spent in preparing the
outlay of this book so carefully and Cled Thomas for providing the final touch.

We believe this book is of interest to all of you who deal in some way with knowledge
exchange and transfer activities.

Abele Kuipers
Secretary of Cattle Commission of EAAP
Director Expertisecentre for Farm Management and Knowledge Transfer
New management practices, attitudes and adaptation 9