A mixed methods inquiry: How dairy farmers perceive the value(s) of their involvement in an intensive dairy herd health management program

Table 2 Summary of characteristics of the herds of the farmers participating in the semi-structured interviews

Characteristics	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Cows per year¹, n	105	140	115	123	161	141	106	137	92	141	182
ECM per cow per year, kg	8,908	9,932	8,276	7,943	9,847	9,420	8,898	10,050	10,712	10,023	9,722
Age at 1st calving, Months	25,3	25,4	28,7	26,0	27,9	25,9	25,7	25,7	25,5	26,3	24,9
Culling-rate²	30	48	37	73	34	30	38	40	36	59	52
Bulk tank somatic cell count, 1000 per ml	220	216	385	299	323	235	224	201	227	403	186
Milk delivered, percent of produced³	95	98	98	92	96	91	98	92	90	95	91
Automatic Milking System	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Age of farmer, intervals	> 50	> 50	40–50	40–50	> 50	> 40	40–50	40–50	> 50	< 40	< 40

¹ Cows per year = total number of cow days in a year/365
² Calculated according to the Danish definition: (number of cows going into the herd plus number of cows leaving the herd)/2/number of cows per year
³ Percentage of milk shipped to the dairy of milk produced

ISSN: 1751-0147