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Working with industry

EPIC has put farmers at the forefront of our work to ensure practical, industry-informed science. In collaboration with the Strategic Research Programme, researchers organise industry interface meetings involving sheep, pig, poultry and cattle industry representatives.

Reporting cattle movements

EPIC scientists have analysed farmer incentives to use the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) and CTS-links and scenario planning workshops explored with stakeholders the resilience of Scottish cattle and sheep livestock sectors to exotic and endemic diseases in the future. Read more

Predicting New Sheep Scab Test Uptake

Economic models have been used to predict whether farmers are likely to adopt the P. ovis blood diagnostic test for sheep scab. Using game theory, an economic modelling tool to analyse the outcome of strategic interactions between individuals, expected test prices should result in sufficient uptake by the farming industry to reduce the incidence of sheep scab by approximately 50%. Read more

Farmer Uptake of Technology and Biosecurity

In 2013, a biosecurity and technology survey (funded by Defra) conducted across England, Wales and Scotland, captured the attitudes of 900 cattle and sheep farmers to biosecurity and technology on the farm. The technologies investigated included: electronic identification devices (EID) used in livestock and farm management, precision farming, CCTV and disease testing kits. The study also captured cattle and sheep farmer attitudes to various aspects of biosecurity, including: use of quarantine, double fencing, vermin control and sourcing of stock. Read more

EPIC Publications

Exploring the challenges to Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication in Scotland. O Shortall, K Brown

Exploring challenges to Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication in the UK and Ireland. O Shortall, A Calo

Understanding backyard poultry keepers and their attitudes to biosecurity: Final Report. C Kyle, L Sutherland

True Cowmen and Commercial Farmers: Exploring Vets’ and Dairy Farmers’ Contrasting Views of ‘Good Farming’ in Relation to Biosecurity. O Shortall, L Sutherland, A Ruston, J Kaler

An analysis of cattle farmers' perceptions of drivers and barriers to on-farm control of Escherichia coli O157. L Toma, JC Low, B Vosough Ahmadi, L Matthews

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