- 1. An online questionnaire was carried out within a 92-day study period in the spring and summer of 2020. Overall, 149 (19%) visitors gave their consent and continued with the survey and 72 (48%) completed the questionnaire and were included in further analyses. Respondents were of diverse background and were separated into either commercial (i.e. professional farmers, livestock dealers and professional livestock transporters) and non-commercial market users (i.e. crofters, smallholding owners and hobby farmers).
- 23/72 (31.9%) respondents never completed a CPD training course of any kind, and only 8 (11.1%) and 4 (5.6%) respondents indicated to have completed courses in either biosecurity or C&D, respectively. No significant differences were found between respondents from commercial and non-commercial sectors.
- 17/72 (23.6%) respondents declared hiring a private haulage vehicle to transport their animals and, thus, leave the responsibility of C&D the vehicle up to the driver.
- Of 55 respondents using their own vehicles, only 3 (5.5%) of respondents knew or heard of the #MuckFreeTruck campaign. Those 3 respondents were from the commercial sector.
- 24/55 (43.6%) respondents spent <30 minutes to C&D their vehicle and only 16 (29.1%) of the respondents spent >45 minutes on vehicle C&D. No significant differences were found between respondents from commercial and non-commercial sectors.
- Only 19/55 (34.5%) of the respondents declared C&D their vehicles at market, the rest being mostly done either at their farm or at their home. Only 1 commercial respondent (2.6%) and no non-commercial respondents carried out C&D measures on their vehicle on their way home from market. No significant differences were found between respondents from commercial and non-commercial sectors.
- 33/54 (61%) of the respondents declared travelling >10 miles before completing vehicle C&D once animals are unloaded at market. Commercial respondents travelled over 3 miles before C&D their vehicles significantly more often than non-commercial respondents (P=0.05).
- 33/54 (61%) of the respondents declared that they completed vehicle C&D within 0-12 hours of visit to market. Commercial respondents tended to clean their vehicles within 24 hours more often than non-commercial respondents, although this was not significant (P=0.056).
- 6/54 (11%) respondents declared they did not C&D their vehicle, irrespective of the sector (P=0.36).
- 51/54 (94%) of respondents declared loading livestock within farm unit, irrespective of the sector (P=0.23).
- Pressure washer was used for C&D by 50/55 (91%) respondents but 16/50 (32%) used pressure washer alone. Only 34/50 (68%) respondents used it in combination with either detergent, disinfectant or brush. Overall, 11/36 (30.6%, 95% CI: 16.9 – 48.3%) of commercial and 9/14 (64.3%, 95% CI: 35.6% – 86%) of non-commercial used pressure washer in combination with a brush or a shovel. Overall, non-commercial respondents were 4-times more likely to use either a brush or a shovel (95%CI: 1.19 - 13.3, P= 0.04) to clean their vehicle than commercial respondents.