Dairy antimicrobial use perceptions and practices
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Clinical Sciences
Larimer
County
(Weld)
- Food and Agriculture
- Equal time spent on-campus and in the field
Primary Topic:
Food and Agriculture
Other Topics:
No additional topic areas, only my selection from previous question
Internship Overview:
Dairy farm animal and dairy worker health and productivity are crucial to national and global food security. Food security and supplies have been threatened by COVID-19 outbreaks among workers in the U.S. There is a strong link between food security and overall health security, as the former is essential to human health, animal health and economic growth and overall food availability. Antimicrobial use in animal production systems has long been suspected to be a cause of the emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance of pathogens. The need to use antimicrobials either in-feed or as treatment is an effective and practical measure. The choice of antimicrobials among veterinarians, however, may vary depending on their experience and availability for different indications. However, there’s little understanding that exists regarding the important role farmers play in efforts to reduce antibiotic use in animal agriculture, particularly dairy farmers’ perceptions and practices.
The goal of our project is to construct and validate a questionnaire survey to capture data on perceptions and practices of dairy farm (including cow-calf operations) owners, managers and workers on antimicrobial use in livestock (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of pathogens. Efficient and practical means to capture these perceptions and practices information among handlers and owners of livestock will be important to reveal gaps and understanding of antimicrobial stewardship, to prevent and control AMR pathogens entering food processing systems through livestock populations. This will confer researchers the ability to construct and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve overall understanding of judicious use of antimicrobials on dairy operations. The long-term goal with the project is to apply the findings to future work aimed at designing training and education programs on antimicrobial stewardship practices in livestock.
The project will provide a very good platform for the two interns to gain experience in questionnaire construction, validation and data collection from dairy producers and workers from Front Range Colorado. At least one of the interns will be preferred to be proficient in Spanish language for translation of the questionnaire as well as for interviewing dairy workers. They will also assist with any data entry and validation processes involved. The intern(s) will be selected with a background and interest in epidemiology, either from DVM or MPH or MS/PhD program. The mentor team will mainly constitute Dr. Sangeeta Rao and the current student researcher in the project. Dr. Rao will seek help and support from the “field extension personnel” in the specific county in Colorado that the data will be collected from. Dr. Rao has extensive experience with antimicrobial resistance related to Salmonella spp. including knowledge, attitude and practice surveys and disease modeling. She is responsible for overall supervision of the project including its planning and execution. The intern(s) will be trained by her and the existing student researcher in the project. They will have weekly meetings and regular communication regarding farm recruitment and visits. Expenditure pertaining to the farm trips will be covered by other existing funding resources.
The goal of our project is to construct and validate a questionnaire survey to capture data on perceptions and practices of dairy farm (including cow-calf operations) owners, managers and workers on antimicrobial use in livestock (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of pathogens. Efficient and practical means to capture these perceptions and practices information among handlers and owners of livestock will be important to reveal gaps and understanding of antimicrobial stewardship, to prevent and control AMR pathogens entering food processing systems through livestock populations. This will confer researchers the ability to construct and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve overall understanding of judicious use of antimicrobials on dairy operations. The long-term goal with the project is to apply the findings to future work aimed at designing training and education programs on antimicrobial stewardship practices in livestock.
The project will provide a very good platform for the two interns to gain experience in questionnaire construction, validation and data collection from dairy producers and workers from Front Range Colorado. At least one of the interns will be preferred to be proficient in Spanish language for translation of the questionnaire as well as for interviewing dairy workers. They will also assist with any data entry and validation processes involved. The intern(s) will be selected with a background and interest in epidemiology, either from DVM or MPH or MS/PhD program. The mentor team will mainly constitute Dr. Sangeeta Rao and the current student researcher in the project. Dr. Rao will seek help and support from the “field extension personnel” in the specific county in Colorado that the data will be collected from. Dr. Rao has extensive experience with antimicrobial resistance related to Salmonella spp. including knowledge, attitude and practice surveys and disease modeling. She is responsible for overall supervision of the project including its planning and execution. The intern(s) will be trained by her and the existing student researcher in the project. They will have weekly meetings and regular communication regarding farm recruitment and visits. Expenditure pertaining to the farm trips will be covered by other existing funding resources.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
The goal of our project is to construct and validate a questionnaire survey to capture data on perceptions and practices of dairy farm (including cow-calf operations) owners, managers and workers on antimicrobial use in livestock (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of pathogens. The project will provide a very good platform for the two interns to gain experience in questionnaire construction, validation and data collection from dairy producers and workers from Front Range Colorado. At least one of the interns will be preferred to be proficient in Spanish language for translation of the questionnaire as well as for interviewing dairy workers. They will also assist with any data entry and validation processes involved. The intern(s) will be selected with a background and interest in epidemiology, either from DVM or MPH or MS/PhD program. The mentor team will mainly constitute Dr. Sangeeta Rao and the current student researcher in the project. Dr. Rao will seek help and support from the “field extension personnel” in the specific county in Colorado that the data will be collected from. Dr. Rao has extensive experience with antimicrobial resistance related to Salmonella spp. including knowledge, attitude and practice surveys and disease modeling. She is responsible for overall supervision of the project including its planning and execution. The intern(s) will be trained by her and the existing student researcher in the project. They will have weekly meetings and regular communication regarding farm recruitment and visits. Expenditure pertaining to the farm trips will be covered by other existing funding.
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
Dairy producers, managers and workers of Front Range Colorado Dairy farms.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
The student (s) will gain experience in questionnaire construction, validation and data collection from dairy producers and workers from Front Range Colorado. They will be involved in dairy farm recruitment, interview producers/ managers and workers. At least one of the interns will be preferred to be proficient in Spanish language for translation of the questionnaire as well as for interviewing dairy workers. They will also assist with any data entry and validation processes involved. The intern(s) will be selected with a background and interest in epidemiology, either from DVM or MPH or MS/PhD program. By the end of the internship program, the student(s) will be professionally experienced with most of the field research processes in livestock agriculture.
