A questionnaire-based survey on the uptake and use of cattle vaccines in the UK

Cresswell, E.; Brennan, M. L.; Barkema, H. W.; Wapenaar, W.

The sample size of 266 respondents limited the power of this study; increasing the number of respondents to consolidate our findings would further support the study results. However, the farming population in the UK is known to be challenging to engage in surveybased research, and increasing sample size will take considerable effort. Our results, although only describing vaccination uptake and usage of 266 respondents, are supported by other work performed in the UK (Meadows 2010) and provide a basis for further studies to evaluate vaccine efficacy and disease control in situations with correct and less than ideal use of vaccines. A perhaps more important limitation of this study is the bias encountered because of the convenience sampling method used, which is difficult to counter using the voluntary survey method. One could hypothesise that this study underestimated vaccination compliance, as more engaged farmers may have participated, which makes it more likely to expect poorer compliance in nonrespondents. However, as the current published body of work in the field of uptake and usage of cattle vaccines is scarce, the findings of this study are important to describe current usage strategies on vaccination, and are therefore an important contribution to knowledge in this field.