Sheep farmers’ attitudes towards lameness control: Qualitative exploration of factors affecting adoption of the lameness Five-Point Plan

In 2014, best-practice recommendations to treat and control lameness in sheep the UK were consolidated into a national program, Five-Point Plan (5PP). As recent evidence suggests that only minority of farmers are implementing all management practices listed 5PP, qualitative investigation is vital ensure future promotion aligned with psychological contextual factors affecting farmers’ decision-making. This study sought explore attitudes uptake measures 5PP. Semi-structured interviews conducted 2019 12 from England Wales. accordance Thematic Analysis principles Grounded Theory, data collection analysis performed iteratively. Two overarching themes, delineated by subthemes, emerged during analysis; (1) Barriers adoption 5PP (2) Motivation adopt measures. Various farmer-centric physical resources identified as key barriers or obstacles limited ability implement outright, restricted their make changes facilitate adoption. Conversely, internal external influences increase willingness motivation on Heterogeneity farmer perceptions, attitudes, experiences circumstances this highlights difficulty promoting one-size-fits-all plan, where unique combination intrinsic factors, social influences, restrictions affect implementation. Future initiatives should focus removing changing perceptions mindset towards control, building confidence practices. Furthermore, licence farm desire improve reputation within society, presents an important opportunity further engage Increasing peer-to-peer knowledge transfer opportunities effective farmer-veterinarian communication rapport could help establish normative behaviours.