Factors associated with the use of veterinarians in preventive health management in Ontario swine herds

This study was performed to examine in detail the use of prescheduled visits of veterinarians on Ontario swine farms. We did this assuming that prescheduled visits would reflect a farm's involvement in preventive health management (PHM). A mail survey, a personal survey, and a prospective study were used to provide descriptors of users and non-users of PHM. Possible relationshiPs between farmer and farm characteristics and use of PHM were examined by producing a predictive model using stepwise logistic regression. Based on this model, we found record-keePing for enterprise analysis, debt level, number of pigs marketed annually, use of washing, and slatted floors in the nursery all to be positively related to the use of PHM.