Exploring biosecurity knowledge, attitudes and practices among Ontario sheep and goat producers

Lead Applicant: Kelsey Spence

Research Priority: Animal Health & Welfare

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2024/2025

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Biosecurity practices on Ontario sheep and goat farms are highly variable, leaving these industries at risk of disease outbreaks. Pathogens can cause significant consequences for public health, animal health and welfare, and herd productivity. Despite the clear benefits of biosecurity practices, many are not implemented fully on sheep and goat farms. This suggests that barriers exist in transforming biosecurity knowledge into use by producers. Our research will quantify the current adoption of biosecurity best management practices (BMPs) by Ontario sheep and goat producers, explore how producers perceive these BMPs, and identify whether barriers exist to uptake BMPs on farms. We will use a mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) approach to provide an in-depth understanding of producers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to biosecurity. Our findings will inform future research on refining BMPs to facilitate positive behaviour change on farms in the meat and dairy sectors.