Risk factors for bovine respiratory disease in dairy youngstock in The Netherlands: the perception of experts

This paper describes a study aimed at quantification of expert opinion on r isk factors for clinical bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in dairy youngsto ck in The Netherlands. For this purpose, a panel of 21 experts working in t he field of BRD was selected. Total expert consultation consisted of five d ifferent rounds and included four rounds that comprised questionnaires held by mail and a 1-day workshop (last round). During the expert consultation different elicitation methods were used, such as the Delphi procedure and A dapted Conjoint Analysis (ACA). The most important risk factor for, respect ively, mild and severe pneumonia in dairy calves aged 0-3 months was percei ved to be (poor) air circulation and purchase of cattle. The latter risk fa ctor was also considered as having the highest impact on the incidence of s evere outbreak cases in dairy youngstock aged 3-6 months, whereas a previou s case of BRD was considered to be the most important risk factor for mild outbreak cases. Outbreaks (both mild and severe) in dairy youngstock aged 6 -24 months were perceived to be influenced most by air circulation. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.