Farmers' perception of stable schools as a tool to improve management for the benefit of mink welfare

• Published in: Livestock science 2015-11, Vol.181, p.7-16
• Main Authors: Henriksen, Britt I.F., Anneberg, Inger, Sørensen, Jan Tind, Møller, Steen H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal welfare; Common learning; Knowledge exchange; Mink production; Qualitative study; Stable school
• ISSN: 1871-1413; 1878-0490
• DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2015.09.019

The aim of the study was to explore farmers' perception of stable schools as a tool to improve management for the benefit of mink welfare. Stable schools are knowledge exchange between farmers working towards a common goal, being able to give practical advice to each other. The concept is based on farmer field schools, developed and used in developing countries. Several Danish mink farmers are familiar with erfa-groups which also are farmers meeting, often with an advisor taking part, but the stable schools with only farmers and a facilitator have never been tested on mink farms. In 2013, we therefore established two stable schools with farmers from five Danish mink farms in each group. The meetings were on the respective farms, and every farm was visited once within a year. The host-farmer presented one success story and two challenges he/she wanted to work with and get contributions to from the group. Qualitative interviews were conducted with the farmers to evaluate their perception of stable schools. Based on the results from the study, and results from other studies of stable schools, we can conclude that farmers generally are positive to the structural way of working in stable schools, and that motivation for working towards a common goal is very important for the process of common learning among the farmers. The uniform production system at mink farms gives special challenges in how to work with the different subjects to ensure farmer ownership of the process. The farmers did not see the seasonal production as any constraint, but express that they like to work with the specific problems and challenges related to the respective production periods. •We have explored mink farmers' perception of stable schools to improve mink welfare.•Qualitative interview was conducted with ten farmers that had joined a stable school.•Farmers see the structure of stable schools and motivation for a common goal important.•Uniform systems give special challenges to ensure farmer ownership of the process.•Seasonal production was not a constraint, but themes should be related to the season.