Inter-observer agreement between veterinarians and dairy farm caretakers

Abstract

Antimicrobial use in food-producing animals may contribute to the development of drug-resistant bacterial infections in humans. Veterinarians prescribe and dispense antimicrobials, but farm caretakers are responsible for judging disease severity and initiating on-farm treatments. The objective of this study was to estimate the level of agreement on initiating on-farm antimicrobial treatment between farm caretakers and the respective farm veterinarians at different levels of disease severity