How can better calf care be realized on dairy farms? A qualitative interview study of veterinarians and farmers

Improving health and welfare outcomes for replacement and surplus dairy calves is important for the sustainability of the dairy industry. Dairy farmers and veterinarians hold expertise in calf management and have valuable perspectives on how to practically motivate improvements. The objective of this study was to determine strategies that could improve the care calves receive on dairy farms from the perspective of dairy farmers and their herd veterinarians. Two veterinary clinics specializing in dairy practice in British Columbia, Canada, and 21 of their client dairy farms participated in the project. Following a meeting in which calf colostrum management was discussed between farmers and their herd veterinarian, participant interviews were conducted. Separate interviews were conducted for the farmers (n = 27 farmers from 21 farms) and their herd veterinarians (n = 7, with 1 to 5 farms that each vet worked with enrolled in the study) using tailored semi-structured question guides. Interviews (n = 42) were transcribed and coded following inductive thematic analysis methodology. The themes identified included strategies for farmers, veterinarians, and calf buyers, as well as contexts that influenced the dairy farmers’ internal motivation to provide good calf care. Results indicated that farmers could optimize their calf management through fostering engagement of calf care personnel or by enlisting technology. Veterinarians could provide support to farms by being actively involved in calf monitoring, assisting in developing operating protocols, and setting goals, and especially by using farm-specific data to guide their management recommendations. Calf buyers could communicate with and provide accountability to farmers and improve their purchasing strategies to encourage farms to raise more vigorous surplus calves. Farmers’ personal values, social networks, and relationships with different dairy industry stakeholders influenced their concern about the standards of their calf care practices. These findings provide guidance on how dairy farmers could achieve or be prompted to achieve improvements in their calf care practices.


INTRODUCTION
Dairy calf management practices related to housing, nutrition, and perinatal care have been extensively researched to mitigate health and productivity challenges associated with this stage of life.Both heifer calves destined to replace the milking herd and surplus calves (primarily males or crossbred females) that are sold from the farm at a young age can experience poor health outcomes including diarrhea, navel inflammation, or respiratory disease, along with welfare problems (e.g., hunger) from receiving low milk volumes (Winder et al., 2018).Many of these negative outcomes can be prevented through improved neonatal care, using well-described practices such as providing milk at a level of at least 20% of the calf's body weight (Khan et al., 2011), using a clean calving pen (Medrano-Galarza et al., 2018), and providing adequate volumes of highquality colostrum as soon as possible after birth (Godden et al., 2019).Despite these and other well-known best management practices (BMP), achieving good calf health remains an industry-wide problem (Roche et al., 2023).For example, a recent survey found that 25% of male and female calves in Ontario had failed transfer of passive immunity, which is indicative of poor colostrum management (Renaud et al., 2020).
Due to the discrepancy between established BMP and their uptake on dairy farms, there has been an increase in research aimed at understanding the motivations and barriers that contribute to the implementation of various farm practices (Roche et al., 2019).Some evidence suggests that recommended management practices, such as biosecurity measures aimed at disease risk mitigation, may not be desirable to implement due to a lack of immediate or measurable financial benefit (Brennan and Christley, 2013).In other cases, this same reasoning is unlikely to be the root cause of poor BMP uptake.For example, increased preweaning growth is associated with increased first-lactation milk production, and is positively related to the amount of milk and starter provided (Gelsinger et al., 2016).Despite this, restricted milk feeding continues to be prevalent, as 33% of farms in a Canadian survey reported feeding a maximum of ≤6 L/d during the preweaning period to their heifer calves (Winder et al., 2018).Neonatal calf care, especially colostrum provision, is critical for the health and future productivity of both replacement heifers (Abuelo et al., 2021) and surplus calves (Renaud and Pardon, 2022).Therefore, a need to understand how to motivate improved calf care for all calves on dairy farms is evident.
Qualitative methods are frequently used to understand human motivation, which is critical for developing effective intervention strategies (Garforth, 2015).Recent studies have used repeated in-person interviews (Sumner et al., 2018), focus group discussions (Hendricks et al., 2022), and telephone interviews (Hendricks et al., 2023) to understand farmer, veterinarian, and livestock hauler perspectives related to calf management.This work has encouraged the use of benchmarking and highlighted areas for improvement in calf transportation practices.Qualitative research can also be exploratory and collaborative through using participatory approaches with multiple stakeholders, which has been advocated as a way to develop more sustainable and concrete solutions to calf care challenges (Bolton and von Keyserlingk, 2021).Along with dairy farmers, veterinarians are important stakeholders with expertise on calf health and management and can be instrumental in motivating farmers to improve their surplus calf (Hendricks et al., 2022) and replacement calf management (Sumner et al., 2018).These studies suggest benchmarking of calf performance data as a useful intervention, but additional ways of encouraging better calf care practices on dairy farms may exist, for instance through group-based farmer learning, as has been done to encourage prudent antimicrobial use on dairy farms (Morgans et al., 2021).Documenting how dairy farmers and their herd veterinarians think calf care improvements might be achieved, including relevant farmer values and contexts, could be useful in bridging the gap between research into BMP and their practical implementation.Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate farmer and veterinarian perspectives on strategies that might by employed by various industry members to motivate improvements in replacement and surplus calf care on dairy farms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Approval was granted for this study by the Research Ethics Board (REB no.21-10-008) and the Animal Care Committee (AUP no.4206) at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.Reporting of the study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (Tong et al., 2007).This study was part of a larger project that aimed to determine farmer and veterinarian perspectives on the effect of benchmarking serum total protein (STP) data on improving colostrum management (see Wilson, 2023a, for the results of the benchmarking study).The portion of the study presented here is focused on strategies beyond benchmarking that farmers and veterinarians see as important for motivating good calf care.

Study Design
A critical realist paradigm was adopted for this study (Bickman and Rog, 2008), which recognizes that dairy producers' perspectives are influenced by the context of their lived personal and professional experiences (this describes the "critical" aspect of the paradigm, which contends that a person's perspective of truth is constructed within their worldview), but are "real," in that they can be discerned by the researcher and provide a basis for decision making (Maxwell, 2012).As critical realism contends that human perceptions can be observed as part of the real world (as is purported by realism), we considered that veterinary and farmer perspectives would be instrumental in achieving our research goal of identifying interventions to promote improvements to calf care on dairy farms.Interviews were chosen to gain an in-depth understanding of participant perspectives (Marshall and Rossman, 2016) and build upon previous research on motivating improved calf care on dairy farms (Sumner et al., 2018;Wilson et al., 2023).We anticipated that this study could inform future extension efforts to improve management practices for surplus and replacement dairy calves.

Reflexivity Statement
The research team was familiar with dairy calf management and included authors with expertise in thematic analysis, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine.The first author (DJW) is a female veterinarian and postdoctoral researcher with experience conducting quantitative and qualitative studies evaluating dairy calf care practices and related farmer perspectives.Furthermore, DJW was familiar with both participating veterinary clinics and some participating farmers, from time spent with them as a student and living within the same community.For unfamiliar farmers, her qualifications and the focus of the research were relayed by recruiting veterinarians.This perspective likely fostered trust among participants and led to a focus on animal health and productivity.

Participants
Participants were purposively recruited with the help of 2 veterinary clinics located in the Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada.Recruitment is described in detail elsewhere (Wilson, 2023a); briefly, farms with at least 50 lactating cows in their herd and that kept their surplus calves for at least 4 d after birth (to facilitate twice-weekly sampling) were eligible for enrollment.Producers were approached first by their herd veterinarian and either enrolled directly or enrolled after a follow-up phone call from DJW.The specific number of farms that were approached about the study was not recorded by the participating veterinarians, but no producers dropped out after enrollment.

Pre-Interview Calf Data Collection and Benchmark Meetings
Interviews for this study were conducted in person between July and October 2022.All interviews took place following a meeting in which benchmarked data on calf STP concentrations were discussed between farmers and their regular herd veterinarian (Wilson, 2023a).To begin the benchmark meetings, the study objectives were reiterated by DJW, and written, informed consent was provided by all participants to be audio-recorded for the meeting and subsequent interview.After obtaining consent, DJW did not participate further in the meetings, except occasionally to provide clarification on the data collection strategy.

Farmer and Veterinarian Interviews
Following the benchmark meetings, interviews were conducted by DJW with farmers at their farm and with veterinarians at their veterinary clinic or another convenient location as previously described (Wilson, 2023a).In brief, farmers (n = 27) and veterinarians (n = 7) were interviewed following semi-structured guides in which the questions were formulated separately for veterinarians and farmers; questions are available as supplemental materials (https: / / doi .org/ 10 .5683/SP3/ 7GSQC3; Wilson, 2023b).The first 4 questions of the guide aimed to evaluate farmer perspectives on benchmarking to promote change (results presented in Wilson, 2023a).The remaining 2 questions were the subject of the current thematic analysis and explored participant perspectives on other strategies beyond benchmarking to motivate improved calf care.The questions aimed to get a broad perspective on calf management by asking participants to think beyond benchmarking about what helps motivate farmers to "raise good calves."The mean (range) interview duration was 16.2 min (7.0-35.3min) for veterinarians and 19.3 min (9.9-39.2min) for farmers.The interviews were transcribed verbatim by an independent, professional transcription specialist and then checked against the original files for accuracy by DJW.Coding and theme development was undertaken using the qualitative data analysis software, NVivo (version 2022, release 1.6.1;QSR International, Burlington, MA).

Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was conducted using an inductive approach following the procedure outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006).As we were interested in discovering practical strategies to promote good calf care, as well as the personal values and broader context influencing calf care (e.g., the economics of dairy farming, the expectations of other dairy industry stakeholders), we took a contextualist approach that aligns with the critical realist paradigm (Braun and Clarke, 2006).We prioritized a rich description of the entire data set across farms and veterinary clinics rather than delving into understanding individual participants' unique perspectives and related contexts.Veterinarian and farmer perspectives were considered equally valid, and comparison between their perspectives was not a goal of the analysis.However, throughout theme development it was noted when only veterinarians or only farmers discussed a theme or subtheme.
As 2 interviews followed 1 benchmark meeting, 21 related pairs of interviews contained 1 transcript for each of the veterinarian and farmer interviews (42 total transcripts).Following Braun and Clarke (2006), these interviews were read to familiarize the coders with the data, and codes were assigned to quotations that indicated a participant's perspective on motivating better care of replacement heifer or surplus calves on dairy farms.These codes included specific contexts (e.g., farmer values) and concrete methods (e.g., using beef genetics to improve surplus calf productivity) that participants felt did or should motivate good calf care on their farm or on dairy farms generally.This aligned with our goal to understand stakeholder perspectives on the strategies, including relevant contexts and potential interventions, that could motivate improvements.Coding was conducted by authors DJW and JS, who each coded 2 pairs of interviews separately and compared the findings to co-create the initial codebook (McDonald et al., 2019).Another set of paired interviews was then coded by DJW and JS, allowing further revision of the codebook, which was used by DJW to code the remaining interviews and re-code the first 6 transcripts to ensure codes were applied consistently.Codes were then collated into themes according to repeated patterns, and an initial thematic map was created that included different actions or interventions that could be undertaken to improve calf care, and influential contexts and farmer values.The thematic map was revised, with input from co-authors, into themes that encompassed the strategies specific stakeholders could employ to improve calf care (Figure 1).Codes were present in all themes after coding the first 6 transcripts, which is consistent with other interview-based qualitative analysis and suggests that data saturation was achieved (Guest et al., 2006).
Credibility was encouraged through discussions with JS during the code development process and with other co-authors throughout analysis and manuscript preparation.Further efforts to ensure credibility included maintaining a research log with rationales for decision making, evaluating disconfirming evidence, and member checking, during which interested farmers (n = 12) and veterinarians (n = 7) were provided a summary of the results and given the opportunity to provide feedback on whether their perspectives were adequately reflected (Creswell and Miller, 2000).

Data Presentation
A thematic map was created (Figure 1), and verbatim quotations are reported as exemplars of the themes and identified by participant number.Clarifying text is included in parentheses; square brackets are used when a word was changed to avoid profane or slang language or to preserve participant identity; and ellipses are used to indicate that part of the quote was removed for brevity that did not change the meaning.

Participants
Farm demographics and farmer and veterinary characteristics are presented in Tables 1 and 2 farmers, 6 were female and 21 were male, and veterinarians consisted of 2 female and 5 male participants.Farms had a mean (±SE) of 270 (±28) lactating cows with 40 (±5) unweaned calves (receiving milk) being cared for at one time.Most participants described themselves as farm owners or herdsmen, with either a primary or a managerial role in caring for calves.Out of the 19 interested participants who were sent a study summary, one veterinarian provided affirmative feedback ("Great summary.").Further details on participants are available in Wilson (2023a).

Themes
Figure 1 includes a thematic map outlining the overarching themes and subthemes for strategies that could be implemented by calf buyers, dairy farmers, and veterinarians to improve surplus or replacement calf care.We considered the participant perspectives on these practical strategies, as observed in the research process, to be "real" and useful for informing future extension or research efforts.This figure also shows farm contexts that provided background for the utility of these strategies, as they influenced farmers' worldview, and specifically how farmers viewed the importance of providing excellent calf care.Contexts included farmers' relationships with different industry stakeholders, their social support systems, and their personal values.

Theme 1: Strategies for Dairy Farmers
Improve Calf Rearing Labor.Participants relayed different approaches that they felt could improve calf outcomes on their farm, or in the dairy industry their genetic potential, which could help farmers make breeding decisions to produce more vigorous, productive calves.Although this may be acceptable to some farmers, farmer 7.2 felt that pricing should instead be linked to the calf health program rather than to specific genetics companies, suggesting, "I think that (having good protocol for neonatal calf care) makes more sense than 'OK, this company has way better bulls.There's way better gains than the other company.'I think that's kind of wrong."Overall, the increasing use of beef semen was viewed as a way to improve calf care and increase dairy farmer and calf grower profitability.

Theme 2: Strategies for Veterinarians
Techniques for Providing Advice.The value in having good communication between the veterinarian and farmer was acknowledged as a way to help calves.Veterinarian 6 felt that "We spend a lot of time going over the calves. . .just keeping that open communication and for them to troubleshoot," and farmer 12 noted that their veterinarian is "always also available if I have any questions.And yeah, the availability is nice."Other veterinarians noted the importance of delivering information or advice well and communicating about expectations, with veterinarian 3 saying, "When they're doing quite well, sometimes those little changes might not make much difference.You've got to be a bit careful on managing expectations maybe."Veterinarians also reflected on the need to provide advice that accounts for the farm context when trying to enact change.For instance, veterinarian 5 explained that "they listen to recommendations generally as long as I take into consideration their limitations."Veterinarian 5 also noted the need to tailor their recommendations for maximal benefit, saying, "What's the thing that we can make a small change that's going to actually make a change that we can see? . . .And he sees that, 'I did something.I see improvement.'That is very motivating."These quotes exemplify communication strategies used by veterinarians that improve their ability to advise and motivate farmers.
Beyond skilled communication and advising, veterinarians reflected that building a relationship with farmers over time also helped improve their ability to motivate farmers.For example, veterinarian 5 had worked with dairy clients for over 20 years and suggested that building on past success was valuable, explaining that "hopefully when you're going to make a change, that change is actually going to result in a measurable improvement.Especially if it requires effort . . .if you get some successes then you can really build on it.And it can snowball in a really good way."The importance of including the whole dairy farm team was also described, as veterinarian 6 noted how their practice had grown to encompass working with a larger team, explaining, "when I show up for herd health, like, there's literally 6 people show up right?Every hired person, and all the kids, and Dad, right?"Veterinarian 7 expanded this further, noting the value of involving outside resources by, "having a meeting, you know, the roundtable discussion?Having the right people at the meeting.So, the nutritionist, the semen salesman, hoof trimmer, myself.So that we're all on the same page."The general advising techniques discussed by participants suggest that a good working relationship between the veterinarian and farmer is a fruitful way to motivate improvements in calf care.
Specific Veterinary Services.Some specific services were mentioned that farmers or veterinarians found valuable for motivating calf management improvements.First, veterinarians and farmers felt it was beneficial for the veterinarian to be actively involved with the calves.For instance, farmer 1.1 explained how his veterinarian motivated him: "Like every week we talk about calves.How it's going, whether it's good or bad he'll come to the calf barn.He'll look at calves.He'll recommend treatments."Veterinarian 2 felt similarly, saying, "I think the veterinarian has to get dirty and get in there.Maintain enthusiasm."Despite this, most farmers felt satisfied with their veterinarian's involvement, and some expressed that increased veterinary effort was not needed.For example, farmer 13 explained, "Honestly, they've pretty much done all they can, right?I've been doing this since I was 14 or 15 years old.And there's not a whole lot I haven't heard of."In addition to prioritizing active involvement in calves, some participants felt that working on herd-level care through supporting and revising protocols was highly beneficial.For example, farmer 20 described how the veterinarian "set up all the protocols and put everything on the wall, step by step.So that helped out everybody.Because otherwise it's like, 'Hey, what do I do with a sick calf ?'"These results indicate that veterinary involvement with calf management was valued, although some farmers did not see a need for veterinary services for their calves that extended beyond traditional roles.
Another way participants felt veterinarians could motivate calf care improvements was through using farm-specific data to support their recommendations.For example, veterinarian 1 said of one farmer, "Yeah, he's very results driven right?So . . . he makes a lot of decisions cut and dry, just based on what the results show."Farmer 18 also reflected that data-based advice was motivating, suggesting, "It's one thing for your vet to come and say, 'Well, you know, you should really try to work on these things because your calves aren't doing as well.'And you can be like, 'Yeah, whatever.They're fine.'But then when you get the information it's like, yeah, we're sucking."Although some veterinarians thought providing economic data could also be valuable, others cautioned on the effectiveness of using economic arguments as a motivational strategy.For example, veterinarian 6 explained that "most farms are financially motivated, but not all . . .even if you say we can make an extra $60,000 it's not enough to overcome the extra work that goes along with it . . .Like, I've done that and again guys will run strong for a short period and then fizzle."Another veterinary service that was seen as a motivator was setting goals with the farmer.Veterinarian 7 said, "Probably the other thing is goalsetting.So, we do try to sit down once a year, a couple times a year.And look at the different areas on his farm and what [their] goals are."In summary, the 4 specific veterinary services that participants expressed can help motivate good calf care were (1) active involvement with calves, (2) supporting protocol use, (3) using farm-specific data, and (4) setting goals.
Use Challenges as Opportunities.Veterinarians and farmers relayed that calf health problems often sparked management changes.For instance, veterinarian 4 suggested, "That seems to be when you're going to make the most progress.If they bring a problem to you looking for a solution."The increased resource requirements for caring for sick calves was a commonly cited driver of this perspective.For example, farmer 4 explained that they were motivated to improve their calf care because, "for me the bottom line . . . is I didn't like the sick calves . . .It's just you only have so much time in your day.And when you're dealing with sick calves it's a drain on everything."Farmer 21 also noted the importance of calf health on their mental state, saying, "It makes our jobs much more enjoyable when you go out and you look at a bunch of healthy calves.You know?Like it would be the pits to constantly be out there with sick animals."Although this viewpoint was common, veterinarian 6 acknowledged that achieving lasting change with this strategy could be challenging, explaining, "We're there for painful moments.So right when you're there for sick calves, or there's typically an outbreak . . .And then it's more of a theoretical discussion about what they should do.And that seems to work until things go well again.Like it doesn't make long-term change."Farmers were universally emphatic that calf health challenges were undesirable, and both veterinarians and farmers felt in some instances that experiencing calf problems could be used as an opportunity to spark change.

Theme 3: Strategies for Calf Buyers (Specific to Surplus Calves)
Improve Purchasing Strategies.Calf buyers were seen as powerful stakeholders in determining the health of the surplus dairy calves they purchase.Farmer 7.1 suggested calf buyers should price calves based on the quality of the calf care they receive at dairy farms, stating "But these beef calves, if they want to pay you good money for them, then they should also make sure that they get the best start in life.And that's-maybe it's on us a little bit, but it's not, really, if they're not going to pay you more if I do a better job than the guy down the road who's selling it still wet, right?"Veterinarian 1 also felt differential pricing based on their future performance would be motivating, saying, "I've always thought that if somebody could somehow develop a system that if this calf comes, and 80% of your calves make it to this goal or something, you get paid premiums on your next calves . . .It's a way to motivate them to do better."Farmer 6 felt that because their calf buyer required older surplus calves, they were motivated to improve their colostrum management, saying, "Well, now they won't take Holstein calves from me for two weeks . . .So then that kind of motivates to do a better and better job."Farmers also recognized the risk of losing their business relationship with their calf buyer by providing poor calves.As farmer 5 described, "Like I have a [person] who comes and picks my calves up.I want [them] to keep coming here because [they like] the calves.I've heard of [them] dropping clients because [they pick] up the calves and they're sick right away.I don't want to be that guy."This suggests that calf buyers could motivate calf care improvements through increased selectivity in the farms that they work with, the calves they purchase, and quality-based pricing.Overall, these exemplars depict an opportunity for calf buyers to optimize their purchasing strategies to encourage farmers to provide good care to their surplus calves, although more transparent pricing and systematic monitoring of calf performance would be necessary.
Communication and Accountability.Dairy farmers generally appreciated the feedback that calf buyers provided and felt it was motivating.For example, farmer 13 explained, "I want to keep providing a good product.And they tell me that I have a good product."Farmer 2 also felt that a lack of feedback in the industry in general was challenging, saying, "There's no accountability set between the farmer and the grower.So that's where something like this (benchmarking report provided by the herd veterinarian) maybe will help."Furthermore, the idea of forthcoming monitoring of calves was seen positively, as farmer 10 stated, "I'm glad (calves are) being tracked on both ends.And there is accountability on our end as the supplier of the beef.Because their success is my success."These quotes suggest that providing data or other feedback to dairy farmers on their surplus calves could encourage care improvements by providing accountability.

Theme 4: Contexts That Influenced Farmer Perspectives
Relationships with Stakeholders.Farmers felt obligated to provide good calf care based on their different relationships with dairy industry stakeholders.For surplus calves, this was described by farmer 4, who felt a need to maintain their business relationship with their calf buyer, saying, "Even if you just wanted to make sure that you had a good relationship so you can actually get rid of your animals.You want to make sure that you've got good animals to get rid of . . .If that just means making it so that are a few days old, treating them well, well, then that's what you do."This farmer went on to note that industry regulations related to calf transportation also encouraged better management because farmers were keeping calves longer, explaining, "When we first started off, you know, I didn't have really any kind of timeline (for how long calves remained on farm) . . .That's not something that you can do anymore anyway because of the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) regulations."However, few other farmers referenced regulations having a positive effect, and several veterinarians saw them as ineffective, or even a barrier.For instance, veterinarian 5 said, "I don't think that the regulations-yeah, I don't think it's seen very positively in general.I mean, it's hard to regulate good behavior, or good practices."Veterinarian 6 further extended this sentiment to industry-led initiatives, saying, "I don't think industry-led anything helps.

ProAction doesn't help. Dairy Code of Practice doesn't help. Just in my opinion from what I've seen. It's made extra work for farmers who have figured out how to jump through the hoops but hasn't made any change."
These exemplars suggest farmers have differing views on how calf buyers and regulatory bodies influence them to care for their calves, but that a negative sentiment toward government or industry-led oversight is present among some farmers.This negative perception likely decreases the effectiveness of such initiatives at motivating improvements.
Other stakeholders also played a role, as participants felt obliged to maintain the dairy industry's reputation through ensuring high animal welfare standards on their farm.For example, farmer 3 hoped that data collected on their farm would reflect good industry practices, explaining, "Like if you did this study with your surplus (calves), and all of the sudden the bull calves were all, you know, low (referring to their STP concentrations)-doesn't look good on the industry."Furthermore, veterinarian 5 felt that one of their farmers believed the public view of the dairy industry was important, explaining, "Presenting dairy to the public, I think, is important to them.So, they have tours there sometimes, and so they're conscious of, you know, how they're perceived for sure."Veterinarian 2 also used a sense of obligation for animal welfare to motivate change, saying of the surplus calves, "Well, the one card that I'll sometimes use, you know, even in animals that are destined for meat or what have you, is that we do have an obligation for humane treatment.And that also means giving them a good start."This was countered, though, by veterinarian 1, who felt that when encouraging farmers to care for surplus calves, "the ethical motivation of 'You should do it for the sake of doing it' is never going to fly."Overall, some dairy farmers were conscious of the effects of their actions on the dairy industry reputation and this likely increased their receptivity to adopt improved calf management practices.
Social Supports.Farmers and veterinarians cited farmers' social networks as an important influence on their calf care.For example, farmer 5 explained, "My wife actually is (my motivation) . . .Like she knows that [calves are] the future of our farm.They have to be taken care of."And farmer 12 felt that optimizing calf care was especially important as a way of "setting a good example for the future farmers in our family.Like if they learn from me because I'm their teacher, I want it to be done right."Veterinarian 1 also noted the importance of peer perception for one farmer, saying, "I think he can be very externally motivated on people's perception of how he does.It's 'I want to do good so other people recognize that I'm doing it good.'"These quotes suggest that having a strong social network of family or peers encouraged farmers to provide good calf care.
Farmer Values.Farmers' inherent values increased their receptivity to improving calf care practices, which are summarized in Table 4. Furthermore, the value farmers placed on their calves was influential, as participants often emphasized the importance of the future productivity of both replacement and surplus calves.For instance, farmer 12 explained of their replacement calves, "So I want them to be healthy, and strong, and yeah just have a good future.Because they are our future.Without them we wouldn't have a herd, you know?" Future productivity was especially important for calves with high genetic value.As farmer 9 suggested, "Well, I mean, we test for genomics.So, I mean, that puts a pressure on to keep calves alive, you know? . . .I mean, every calf is still valuable; it's still life.I mean, as a farmer you have to treat everyone as a potential, you know, but I mean it does make you think more about doing a better job."For surplus calves, many farmers expressed similar concern for their future.For example, farmer 14 stated, "We want to do a good job . . .It's, yeah, like it's nice to know that calves are doing well and yeah, they finish well in the feedlot and they want our calves."Farmers' personal values and their views on calves were discussed in all interviews, with most participants expressing that farmers were proud and motivated and understood the importance of providing calves with a good start.These qualities likely augmented farmers' receptivity to veterinary and calf buyer influence on their calf care, as well as their own interest in ensuring that good calf care is practiced on their farms.

DISCUSSION
This study aimed to qualitatively assess ways to improve the care that surplus and replacement calves receive on dairy farms from the perspective of dairy farmers and their herd veterinarians.Concrete strategies to motivate improvements were identified that related to dairy farmer and surplus calf buyer activities, including optimizing surplus calf purchasing, increasing the engagement of calf rearing personnel, and accessing peer-based learning opportunities.Other strategies related to veterinary activities, such as using good communication and advising skills, being enthusiastically involved in calf management, and focusing on herdbased and data-driven recommendations.Contextual factors that influenced farmers' views on calf care were also discussed, and results suggested that participants were motivated by a sense of obligation to maintain their business relationships and the dairy industry reputation, by strong social networks, and by their personal values.
Participants described several ways dairy farmers could optimize calf rearing, which primarily related to engaging their calf care personnel effectively or considering alternative rearing strategies.Engaging employees to provide diligent care to calves may be a particular challenge, as calf welfare is not always prioritized within the context of the whole dairy farm (Wilson et al., 2021).When reviewing strategies to improve calf welfare, Mee (2013) suggested that re-prioritization is needed, particularly to reduce neonatal calf mortality.The results of the current study propose different ideas for tackling calf labor challenges, such as using invested family members, fostering a positive team en-vironment for employees, utilizing technology, or using external rearing facilities to reduce labor requirements.Increased research and extension in this area could help provide farmers with new tools or training aimed at optimizing calf labor.
Farmer learning opportunities were seen as a valuable way to motivate improved calf care, which included reading lay publications or participating in on-farm research, along with peer discussion either informally or through industry connections.Farmers in this study primarily discussed being motivated by peer learning, which is consistent with a large body of literature suggesting that farmers prefer this method of learning (Ritter et al., 2017).Furthermore, peer learning through moderated discussion groups can result in measurable changes on dairy farms, including adoption of Johne's disease risk-mitigation practices (Roche et al., 2015) and improved stewardship of antimicrobials (Morgans et al., 2021).The results of the current study support the use of various educational resources, including peerbased learning, to encourage farmers to optimize their calf care practices.
Participants, especially veterinarians, in this study described several general communication skills that veterinarians used for motivating management changes.Veterinary communication is generally seen as satisfactory by dairy farmers (Ritter et al., 2019), but a study that evaluated veterinary communication during herd health visits identified room for improvement: for example, in using more open-ended questions (Ritter et al., 2018).Good communication and advising may be especially important when dairy farms are experiencing calf health challenges, as this was seen by participants as an opportune time to implement changes.This likely reflects that farmers are more likely to adopt control strategies for problems that they are aware of and perceive as a threat (Ritter et al., 2017).In summary, this study supports the need for veterinarians to use good communication and relationship-building when attempting to motivate calf care improvements.
Along with general advising techniques, participants identified 4 specific services (assessing calves, supporting protocol use, analyzing farm data, and set- ting goals) that were useful for motivating calf care improvements.The importance of veterinary involvement is corroborated by other qualitative research, suggesting that veterinarians are seen as impactful and trusted advisors for replacement and surplus calves (Sumner and von Keyserlingk, 2018;Hendricks et al., 2022).Although the veterinarians in this study were all involved in evaluating calves, this is likely not the case across veterinary practices, as only 33% of dairy farmers in Ontario reported that their veterinarian always inquired about the health and performance of calves during routine visits (Renaud et al., 2018b).Little is known about the frequency of veterinary involvement in standard operating procedure development, but a qualitative study found that farmers felt veterinary involvement in development of standard operating procedures improved utilization and compliance (Mills et al., 2020).It is also unclear how frequently dairy veterinarians systematically analyze and present herdbased data to farmers, although there is increasing interest in the dairy industry in using data to drive decisions (Costa et al., 2021).Overall, room likely exists for increased veterinary involvement in calf care on some farms, especially in developing and monitoring herd-based and data-driven calf management practices.
Various ways surplus calf buyers could improve the care of calves they purchase were described, such as using differential pricing based on the farm's calf health protocols, requiring older calves, and being more selective on their source farms.Other studies have also identified the influential role that calf buyers can play in motivating dairy farmers to change their surplus calf care practices (Wilson et al., 2021(Wilson et al., , 2023)).In Ontario, calves sourced from calf drovers had a reduced risk of mortality in the first 21 d after arrival to a veal facility, compared with calves shipped directly from dairy farms (Renaud et al., 2018a).This study suggests that calf buyers may already be selectively purchasing higherquality calves; however, it is likely that improvement is still possible.Specifically, requiring more robust and older calves for all farms would motivate better care, and would have a direct positive result on their welfare during and after transport (Goetz et al., 2023).Furthermore, the participants in this study valued calf buyer communication and viewed increased calf monitoring and differential pricing favorably, suggesting that this could be a fruitful way to elevate surplus calf care on dairy farms.
Through breeding dairy cows strategically to produce more suitable and higher-value calves for the dairy-beef market, participants felt surplus calf care would improve, with some describing these calves as a notable revenue source.Other studies have also reflected that surplus calf care mirrors their economic value (Hendricks et al., 2022) and that beef breeding can improve surplus calf price (Marquou et al., 2019).Using beef sires for dairy cattle has been advocated in some contexts to improve overall farm profitability, especially when the market for veal is smaller compared with dairy-beef (Buczinski et al., 2021).Despite the potential benefits of targeting improved calf value through genetic selection, some farmers in this study preferred to retain autonomy in their breeding decisions, indicating that this strategy may not appeal to all stakeholders.
Several farm contexts were discussed in relation to the different strategies used to encourage better dairy calf care, including farmers' social supports and their relationships with other dairy industry stakeholders.The business relationships farmers had with surplus calf buyers were valued, and farmers wanted to continue providing quality calves.In this region, dairy farmers may prefer the convenience of having calf buyers compared with using auctions, as has been previously documented (Wilson et al., 2021).They may also prefer more direct sales to reduce the time in transit, as most calves in British Columbia are transported approximately 1,000 km to calf rearing facilities (Wilson et al., 2020).Participants also felt that farmers' social relationships influenced their calf care, with farmers being motivated and encouraged, for example, by their spouse.The effect of social supports on calf care has not been previously evaluated but aligns with literature evaluating dairy farmer mental health that suggests farmers experiencing loneliness scored lower on an animal welfare index (Hansen and Osteras, 2019).
Regarding the influence of regulation on calf care, various perspectives were relayed, with many participants suggesting that regulations are ineffective.Similar sentiments have been observed in Europe, where farmers felt government requirements were "out of touch" with the realities of running a profitable farm (Garforth et al., 2013).Despite this, farmers felt obligated to provide good calf care to maintain the dairy industry's reputation among the public, especially related to the status of animal welfare on modern dairy farms.Recent literature has touted the importance of calf care in maintaining the dairy industry's social license to operate (Renaud and Pardon, 2022;Sirovica et al., 2022).Our results suggest that farmers were aware that poor calf care practices posed a risk to the dairy industry and felt this perceived risk motivated better care.
Values encompass human judgments about what is important and guide human behavior (Schwartz, 2006).Participants in this study frequently discussed farmer values, including describing farmers as being empathetic, proud, self-motivated, competitive, and invested in the future productivity of calves.These values all contributed to farmers being motivated to provide good calf care and suggests that the farmers in our study are likely progressive and motivated for excellence.These traits correspond to what Jansen et al. (2010) refer to as "proactivist" farmers, who are well-informed and interested in new developments.These farmers are likely easier to reach through a variety of strategies than farmers with different values, who might be less easy to motivate.This represents a limitation of this study, as the ideas discussed by these participants may not reflect strategies that will work for less highly motivated farmers.Furthermore, farmers in our study focused on health and colostrum management when considering calf care, rather than other aspects, which was likely influenced by the study premise related to benchmarking STP values.Therefore, this study offers only a superficial discussion on other aspects of calf management such as feeding and housing.

CONCLUSIONS
Participants in this interview study described perspectives on how to improve the care surplus and replacement calves receive on dairy farms.Strategies to motivate improvements included optimizing surplus calf purchasing practices by calf buyers and, for dairy farmers, strategically using automated calf technologies, fostering engagement of calf care personnel, and accessing various learning opportunities.Specifically related to opportunities for veterinarians, participants acknowledged the importance of good communication and being actively involved in calf management, while simultaneously focusing on herd-based and data-driven recommendations.The chances of farmers being influenced to provide good care practices to calves were also informed by their personal values and relationships, including a sense of obligation to maintain their business relationships, the dairy industry reputation, and their own ethical standards.This study provides practical ideas for veterinarians or other dairy industry stakeholders aiming to motivate farmers to improve their calf care practices.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Results of the thematic analysis on 42 interviews from veterinarians and dairy farmers, exploring strategies to improve the management of surplus and replacement dairy calves.
Wilson et al.: BETTER CALF CARE ON DAIRY FARMS

Table 1 .
Wilson et al.: BETTER CALF CARE ON DAIRY FARMS Demographics and farm characteristics for the 27 participating dairy farmers

Table 2 .
Characteristics of the participating 7 veterinarians Wilson et al.: BETTER CALF CARE ON DAIRY FARMS "We try to get the staff together once a month and everybody can see each other, and we can . . .work on this problem as a group instead of me saying, 'This is how it's going to be' . . .It's like, let's all come up with an idea together how we're going to make this better."Other strategies discussed included using external calf rearing.As Farmer 2 explained, "For some people . . .it's a hard thing for them to focus on.And that's why some guys, you know, farm out their calves, or sell out their young stock completely and just don't deal with it."

Table 3 .
External learning opportunities veterinarians and farmers described as helpful for motivating improvements in dairy farm calf care practices 1: "Farmers talk.They like to talk about their successes, and their failures too actually.So I've learned a lot from a peer of mine, who also has a [specific breed] herd and has had a lot of the same struggles we've had."Meeting . . .just see what they were doing and how they were making it work."Lay publications Veterinarian 7: "[Farmer 15] likes to read so Progressive Dairymen, etc. So, there's a lot of conversations about if he's read something, asking opinions and vice versa."Outside experts Veterinarian 7: "Times that I've had, like, [2 industry experts] riding around in my truck.For sure they would be one of the farms that I would have them go to.Just to reinforce what they're doing and help effect change that way." Wilson et al.: BETTER CALF CARE ON DAIRY FARMS

Table 4 .
Wilson et al.:BETTER CALF CARE ON DAIRY FARMS Famer values that motivated them to provide good care to the calves on their farms mean, the last thing you want to be doing is throwing a calf on the trailer that's struggling to begin with here.You can only imagine how it would land over there, so.Which is going to be a pain for them, but it's also not nice for the calf too."