In this study, we examine the role that human labor practices and attitudes play in mastitis infections on US dairy farms. Mastitis infection is a key barrier to sustainability in dairy production, contributing to financial losses, animal welfare concerns, and perhaps most importantly imprudent antibiotic use. We combine data from five sources on herd characteristics, owner/manager attitudes and behaviors, and labor management to empirically analyze the connections between labor practices and mastitis infection. We examine 72 conventional dairy farms in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan using survey responses from both employees and owners/managers. We find that several labor practices and attitudes like communication, training, manager attitudes, and work intensity have important and meaningful associations with mastitis infection on dairy farms, in addition to conventional veterinary management practices. We also find that key labor practices are not associated with infection rates once we control for other factors. Our findings demonstrate the ways in which aspects of sustainability are intertwined on farms, particularly labor practices.

中文翻译：

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劳动与可持续性：农场劳动实践在塑造抗生素使用中的作用☆

在这项研究中，我们研究了人类劳动实践和态度在美国奶牛场乳腺炎感染中所起的作用。乳腺炎感染是乳制品生产可持续发展的一个关键障碍，导致经济损失、动物福利问题，或许最重要的是不谨慎的抗生素使用。我们结合了来自五个来源的牛群特征、所有者/管理者态度和行为以及劳动管理的数据，对劳动实践与乳腺炎感染之间的联系进行了实证分析。我们利用员工和所有者/经理的调查回复，对宾夕法尼亚州、佛罗里达州和密歇根州的 72 个传统奶牛场进行了调查。我们发现一些劳动实践和态度，如沟通、培训、经理态度、除了传统的兽医管理实践之外，工作强度和工作强度也与奶牛场的乳腺炎感染存在重要且有意义的关联。我们还发现，一旦我们控制了其他因素，关键的劳动实践就与感染率无关。我们的研究结果展示了可持续发展的各个方面在农场中相互交织的方式，特别是劳工实践。