Sociological factors influencing the practice and attitude towards pig farm hygiene in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan

Recently, the size of pig farms is rapidly growing in Japan. It raised the economic risk from occurrence of infectious diseases, and the improvement of biosecurity has become increasingly important. The objective of this study was to understand the current situation of compliance with the Standard of Rearing Hygiene Management (SRHM) in Hokkaido Prefecture, and to find out factors associated with the practice and attitude towards farm hygiene of pig farm managers. A questionnaire was designed based on the potential factors associated with the practice and attitude towards farm hygiene and SRHM, and these were distributed to pig farm managers who belong to a Hokkaido Pork Producers Association by mail. In statistical analysis, univariate analysis was performed selecting question items as explanatory variables, and the proportion of compliance with SRHM as a response variable. In multivariable analysis, Generalized Linear Models with quasi-binomial errors were conducted with factors with the p-values lower than 0.2. Mean proportion of SRHM compliance among 67 respondents was 75.4%. Well-kept standards were associated with maintenance of animal life, and the standards with low compliance were those needed for high level biosecurity. Multivariable analysis showed that those farms with larger number of labor force (slope of logit=0.08, p=0.006), frequent attendance to seminars related with farm hygiene (slope=0.22, p=0.004), and larger number of source of knowledge (slope=0.25, p=0.005) had higher compliance with SRHM, and these farm managers were satisfied with their hygiene practice (slope=0.43, p=0.002). On the contrary, those farms without successor (slope=-1.05, p<0.001), and prioritizing securing leisure time had lower compliance (slope=-0.87, p<0.001), and these farms experienced greater variety of infectious diseases (slope=-0.19, p=0.001). The present study found that active acquisition of hygiene-related knowledge was associated with higher hygiene attitude, it was suggested that efficient provision of hygiene knowledge would effectively strengthen biosecurity.