Helminth infections of cattle affect productivity in all classes of stock, and are amongst the most important production-limiting diseases of grazing ruminants. Over the last decade, there has been a shift in focus in the diagnosis of these infections from merely detecting presence/absence of infection towards detecting its impact on production. This has been facilitated by studies observing consistent negative correlations between helminth diagnostic test results and measures of productivity. Veterinarians are increasingly challenged to consider the economic aspects of their work, and the use of these tests should now be integrated in economic evaluation frameworks for improved decision making. In this paper, we review recent insights in the farm-specific economic impact of helminth infections on dairy cattle farms as well as in farmer attitudes and behaviour regarding helminth control. Combining better economic impact assessments of helminth infections together with a deeper understanding of the non-economic factors that drive a farmer's animal health decisions should result in more effective control strategies and increased farmer satisfaction.

中文翻译：

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牛蠕虫的决策：诊断，经济学和人类行为。

牛的蠕虫感染会影响各种牲畜的生产力，并且是放牧反刍动物最重要的限制生产的疾病之一。在过去的十年中，这些感染的诊断重点已经从仅检测感染的存在/不存在转移到检测其对生产的影响。通过观察蠕虫诊断测试结果与生产力度量之间一致的负相关性的研究，已经促进了这一点。兽医面临着越来越多的挑战，以考虑其工作的经济方面，现在应将这些测试的使用整合到经济评估框架中以改善决策。在本文中，我们回顾了关于蠕虫感染对奶牛场的农场特定经济影响以及农民对蠕虫控制的态度和行为的最新见解。结合对蠕虫感染的更好的经济影响评估以及对驱动农民的动物健康决策的非经济因素的更深入了解，应该会产生更有效的控制策略并提高农民满意度。