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Spanish participation is frame-worked under the project (EG17097) funded by theMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to incorporate genomic information into the current breeding programmes of local beef cattle and dairy sheep breeds.

Analysis of institutional authors

Martin-Collado, DCorresponding Author

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April 12, 2021
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Measuring farmers' attitude towards breeding tools: the Livestock Breeding Attitude Scale

Publicated to:Animal. 15 (2): 100062- - 2021-03-09 15(2), DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2020.100062

Authors: Martin-Collado, D; Diaz, C; Onde, D; Rubio, A; Byrne, T J

Affiliations

AbacusBio Int Ltd, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, Midlothian, Scotland - Author
Agrifood Res & Technol Ctr Aragon CITA, Anim Prod & Hlth Unit, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author
INIA, Dept Anim Breeding, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Complutense Madrid, UCM, Madrid 28223, Spain - Author
Univ Zaragoza, CITA, AgriFood Inst Aragon IA2, Zaragoza 50013, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Under-use of genetic improvement tools and low participation in breeding programmes arc key drivers of breeding programmes under-performance. Both aspects are heavily influenced by farmers attitudes which, to date, have not been analysed in an objective and systematic manner. A key factor constraining the implementation of attitudinal studies towards livestock breeding tools is the lack of a reference scale for measuring attitudes. In this research, we provide the livestock breeding sector with such a reference measure. We developed the scale following the standardized psychometric methodologies and statistical tools. Then, as a case study, we used the scale to explore the attitudes of beef and dairy sheep farmers in Australia, New Zealand and Spain and analysed farmer and farming system factors related to those attitudes. Fourteen sheep and beef breed associations facilitated the implementation of a survey of 547 farmers, generating data that was used for the scale evaluation. The relationship between attitudinal factors and farmer and farming system factors was analysed using generalized linear models across and within breeds. The results suggest that the 8-item definitive scale we have developed is appropriate to measure farmer attitudes. We found that attitudes towards genetic improvement tools have two components; i) traditional selection and ii) genetic and genomic selection combined. This means that positive attitudes towards traditional phenotypic selection do not necessarily imply a negative attitude towards genetic and genomic selection tools. Farmer attitudes varied greatly not only across the studied breeds, species and countries, but also within them. High-educated farmers of business-oriented farms tend to have the most negative attitude towards traditional selection. However, attitudes towards genetic and genomic selection tools could not be linked to these factors. Finally, we found that the breed raised had a large effect on farmer attitude. These findings may help in the evolution of breeding programmes by identifying both the farmers most indined to uptake breeding innovations in the early stages of its establishment and the farmers who would be more reluctant to participate in such programmes, thus informing where to focus extension efforts. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Animal Consortium.

Keywords

beefdairy sheepfarmer viewsprincipal component analysisAgricultural workerAnimalAnimalsAttitudeAustraliaBeefBovineCattleDairy sheepFanner viewsFarmer viewsFarmersHumanHumansLivestockNew zealandPrincipal component analysisSelection toolsSheepSpain

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Animal due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position 10/145, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Veterinary Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations from Scopus Elsevier, it yields a value for the Field-Weighted Citation Impact from the Scopus agency: 1.11, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 4.55 (source consulted: Dimensions Sep 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-09-18, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 8
  • Scopus: 9
  • Europe PMC: 4
  • Google Scholar: 2

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-09-18:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 51.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 51 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10532/5254

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United Kingdom.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (MARTIN COLLADO, DANIEL) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been MARTIN COLLADO, DANIEL.