What is herd health management? A narrative review

BACKGROUND: This narrative literature review proposes an improved definition of herd health management and related terms. The role of veterinarians has shifted to a population-level oriented approach which may be denoted herd health management. Herd health management and related terms are used inconsistently in the scientific literature and theoretical deliberations around its practice are lacking. RESULTS: Herd health management was defined as a continuous, cyclic process dealing with planning, implementing, and evaluating decisions aiming to promote herd health, i.e., normal biological function, including homeostasis and the absence of disease among the animals populating a given farm, to achieve the producer's goals regarding productivity, animal health, and externalities. CONCLUSIONS: The paper proposes a theoretical framework describing how herd health management is practiced. Herd health management includes decisions at both strategic, tactical and operational level. The steps involved in tactical decisions are an evaluation of the current situation, defining goals, identifying risks and planning new practices to be implemented and a way to monitor indicators of success.