The DECIDE Cattle Barometer: a cross-country monitoring and decision support tool for respiratory pathogens
11 affiliations
- 1Department of Internal Medicine, Reproduction, and Population Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
- 2School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5RD UK
- 3Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- 4Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY USA
- 5Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Animal Science and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Ghent, Merelbeke 9000 Belgium
- 6Department of Research & Development, Royal GD, AA Deventer, The Netherlands
- 7Animal Health Service Flanders (DGZ-Vlaanderen), Torhout, Belgium
- 8Regional Association for Animal Identification and Health (ARSIA) asbl, Ciney, Belgium
- 9PathoSense BV, Ghent, Belgium
- 10Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Cork Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Cork, Ireland
- 11Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Abstract
Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains one of the most impactful health challenges in cattle, driving antimicrobial use, economic losses, and welfare concerns. Effective control requires insight into circulating pathogens. However, differences in sampling strategies, diagnostic methods, and data formats hinder cross-country interpretation. During a European stakeholder consultation, farmers called for simple tools that clearly communicate trends in pathogen occurence, while veterinarians stressed the need for data-driven dashboards that turn complex data into practical insights to support evidence-based advice and farmer–veterinarian collaboration. To address these priorities, we aimed to develop and evaluate the Cattle Barometer: an interactive, cross-country dashboard integrating laboratory-confirmed BRD pathogen data from multiple European diagnostic laboratories.
Methods: Diagnostic laboratories in Europe provided anonymised test results from cattle with respiratory disease. Data included identified pathogens, sample type, diagnostic method, date, and location proxies. Heterogeneous datasets were harmonised using scripted pipelines, including cleaning, recoding, anonymisation, and transformation into standardised formats. Farm-level monthly pathogen positivity was calculated and incorporated into a dashboard. Usability of the first prototype was evaluated through a survey (n = 25), including a System Usability Scale (SUS) assessment, open-ended questions, and task-based testing among veterinarians, researchers, laboratory scientists, advisors, and farmers.
Results: Fourteen datasets from six laboratories, representing over 8000 farms sampled between 2016 and 2024, were integrated into one dataset. The dashboard enables interactive analysis of trends in proportion of positive samples by time, location, production type, and diagnostic methodology.
The survey showed the tool to be promising, but still requiring refinement to achieve optimal user-friendliness (SUS score 60, 60% successfully completed the assigned task). Usability feedback highlighted strengths in data accessibility, but identified opportunities for improvement in navigation, visual load, date filtering, and interface scaling. Most respondents indicated they would use the tool in the future, and the majority were comfortable with the tool being available for veterinarians (88%) and farmers (72%).
Conclusions: The Cattle Barometer provides an open-source framework for BRD monitoring and decision-making across Europe, with potential extension to other species and diseases. Future development should focus on automation to enable continuous data streams with daily updates and thereby enhance its surveillance value.
Related
- A European perspective on antibiotic use in viral respiratory infections: new paradigm integrating pathogens with host factors
- Development of a multiplex real-time PCR assay with fluorescence probe-melting-curve analysis for one-tube detection of respiratory pathogens
- Multimodal genomic surveillance for respiratory pathogens at four U.S. international airports: A comparison of air, wastewater, clinical, and national surveillance data
- Whole-Genome Sequencing Unravels Virulence and Antimicrobial Resistance Landscapes of Major Bovine Respiratory Disease Pathogens.
- In vitro antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates of bacterial pathogens causing bovine respiratory disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
BibTeX
@article{bokma2026decide,
title = {{The DECIDE Cattle Barometer: a cross-country monitoring and decision support tool for respiratory pathogens}},
author = {Jade Bokma and Charlotte Doidge and Stan Jourquin and Miel Hostens and Saba Noor and Inge Santman-Berends and Stefaan Ribbens and Julien Evrard and Sebastiaan Theuns and Cosme Sánchez-Miguel and Gerdien van Schaik and Jasmeet Kaler and Bart Pardon},
journal = {Irish Veterinary Journal},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s13620-026-00356-0},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13620-026-00356-0},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The DECIDE Cattle Barometer: a cross-country monitoring and decision support tool for respiratory pathogens
AU - Jade Bokma
AU - Charlotte Doidge
AU - Stan Jourquin
AU - Miel Hostens
AU - Saba Noor
AU - Inge Santman-Berends
AU - Stefaan Ribbens
AU - Julien Evrard
AU - Sebastiaan Theuns
AU - Cosme Sánchez-Miguel
AU - Gerdien van Schaik
AU - Jasmeet Kaler
AU - Bart Pardon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/30
JO - Irish Veterinary Journal
DO - 10.1186/s13620-026-00356-0
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13620-026-00356-0
AB - Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains one of the most impactful health challenges in cattle, driving antimicrobial use, economic losses, and welfare concerns. Effective control requires insight into circulating pathogens. However, differences in sampling strategies, diagnostic methods, and data formats hinder cross-country interpretation. During a European stakeholder consultation, farmers called for simple tools that clearly communicate trends in pathogen occurence, while veterinarians stressed the need for data-driven dashboards that turn complex data into practical insights to support evidence-based advice and farmer–veterinarian collaboration. To address these priorities, we aimed to develop and evaluate the Cattle Barometer: an interactive, cross-country dashboard integrating laboratory-confirmed BRD pathogen data from multiple European diagnostic laboratories. Methods: Diagnostic laboratories in Europe provided anonymised test results from cattle with respiratory disease. Data included identified pathogens, sample type, diagnostic method, date, and location proxies. Heterogeneous datasets were harmonised using scripted pipelines, including cleaning, recoding, anonymisation, and transformation into standardised formats. Farm-level monthly pathogen positivity was calculated and incorporated into a dashboard. Usability of the first prototype was evaluated through a survey (n = 25), including a System Usability Scale (SUS) assessment, open-ended questions, and task-based testing among veterinarians, researchers, laboratory scientists, advisors, and farmers. Results: Fourteen datasets from six laboratories, representing over 8000 farms sampled between 2016 and 2024, were integrated into one dataset. The dashboard enables interactive analysis of trends in proportion of positive samples by time, location, production type, and diagnostic methodology. The survey showed the tool to be promising, but still requiring refinement to achieve optimal user-friendliness (SUS score 60, 60% successfully completed the assigned task). Usability feedback highlighted strengths in data accessibility, but identified opportunities for improvement in navigation, visual load, date filtering, and interface scaling. Most respondents indicated they would use the tool in the future, and the majority were comfortable with the tool being available for veterinarians (88%) and farmers (72%). Conclusions: The Cattle Barometer provides an open-source framework for BRD monitoring and decision-making across Europe, with potential extension to other species and diseases. Future development should focus on automation to enable continuous data streams with daily updates and thereby enhance its surveillance value.
SN - 0368-0762
SN - 2046-0481
ER -