Animal Health Economics: An Introduction

Producing a healthy herd is crucial to economic success at farm and national level. Considering individual animals and herds as economic units makes health an economic consideration. Animal health economics is principally concerned with the economic decision making behind controlling animal diseases, from individual animals and local herds to the national herd and international disease control efforts. Climate change, the spread of exotic diseases; changes in national policies concerning disease control; the emergence of new diseases all impact upon animal health. This textbook follows the growing importance of this subject, which is increasingly studied academically. It will discuss the tools and analysis behind measuring and evaluating animal health at various levels.