This advancing knowledge may come from bench research, field studies, collective practitioner experience or the allied industries and may appear in the primary scientific literature, proceedings of professional organizations, proceedings of trade meetings, trade publications, and industrial sources. As the need for an update on a given topic is often driven by the immediate need to solve a particular, unique problem that is occurring in a client's herd, the ability to do this efficiently and in a timely fashion is important.
Books provide the foundation for approaching herd problems.
However, keep in mind that due to the time required for the writing and publishing process, they are usually not current in all the areas they cover. The next level are those texts targeted specifically at dealing with herd problems. Management practices and farm conditions which have both positive and negative influences on these aspects are covered, rather than a more traditional focus on specific diseases. The core element in this methodology is the protocol. In order to illustrate the standard protocol the practitioner and farm advisor are taken through a farm visit, during which operational and problem-solving issues are addressed.