Table 1. Data collected from veterinarians’ electronic medication records based on the interface of the Electronic Herdbook program.

Data	Explanation
Veterinarian ID	Refers to each individual veterinarian
Veterinary pharmacy ID	Refers to each practice
Internal reference no.	Relevant only to individual practice software
Receipt number
Farm ID	Identifies each individual farm
Treatment date
Animal ID	Ear tag number
Production type	e.g., dairy, beefa
Number of treated animals
Diagnosis code	Legal requirement in Austria. Codes available for most disorders e.g., 51 = acute mastitis, others coded as “not otherwise specified” (NOS)
Indication	If information additional to diagnosis code was entered by the veterinarian (optional)
Continuation of previous treatment?	Y/N
Medication licensing number
Medication lot number
Administration or dispensing?	Administration = treatment carried out by veterinarian. Dispensing = medication left on farm for farmer to administer at a later date, according to veterinary instructions
Medication amount	e.g., 20, 1, 4
Medication unit	e.g., ml, unit, litre
Dosage
Recommended dosage
Length of treatment	In days
Administrations per day
Mode of application	e.g., intramammary, intramuscular
Instructions for application (to be printed on label of dispensed medication)	e.g., 6 ml on 3–4 consecutive days
Statutory withdrawal period (milk)	In days
Statutory withdrawal period (meat)	In days
Animal species	Cattle

Notes.

^aNB: All farms included in this analysis were dairy farms, however, given the small structure of Austrian agricultural systems, many farms retain some male calves/youngstock on farm for fattening/beef production.