Give livestock a fighting chance not to get sick
I watched the Irish rugby team against England and Scotland. I like watching rugby and had become accustomed to seeing Ireland play with a certain style and confidence.
In the last two games, something was different. As they say, “the passes were not sticking”.
Each year brings a change and we long to get back to the way we were. Maybe the next few games will see Ireland get back to the pinnacle they were at, and the World Cup in Japan will be a memorable one for us.
Similarly, we enter each new farming and veterinary year wondering what lies ahead.
Has the pitch changed?
Definitely, rules are changing, as we hear more and more about AMR (antimicrobial resistance). For decades, pharmaceutical companies out-did each other developing new antibiotics to kill more bacteria, especially the more resistant ones, and to work longer in the body. Magnificent work was done by the pharma-engineers who built these drug molecules.
European legislators have now grouped all anti-microbials into classes, and are intent on stopping use of most of the available veterinary medicines.
From what I can see, our hands will be tied. We may be able to diagnose an animal’s complaint but we will be severely restricted in what we can use to treat the problem.
Many will say that is the fault of the farming and veterinary communities for over-using and abusing available drugs.
Maybe we sent in the heavy artillery to every little skirmish instead of having the confidence to use foot patrols to do the easy jobs. Nevertheless, we now find ourselves in this predicament, and are also blamed for anti-microbial resistance seen in the human population.
When all the fantastic antimicrobials are finally gone from our war chest, what do we do?
I think that we will see more and more emphasis on preventative medicine. Maybe people will see that if they spend more money on things like vaccinations to help prevent diseases happening in the first place, then they will save by not having to treat these diseases afterwards. Pharma companies developing vaccines may target newer diseases. Maybe new vaccines will be better and lead to a stronger response.
More thought will have to go into investigating disease outbreaks on individual farms.
Where did the infection come from and how can I prevent it happening again?
Very definitely, biosecurity must be studied on every farm, and advice sought from your vet. Housing for comfortable winter accommodation, where ventilation will ensure that infections don’t have a chance (fresh air is the cheapest disinfectant), where moisture created by animals breathing, urinating, defecating can be dealt with to maintain dry beds and a dry passage underfoot.
Proper planning is needed to allow every animal maximum access to the water facilities and the feed barrier, and their own bed to lie on.
The feed should be analysed so that you know exactly the performance that you are going to get back out of them.
Healthy animals can fight off infection far better than ones that are under pressure. Give your animals a fighting chance.
