Hutton Institute

was heavily involved in establishing NI’s compulsory BVD programme, and strongly advised that legislation was critical for eradication.

“We live in an archipelago where animals are often travelling across borders,” he said. “Any control programme needs to have co-ordinated messages between the four nations – being cognisant of international requirements such as the EU Animal Health Law.”

Re-engagement was high on the list of interim goals. “It’s clear that different sectors have their own priorities and timeframes for BVD control which has led to the diversity of UK schemes,” explained Dr Strain. “Co-ordination between the schemes is crucial to controlling this infection across the UK.

“A key challenge is the retention of persistently infected (PI) calves; industry initiatives like making the retention of BVD positive animals a non-conformity for the NI beef and lamb farm quality assurance scheme have made signifcant contributions to the NI programme, encouraging the timely removal of these animals from the population.”

Another ambition from the workshop was to reduce dairy cow lameness by 30% yearon-year. Steps to achieve this goal include better utilisation of current tools and policy, with a whole food chain approach, consideration of contextual factors on farm, and the collection and use of robust and consistent data.

Martin Green, professor of cattle health and epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said that lack of data had been identifed as an obstacle by the AHDB mobility steering group.

“Data is needed to better understand the scale of lameness and what is achievable in terms of targets and sustainability year-on-year,” he said. “Mobility scoring is extremely valuable and encouraging widespread uptake with support and mentoring from the industry will be key in meeting industry targets.”

Calling on livestock farmers: views sought on use of anti-microbials

Researchers from the James Hutton Institute are calling on livestock farmers in the UK to help develop a greater understanding of the use of on-farm anti-microbials. It is widely believed that overuse and improper use of anti-microbials in livestock farming is contributing to the emergence and spread of anti-microbial resistance, causing a significant threat to global public health and food security.

Although human and animal health requires the use of anti-microbials, it has been estimated that two thirds of the future increase in anti-microbial use worldwide will be in animal production. Improving the management of anti-microbials in farm livestock is therefore a critical component of dealing with anti-microbial resistance whilst optimizing production in the livestock sector.

However, antimicrobial use prescription and distribution strongly varies according to national and local contexts, production systems or sectors. Therefore, there isn’t one common solution to promote transitions towards prudent anti-microbial use. To homogenise anti-microbial use reduction across Europe, research is needed to identify the different factors that explain these variations and offer solutions to work on them.

Scientists at the James Hutton Institute, in association with 17 partners and multiple stakeholders from across Europe, are working together on an EU funded project called ROADMAP (Rethinking of Antimicrobial Decision-systems in the Management of Animal Production) to develop options for reducing anti-microbial use in consultation with farmers, vets, advisors and consultants at national, European, and international levels.

Understanding these diverse factors will enable efficient, context-adapted and socially acceptable innovations that stakeholders, producers and animal health professionals will be able to adopt and convert to large-scale market opportunities.

To gain a better understanding of farmer’s experiences and views, UK livestock farmers, farm partners and farm employees are invited to complete an anonymous survey at https://bit.ly/ HuttonROADMAP – you can also scan our QR code. There will be a £5 donation to farmers charities for each completed survey response.