March 4, 2021 7:42 am
Animal Health Ireland (AHI) needs to better communicate the changes in the updated Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) protocols – and should revisit compensation levels, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
Commenting ICSA Animal Health and Welfare Committee chair Hugh Farrell again called for “adequate compensation” for BVD calves from the suckler herd and urged AHI to write to all breeding herd owners to outline updated BVD protocols for 2021.
“AHI has moved ahead with removing confirmatory second tests when determining the presence of BVD,” Farrell said.
This means the term PI or persistently infected is now obsolete, and all animals with one inconclusive test are for removal.
Warning that cost of vet medicines could rise by 40%
farmersjournal.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from farmersjournal.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Minister urged to reconsider changes to vet medicine rules
farmersjournal.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from farmersjournal.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
February 17, 2021 1:03 pm
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has again called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to reconsider plans to introduce compulsory prescriptions for routine dosing products for livestock.
ICSA Animal Health and Welfare Committee chair Hugh Farrell said: “These proposals are akin to taking a sledgehammer to the way farmers take care of the everyday needs of their livestock.
“They are completely over the top and the intervention of Minister McConalogue is now required to sort this out,” he said.
Farrell said that the authorities are citing anthelmintic resistance as a reason for a much more “draconian regime”.
Following a meeting of the TB Stakeholder Forum yesterday (Thursday, February 4), concerns have been raised over a lack of farmer representation on one of the three working groups that are to be established under the forum.
These three groups are: an implementation group; a finance group; and a science group. While farmer representation has been agreed to for the former two, the science group does not yet have guaranteed farmer representation.
These concerns were raised after the meeting by Hugh Farrell, the animal health chairperson of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
Farrell said that he hoped the establishment of the three groups would be beneficial, but that “farmers must have representation on all three”.