Vets and SQPs: Help ‘Stamp Out Scab’
Vets and SQPs can attend a single training session, being held through to 18th July at sixteen locations across England. Each session provides the latest advice on control and how to help clients control scab effectively. Clinical signs and practical diagnosis are covered, as are treatments, legislation, quarantine and biosecurity, and a session on other […]
Resistance, slaughter and pet vending top the agenda
At the dinner, attended by Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP, parliamentarians, key representatives of animal health and welfare organisations and the agri-food industry, and senior members of the veterinary profession, BVA President Peter Jones called for action on veterinary surveillance, new medicines to tackle the problem of resistance, changes to welfare at slaughter regulations, and […]
Could nineteenth century vets provide lessons for farm animal health policy today?
Nowadays we assume farm animal health is a legitimate area of interest for the state. But 150 years ago the veterinary profession had to develop new areas of understanding and practice to enable this to happen, and a leading academic in the history of human and animal health argues that this could give us some […]
Major funding for research into predicting the health and welfare of dairy cows
Initial work by the team has found that easily recordable immune traits could be used to predict an individual farm animal’s susceptibility, and recovery from, a range of health conditions. Being able to use immune traits to identify health and welfare problems – such as lameness – could be of huge benefit to the industry […]
TB rates in cattle hit lowest level for six years
Incidences of bovine TB (bTB) in cattle have fallen again this month – meaning they are at the lowest monthly rate for six years. (1) Today Defra announced that the incidence of bTB in cattle in March 2013 was 3.6%, compared to 3.9% a year ago, and a drop from 4.7% in December 2012. In […]
Ruma supports call for joint working to tackle antimicrobial resistance
Commenting on Science Minister David Willetts’ statement on antibiotics for the G8 Summit, RUMA Secretary General John FitzGerald said: “The RUMA Alliance welcomes the Minister’s call for the G8 to regard the spread of antibiotic resistance as a global challenge and his comments on the need for responsible use of antibiotics in farming and human […]
Ground breaking study finds the offspring of stressed mothers brains develop differently
A ground breaking study has found that prenatal stress negatively affects the development of a lamb’s brain. In the first study of this type to take place not in the lab but in ‘real life’ conditions on a farm, researchers observed structural alterations in the neurons involved in emotional regulation and cognitive processing. The changes […]
House of Commons TB Debate 5th June 2013: Points to Consider
The NBA along with the NFU, BVA and other organisations support the policy of controlling the spread of TB by controlling the badger population. It is essential that the present culls go ahead and that Parliament does not prevent what is a necessity in the control of this notifiable highly infectious disease. If we do […]
Healthy livestock project leads to healthy profits across the South West
The EU-funded Healthy Livestock Initiative, organised by the Rural Business School at Duchy College, was established to boost farm productivity through better animal health. Working across the industry, it has brought vets, farmers and livestock specialists together to introduce proactive farm health planning for producers across the region. One aspect of the project was […]
