Herd health plans needed at farm and national level

Herd health plays an important role in farm profitability on a number of fronts. Inside the farm gate, healthy animals are essential to maximising performance, whether it be in terms of breeding or physical performance.

Outside the farm gate, it is one area that is undoubtedly moving centre stage among our customers – whether it be in the form of securing or maintaining market access for live animals, or indeed the whole area of antibiotic use on livestock farms and the link with antimicrobial resistance in humans.

Unfortunately, despite its importance, herd health is one area that tends not to receive adequate attention either at farm or policy level. At farm level, too many farmers and vets continue to adopt a fire brigade approach where action is only taken in response to an emergency or indeed a disease outbreak. In our Focus supplement this week, our specialists look at what steps farmers should be taking now to tackle health issues relevant to this time of year.

While herd health plans can be extremely complex, in many cases it will be the simple measures that will yield the greatest dividends.

An increased number of farmers are relying on preventative vaccination programmes as an important tool in the fight against diseases. While a positive development, it does come at a significant cost to the business. In the case of suckler and dairy herds, it is not uncommon to see total herd health costing farmers between €100 to €150 per cow.

Vaccination should not come at the expense of doing the basics right. Our Irish Farmers Journal vet identifies good hygiene as an important tool in reducing calf and lamb mortality, improving conception rates and reducing incidences of scour – particularly timely at this time of year as the disease burden in sheds increases.

Ultimately, the most beneficial aspect of the herd health plan is the discipline of putting a plan in place – specifically in the case of administering vaccines or drenches at the right time to gain maximum protection and response.

At national level, we should acknowledge Animal Health Ireland (AHI), which with the support of the industry has brought animal health issues more centre stage. Under the leadership of outgoing CEO Joe O’Flaherty, AHI deserves credit for bringing together what has traditionally been a fragmented and heavily politicised grouping. However, it is still worth asking whether or not it has delivered to its full potential and if, as an industry, we are satisfied with the rate of progress.

Results have varied across the range of schemes with BVD and Johne’s proving the biggest challenges. Nevertheless, we have seen the number of PI animals born into the national herd falling from 14,000 to a current level of 1,500 – a decline of almost 90%. However, one PI circulating in the national herd spreading diseases is one too many – it has to be an all-or-nothing solution.

Ultimately, the failings in the national BVD eradication scheme expose the fact that without the political support of the Department of Agriculture – and indeed farm organisations – it is naive to think that AHI can single-handedly implement a successful national disease eradication programme, whether it be for BVD, IBR or Johne’s.

Perhaps the biggest criticism of AHI has been a failure to recognise the limitations of what it can achieve within current structures. The reality is that no one organisation can tackle the issues that lie ahead. What is needed is a national herd health plan – ideally on an all-Ireland basis.

Just as we encourage farmers to put a plan in place at farm level, we should have a plan at national level with clear targets and – more importantly – clear actions for each stakeholder. No one should be allowed to shirk responsibility or hide behind the politics of the issue. Putting together this plan and ensuring implementation is perhaps where AHI should be concentrating its efforts.

There is no doubt that while environmental sustainability has grabbed the headlines in recent years, issues pertaining to animal health and the potential links to human health are rapidly gaining ground. In the same way we prepared in advance to tackle the environmental challenge through our sustainability programmes, we must put the structures in place now to ensure the Irish agri-food sector can prove itself as an industry leader in relation to herd health, animal welfare, antibiotic use and product quality.