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To minimise the growing threat of antibiotic (or antimicrobial) resistance to the human population, there must be a behavioural and attitude change among farmers and vets, DAERA chief vet, Robert Huey, has said.
Speaking at an event organised by Agricultural Technology students at Queen’s University in Belfast, Huey referred to a 2016 survey of vets and farmers from across Europe conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It highlighted that over half the vets interviewed were sceptical about the link between antibiotic usage in farming and drug resistance in humans. The majority of farmers thought the same.
“You need to help us all correct these misconceptions. We need you to champion and sell the message about antibiotic resistance, and that covering up bad husbandry using antimicrobials is not on” said Huey.
The issue came to prominence in 2016 after a government commissioned report chaired by economist Jim O’Neill, estimated that currently 700,000 people die globally every year from drug-resistant strains of common bacterial infections. However, this figure could rise to 10m per year by 2050 unless action is taken.
At present, the UK is developing a 20-year vision for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a five-year action plan due to be published in late 2018. In NI, the Department of Health is taking the lead on an AMR plan for 2019 to 2024.
The plan is being drawn up by health professionals, the Food Standards Agency, AFBI and DAERA.
Among the actions for DAERA will be to look at the factors influencing the use of antibiotics in animals, and also to establish baseline figures for antibiotic usage on farm in NI.
Biggest challenge
It is that latter issue in particular, that Huey maintains could be the biggest challenge for industry over the next few years. He questions the accuracy of a lot of the information currently in the public domain.
“We need to go the way the pig world has gone, with an online medicine record – that’s the answer” said Huey.
From 1 April 2017, it became compulsory for members of the Red Tractor pig assurance scheme to upload information on the total amount of antibiotic used in pig units, to an electronic medicine book (e-MB).
In cattle, he believes electronic tagging will be a reality in the next couple of years.
Combine that development with an electronic tag going on a medicine bottle, he suggests that a phone app could allow a farmer to scan the animal tag, the medicine tag, and enter the amount of drug used.
The information would then be automatically uploaded. “It is about putting all the pieces together. ‘
‘We are technically there, but we need a culture change” Huey said.
Dairy industry’s approach to udder health under scrutiny
The dairy sector is a relatively low user of antibiotics, but the practice of blanket treating cows with antibiotics at drying off has come under considerable scrutiny in recent years.
Limiting use to high cell count cows is seen as an easy way to cut antibiotic usage on farms. At the same time, giving antibiotics to any animal that doesn’t have an infection is increasingly seen as bad practice.
As a result, more farmers are using selective dry cow therapy, teat sealing all cows at drying off, and only using antibiotic tubes on those with high cell counts.
According to vet Norman Beggs, from Udder Health Solutions, the practice should only be implemented in herds where the bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC) has been below 250,000 cells/ml for at least 12 months. It is then a matter of choosing which cows to treat with dry cow tubes or not (eg the threshold might be that only cows below 130,000 in the last three milk recordings get teat-sealed, with no dry cow tubes administered).
“If the bulk sample is above 250,000 cells, you haven’t met this initial criteria, and selective dry cow therapy won’t work. You firstly need to embark on a plan to reduce the overall SCC,” advised Beggs.
In most cases, management needs to improve.
According to Beggs, some of the key areas to address include cubicle hygiene (both dry and lactating cows), the environment in calving pens or the source of water to cows and in the parlour.
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