Animal Health Awareness Week 2020 is set to take place from 23 to 28 November.
This is a week of activities organised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Department) in conjunction with industry stakeholders, to raise awareness of the importance of high standards of animal health.
Apart from the impact on individual animals, good animal health is the bedrock of the environmental sustainability and economic viability of livestock farms, the production of high quality and safe food, and the protection of public health.
The proposal for an Animal Health Awareness Week emerged from a review of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s early warning surveillance system.
This review, which was a recommendation within the Animal Health Surveillance Strategy (2016 to 2021), was carried out to ensure that Department systems to detect an emerging or re-emerging disease were functioning as efficiently as possible.
A primary reason that the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was so devastating in the UK was that it had gone undetected for several weeks and had spread around the country before it was detected.
The review highlighted that one of the key ways to ensure farmers and their veterinary practitioners brought such disease incidents to the attention of the Department was for them to be more aware of the potential for the emergence of disease on their farms and the potential significance of unusual clinical signs or an increased incidence of what they considered a common disease.
Vigilance
Climate change and globalisation have increased the threat of an exotic disease outbreak, so we need to remain vigilant to the threat.
As an industry, we also need to remain vigilant to the threats posed by endemic diseases on our farms such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.
The use of antimicrobials to treat such diseases, as well as costing the individual farmer money, may lead to resistance, which is considered to be the greatest global public threat in the next 50 years.
This emphasises the importance of taking a proactive approach to herd/flock health, which is a key element of the National Farmed Animal Health Strategy.
Following consultation with a wide variety of industry partners, the Department is now organising a series of remote events to mark Animal Health Awareness Week.
Department veterinary staff will feature on a number of local radio stations and will participate in Teagasc podcasts on dairy, beef, sheep and pigs.
They will also give lectures to agricultural and veterinary students in third-level institutions on the topic of animal health awareness over the course of the week.
Webinars and schedule
The Department will also host a series of evening webinars during the week, with the theme of “The frontline at the farm gate”, and the Department ministerial team will be participating each evening.
Each webinar has a specific theme:
Monday 23 November: One Health.Tuesday 24 November: flock health.Wednesday 25 November: biosecurity in the context of pig and poultry farming.Thursday 26 November: cattle health and sustainability. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue will launch the national biosecurity strategy on Wednesday evening and FAWAC will launch its booklet on calf rearing on Thursday.
We are delighted to welcome our panels of international speakers including Tracey McNamara from Western University in California, Maire Connolly from NUIG (formerly of the WHO), and Scottish colleagues from the Moredun Institute and Dominic Mellor from Epidemiology, Population health and Infectious disease Control (EPIC).
There will also be a range of Irish experts presenting, including colleagues from Teagasc, AHI, well-known farmers Shane McAuliffe and Ed Payne and veterinary practitioners Conor Geraghty and Tommy Heffernan, as well as several Department staff.
The comprehensive programme will have something of interest to everyone. Further details are available at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/1b1d4-animal-health-awareness-week-2020/
Animal Health Awareness Week is an opportunity for us, as an industry, to reflect on the importance of maintaining high standards of health in our various livestock species. It is in all of our interests to work together to realise this goal.
Animal Health Awareness Week 2020 is set to take place from 23 to 28 November.
This is a week of activities organised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Department) in conjunction with industry stakeholders, to raise awareness of the importance of high standards of animal health.
Apart from the impact on individual animals, good animal health is the bedrock of the environmental sustainability and economic viability of livestock farms, the production of high quality and safe food, and the protection of public health.
The proposal for an Animal Health Awareness Week emerged from a review of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s early warning surveillance system.
This review, which was a recommendation within the Animal Health Surveillance Strategy (2016 to 2021), was carried out to ensure that Department systems to detect an emerging or re-emerging disease were functioning as efficiently as possible.
A primary reason that the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak was so devastating in the UK was that it had gone undetected for several weeks and had spread around the country before it was detected.
The review highlighted that one of the key ways to ensure farmers and their veterinary practitioners brought such disease incidents to the attention of the Department was for them to be more aware of the potential for the emergence of disease on their farms and the potential significance of unusual clinical signs or an increased incidence of what they considered a common disease.
Vigilance
Climate change and globalisation have increased the threat of an exotic disease outbreak, so we need to remain vigilant to the threat.
As an industry, we also need to remain vigilant to the threats posed by endemic diseases on our farms such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.
The use of antimicrobials to treat such diseases, as well as costing the individual farmer money, may lead to resistance, which is considered to be the greatest global public threat in the next 50 years.
This emphasises the importance of taking a proactive approach to herd/flock health, which is a key element of the National Farmed Animal Health Strategy.
Following consultation with a wide variety of industry partners, the Department is now organising a series of remote events to mark Animal Health Awareness Week.
Department veterinary staff will feature on a number of local radio stations and will participate in Teagasc podcasts on dairy, beef, sheep and pigs.
They will also give lectures to agricultural and veterinary students in third-level institutions on the topic of animal health awareness over the course of the week.
Webinars and schedule
The Department will also host a series of evening webinars during the week, with the theme of “The frontline at the farm gate”, and the Department ministerial team will be participating each evening.
Each webinar has a specific theme:
Monday 23 November: One Health.Tuesday 24 November: flock health.Wednesday 25 November: biosecurity in the context of pig and poultry farming.Thursday 26 November: cattle health and sustainability. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue will launch the national biosecurity strategy on Wednesday evening and FAWAC will launch its booklet on calf rearing on Thursday.
We are delighted to welcome our panels of international speakers including Tracey McNamara from Western University in California, Maire Connolly from NUIG (formerly of the WHO), and Scottish colleagues from the Moredun Institute and Dominic Mellor from Epidemiology, Population health and Infectious disease Control (EPIC).
There will also be a range of Irish experts presenting, including colleagues from Teagasc, AHI, well-known farmers Shane McAuliffe and Ed Payne and veterinary practitioners Conor Geraghty and Tommy Heffernan, as well as several Department staff.
The comprehensive programme will have something of interest to everyone. Further details are available at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/1b1d4-animal-health-awareness-week-2020/
Animal Health Awareness Week is an opportunity for us, as an industry, to reflect on the importance of maintaining high standards of health in our various livestock species. It is in all of our interests to work together to realise this goal.
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