Earlier this year, MSD Animal Health global team launched a worldwide animal health initiative called Time to Vaccinate with the aim to provide farmers with information and shared experiences about nutrition, genetics, management and animal health.

It focuses on the use of preventative medicine alongside good management, which includes aspects of housing, nutrition, hygiene and ventilation.

Under the Time to Vaccinate initiative, MSD Animal Health Ireland launched a competition called Prevention for Profit. William Minchin said: “The Prevention for Profit competition is aimed at progressive dairy farmers who are maximising their profitability by focusing on four key pillars of production: nutrition, genetics, management and animal health.”

The competition, launched in August, has attracted wide interest in the dairy farming sector. Four provincial champions and one overall winner were selected by a panel of judges consisting of Prof Michael Doherty, dean and head of the School of Veterinary Medicine at University College Dublin; Mike Magan, dairy farmer and chair of Animal Health Ireland; Aidan Brennan, Irish Farmers Journal dairy editor; and Sarah Campbell, MSD Animal Health technical adviser.

Minchin said: “As the leading supplier of preventative vaccines to the Irish agricultural industry, MSD Animal Health is a key driver in the campaign to reduce the prevalence of disease on Irish farms. It was evident during this competition and in each individual profile that these selected farmers value the significance of animal health as a contributing factor to the performance of their farming enterprise.”