Welcome to Ruminant Health & Welfare
Welcome to the final RH&W newsletter of 2024
It is a real pleasure to end the year with the Ruminant Health & Welfare ‘three nations health and welfare report’ – following three of the four nations contributing to a special steering group meeting. We also look forward to updating in future with Northern Ireland’s plans when they are ready. Read more on this later in this newsletter.
As we look towards Christmas, I would like to start by expressing heartfelt thanks to all individuals and organisations in the RH&W steering group, bluetongue technical and communications groups, all expert speakers and anyone who has supported, highlighted or recognised the work of RH&W this year, and of course Hannah and Nina at Pinstone, for their tremendous comms work this year again.
A huge thanks must go to our communications sponsors; Boehringer Ingelheim UK, our current supporter, and MSD Animal Health who sponsored our comms from the start of this group up until this year. Thanks must also go to the AHDB, Mandy Nevel in particular, for taking a leading role in the BTV-3 campaign and to Cheryl Barker for providing the day-to-day secretariate role for our group. Thank you to QMS and Defra also for their part in supporting RH&W along with way for BTV-3 crisis management costs in the early stages.
We continue to grow our membership, which is of course free, so if you feel you know someone who would benefit our group, with an expertise in a particular field or area, please contact me direct or RuminantHW@ahdb.org.uk to request to join.
Have a well-earned rest over the Christmas period, enjoy, and a Happy New Year to you all!
Gwyn Jones
Chair
RH&W
Devolved nations align on Ruminant Health and Welfare Goals
Earlier in the year a special RH&W Steering Group was held where representatives from the Scottish, Welsh, and English governments provided updates on their animal health and welfare initiatives.
We have since produced a report on the outcome from this meeting, including identifying synergies with each nation’s approach but also highlighting unique regional challenges. It’s clear there is a shared commitment to advancing welfare, improving productivity, and meeting sustainability goals.
Shared priorities
The meeting emphasised three key areas of synergy across the devolved nations and the strategic goals of RH&W:
- Disease prevention and control: Reducing the prevalence of endemic diseases to boost productivity and minimise antibiotic use.
- Sustainable livestock systems: Aligning health and welfare strategies with environmental goals to help reduce emissions.
- Farmer engagement: Empowering farmers with the knowledge and resources to adopt best practices, often through collaboration with their vet.
Read the full report for an in-depth look at each of the three nations’ priorities as well as key differences and opportunities for collaboration.
Research and developments innovations shared at steering group
Our recent steering group meeting was a useful information sharing session which focussed on latest innovations and research coming up on the horizon.
Biosecurity
Ivan Lloyd and Paul Rogers presented a pilot version of the Herd Safe biosecurity app, which has been designed to encourage productive discussions between vets and farmers about on-farm biosecurity risks. The two presenters shared examples of how the app has been used in trial projects, leading to the implementation of many practical, and cost-effective recommendations by farmers – we look forward to seeing updates in future.
Further meetings outside the group will take place with Ifan and Phil in order to understand more about this scheme and how we can learn from it.
Joint Ill
Following this, Jenny Duncan shared findings from her research on joint ill in lambs, a common and frustrating condition for sheep farmers. The study found that the bacteria causing joint ill are shed by ewes and present throughout the farm environment, including in soil and bedding. Jenny provided updated advice for vets and farmers, highlighting importance of early treatment, correct antibiotic use, and addressing potential routes of infection. Find out more about treatment here: (Treating joint-ill at lambing: getting it right | AHDB )
Iodine alternative
Fiona Lovatt from Flock Health presented results of a large-scale trial which compares a new iodine-alternative product to the traditional iodine treatment for lamb navel and ear tag sites. The research, involving over 6,800 lambs, showed a significant reduction in mortality rates for lambs treated with this new product. Fiona also discussed the importance of dipping versus spraying navels and the impact of the new product on lamb growth rates. The results were verbally reported at BCVA congress in October 2024 and a full paper will be available following approval from Vet Record.
Highlighting industry collaboration to tackle bluetongue
The strength in what RH&W can achieve in terms of collaboration has been particularly evident with the BTV-3 communications campaign this year – it was brilliant to know there was a task force group ready to spring into action – and organise crisis management meetings, advice for farmers, press releases, webinars and much more.
Much expert material and advice was communicated and shared in an effort to educate farmers and industry about BTV-3 facts, myth-bust disease information and try to minimise the stress for farmers in an already difficult year.
This is an area we are keeping a close eye on, with a specific webinar for vets having been held just last week. In the meantime, please stay up to date via Bluetongue Virus – Ruminant Health & Welfare
Methane report
The ‘Acting on methane’ report is a great source of information for having conversations about reducing emissions from ruminants. It outlines how the carbon intensity of production can be reduced which in turn reduces emissions. Greatest impact is achieved by focussing on conditions which improve food conversion efficiency, growth rates and the involuntary or premature culling of breeding stock.
You can find the full report here.
Other news from industry
Upcoming events
The Semex International Dairy Conference, Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow
12-14 January 2025
Semex Conference | Semex UK Marketing
AHDB ‘confident strides’ cow mobility learning events
Regional dates from 15 January – 19th March
Read more.
British Cattle Breeding Conference, Telford Hotel & Golf Resort, Telford
20-22 January 2025
Read more
Dairy Sheep and Goat conference – Hilton Cadbury House Hotel, Bristol
Monday 27 – Tuesday 28 January 2025
Read more.
DairyTech, Stoneleigh NAC, Warwickshire
Wednesday, 5th February 2025
Read more