Welcome to the monthly bulletin from Iechyd Da. You will find useful information and updates all in one place.
On farm slaughter – Risks of medicating cattle ahead of scheduled TB tests
Over the 3 year period from November 2020 to October 2023, 1131 cattle were slaughtered on-farm for TB purposes in Wales because they had received medicines and were still within their medicine withdrawal period at the time they were tested.
It is not possible to avoid on farm slaughter completely, but there are practical precautions owners can take to greatly reduce the number of occasions when this is necessary.
Medications may interfere with the accuracy of the TB test, as agents may temporarily affect the animal’s immune system and influence the result. Medicated cattle may have to be slaughtered on farm or cause a delay in the removal of infected animals, thereby potentially prolonging TB problems in your herd and the duration of the restriction.
You are therefore advised to avoid applying routine, non-urgent treatments if the medicine withdrawal period will not have expired in advance of the TB test. Current veterinary advice is that routine veterinary medicines ,such as parasite control or vaccines, should only be given to animals once they have tested clear in any planned TB test.
Clearly in some circumstances, urgent treatment must be given where the welfare of the animal would be compromised if medication is not administered.
BTV-3
APHA are continuing to trace test animals that have been involved in “high risk” moves in the hope of early detection of infected animals.
Farmers need to take careful consideration to the location of winter grazing, restricted zones can be imposed at anytime and those zones may stop you from transporting your stock back to Wales. Currently animals within a restricted zone cannot move to Wales to live.
You can watch the latest meeting here.
Iechyd Da Re-Brand
We’re pleased to introduce our brand new look.
This Re-Brand project has seen us look deep within to extract our core essence: Discovering, developing and delivering.
With an ambitious vision drawn up, a differentiating brand created and a confident communication style crafted – we’re ready to tell the world about the inspiring work that we do, together.
More than a refreshed identity, this Re-Brand marks the beginning of our next chapter, increasing awareness of Iechyd Da and generating engagement in the pro-active projects and activities that we all do on a daily basis.
What can you expect? Building on this new foundation to generate digital engagement with the brand through regular social media posting, content creation and potential events – watch this space…
New Contact Emails for Iechyd Da
Following our rebrand you will notice that our email addresses have also changed. Please update your contacts with the new addresses:
General – info@iechydda.cymru
Natasha Thomas – natasha.thomas@iechydda.cymru
Grace Lewis – grace.lewis@iechydda.cymru
Please note, the old email addresses will be auto forwarded to the immediate future.
