References
How to set up a postmortem facility in a farm animal practice
Abstract
Postmortem examinations can be a useful diagnostic tool in farm animal medicine; however, they are often avoided in general practice because of a lack of appropriate facilities and expertise/familiarity with techniques. This article describes the setting up of a basic facility to allow general practitioners to perform postmortem examinations of calves, small ruminants and other small animals, e.g. poultry.
With the closure of government veterinary laboratories and reduced carcass submission rates year-on-year, there is an opportunity for veterinary practices to offer an in-house, local farmer-focused postmortem service (Norquay et al, 2020). While performing necropsies at a fallen stock collection centre is possible, the facilities there are rarely ideal and as such limit the extent of the postmortem examination possible. In addition to servicing a client need, and contributing to farm health plans, veterinary practice postmortem examinations can contribute to national animal health passive or enhanced passive surveillance (although this requires a formalised infrastructure). Postmortem examinations performed by veterinary practitioners are towards the top of the surveillance pyramid.
A recent study of the reasons why farmers do not bring carcasses to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory concluded that cost is not the primary factor (McFarland et al, 2020). The farmer's veterinary practitioner, type of incident, logistical issues, herd size and distance from the laboratory were the primary factors.
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