Economics and welfare hand in hand

2020 has certainly been original. World events appear to have superceeded domestic ones, and despite discussing them ad nauseum at times, we still aren't sure of the long-term impact of some of these events. It would be a brave person to predict 2021. But that is what many of our clients are having to do at the moment; plan for the next year without knowing what it will hold. We are not aware of the actual impact of COVID-19 and its implications, we are not sure what Brexit is, we are not sure just what straw will cost over the next year, but farmers are having to decide what to grow where, and how many ewes to put to the ram as a sort of guesswork, and hope that 2021 will work out well.

In many ways, this edition of Livestock magazine is very 2020 in it's relevance as it discusses so many of the issues that we as vets question and want answers to, namely welfare and behaviour. It also proves that at the end of the day, pandemic or no pandemic, we still need to know the strongyle lifecycles. Some things will never change! The worry is that as clients face uncertain times, they will look to make savings and cost cuttings, and for me that often translates to ‘will welfare be affected?’ as it is preventable treatments that are often first to be looked at. When looking at bills clients spot the big costs, such as vaccinations. I am hoping that in the current climate vaccinations are demonstrating their relevance but I would be lying if I didn't say that sheep abortion vaccines are a hard sell this year. Maybe it is just that my marketing banter isn't up to scratch?