Medicine Hub is the industry-wide initiative which has been developed by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and is setting out to gather medicine data from cattle and sheep enterprises in the UK. It is a safe, secure, and independent database and helps prove how seriously British farmers take their responsibilities.
Veterinary surgeons together with farmers set ambitious targets for antibiotic use in each sector that have been adopted by the Responsible Use of Antibiotics in Agriculture alliance (RUMA) Targets Task Force. Data are being collected on an ongoing basis in order to demonstrate the industry's efforts to meet those targets and it is worth noting that, even if a client has used no antibiotics in the last calendar year, the information is important to capture.
Why is it important to engage with Medicine Hub and its ambitions to collect ruminant farmers’ antibiotic use data?
Jenny Hull, Black Sheep Farm Health:
Recording data is crucial — you cannot improve until you measure. As a practice, we strive to deliver solutions for our clients. We sit down and develop feeding and health plans with them and focus on preventative health management as a way to optimise health and performance, reducing the need for antibiotics. We have recorded specific antibiotic use since the practice was formed just over 4 years ago, knowing it is essential for us, our clients and the industry. As veterinary surgeons, we have sales data in our practice management software programmes so having the practice share this with Medicine Hub will be more accurate, streamlined and require minimal time from the farmer. The level and method of data collection on farm can be hugely variable with some using farm management software and others paper-based systems; another reason for practices to share data on clients’ behalf.
Emily Gascoigne, Synergy Farm Health:
There are two areas which will benefit from gathering antibiotic use data — individual farm and the whole ruminant sector. At individual farm level, it is hugely powerful for the veterinary surgeon to see evidence of what is going on, what is being used where, and why. Antibiotic use is a proxy for animal health on a farm however, it is the direction of travel that is important for overall animal health on a unit. Farmers farm for many, many different reasons, but for all it is important that the farm is regarded as their own business that they, ultimately, are responsible for. That said, it is important to frame their business as one part of a larger industry when it comes to the area of responsible antibiotic use. Collectively, everyone shares the efforts to ensure responsible use.
Richard Phelps, ABP's Agriculture Director:
Both ourselves and our customers understand the importance of demonstrating antibiotic use on farm and the need to be united on the One Health message. By engaging with Medicine Hub, we can use these data to provide evidence that our sectors are low users of antibiotics and give our consumers reassurance. To gain market access, we recognise that individual countries can have stringent requirements we need to meet with animal health being a key component. Recording antibiotic usage will help substantiate our status and enable us to trade with these markets as well as help open up new markets. Beyond the UK agricultural industry — and it is worth remembering that around a quarter of UK produced sheep will be exported — other countries are looking at how they record data so it is something we ignore at our peril. The UK can lead by justifying our position on responsible use with the evidence Medicine Hub will provide.
Given the changes in the sheep sector around changes to single farm payment and as a result of Brexit, how can recording antibiotic use help?
Jenny Hull:
With the single farm payment going, farmers are going to have to be more efficient. Profits are likely to come down and there will probably be a shift away from the more intensive, indoor lambing flocks which require feed, straw and labour to more low input outdoor lambing systems. There is a real role for farm veterinary surgeons to help reduce losses and, therefore, increase efficiencies.
Emily Gascoigne:
A lot of our sheep clients in the south west sell directly to processors and are keenly observing the outcomes of discussions with retailers and more broad trade negotiations. These are predominantly producers who, when Brexit came, decided to stay in the industry, invest for future success and commit to producing lambs as efficiently as possible. Any competitive advantage they can see gained by recording antibiotic use will be important for them and while not especially visible at the moment, there could well be a time not too far off when that is the situation.
Richard Phelps:
The UK beef and lamb sector is a low user of antibiotics, and we have some of the highest welfare standards in the world. Our farmers take a huge amount of pride in producing stock to the highest quality and take a proactive approach to health planning and management. It is now important to back this up with real evidence and Medicine Hub could provide a means to do this. We have seen the pork and poultry sectors make significant progress in antibiotic recording and use, and while beef and lamb sectors are lower users, we will be challenged by retailers to provide evidence for this so it is imperative we have the evidence to hand to back this up. We need all farms to participate, farms with low use in particular, as this shows a true representation of our industry. If only higher users engaged, this would give an unfair and disproportionate picture and, worst case scenario, potentially bring about unnecessary sanctions.
Looking at the sheep sector specifically, what are the obvious top three areas to scrutinise?
Jenny Hull:
Abortion, lameness and watery mouth are listed in the RUMA Targets Task Force report, and I would agree with that from what I see. It remains the case that, on some sheep farms in the UK, blanket antibiotics are favoured over vaccinating for enzootic abortion (EAE). This is simply not okay — there are very good and cost-effective vaccines available and a preventative approach is always preferable. AHDB figures say that to get a live lamb on the ground, it takes between £20–25 made up of variable costs. If a ewe, pregnant with twins aborts late in a pregnancy because of EAE, that is £50 lost immediately. At a time when it is critical to reduce losses, that is not sustainable. Lameness vaccines are also underutilised and, again, are proven to be effective. Good foot management, foot bathing plus use of vaccination will soon get rid of lameness issues so cutting the need for antibiotics.
Emily Gascoigne:
Watery mouth, lameness and abortion are the top three for sheep farmers and the practice sheep team proactively engages farmers in discussions around all three. We have a very positive culture within the team and will ensure we get on to each farm at least once a year, often more frequently for the medium and larger flocks. This will usually be in a consultancy and planning capacity as part of supporting clients to be as sustainable as possible with their systems, which includes reducing disease, antibiotic use and culling. Improving health status improves efficiency of production which in turn improves profitability and antibiotic usage. For lameness and abortion there are two highly effective vaccines which can be used as part of the solution. Widespread and unreviewed antibiotic usage within a flock is unnecessary and unsustainable.
How to communicate around this successfully to less engaged farmers?
Emily Gascoigne:
Empathy and listening are two of my key watchwords. Farmers will not be impressed with technical jargon, or the recommendation of a raft of tests, diagnostics and change made in an attempt to prove technical expertise and credibility. They know you know it; you are a qualified veterinary surgeon! Put all that to one side and spend time understanding what drives them, what keeps them awake at night and their perspective on the business. Accept that you will not know the answer to everything, and when that happens, be open and say you'll seek the answer from elsewhere. Keeping them in the loop always goes down well. It is also important to acknowledge and celebrate improvement, even when only baby steps are being taken. It is too easy to get frustrated as the big changes may not have happened, but for some businesses, the odd tweak here or improvement there is a huge step and may in itself have required a change in mindset. Failing to notice could lead to a client disengaging. If in any doubt, I would recommend picking up the phone and inviting farmers to a meeting/farm walk.
Jenny Hull:
For our clients, a farmer meeting works well but you do tend to see the same faces each time when in reality you need to get those who rarely leave the farm along. The newsletter and social media work well and seem very well read. But, at the end of the day, there is nothing that can replace a one-to-one interaction with a client and if these are few and far between with some, hopefully the veterinary visits funded by Pathway will help get veterinary surgeons out on to farm and discussing flock health with farmers.
Summary
The sheep sector in the UK is one of the most disparate and fragmented, with medicine recording ranging from computer-based farm management software to scraps of paper in a pocket. Practices hold antibiotic sales data and should share this with Medicine Hub via the various upload routes. This will protect the UK ruminant sector, give confidence to consumers and help give our negotiators a competitive advantage when it comes to trade negotiations.
For more information
Support email: medicinehub@ahdb.org.uk Support phone number: 02477 719414 Help and support pages are available once logged in from: https://medicinehub.org.uk/#/Support