GREAT BRITAIN has made significant progress across the key cattle health areas of mastitis, lameness and longevity, according to the latest state-of-the-industry report.

This third biennial offering from GB’s Cattle Health and Welfare Group also records progress on endemic disease control, with advances in each country in eradicating Bovine Viral Diarrhoea particularly highlighted, and for the first time looks in depth at the issues facing the dairy and beef sectors around antimicrobial resistance.

The Chief Veterinary Officers of UK, Scotland and Wales have welcomed the publication of the report, and noted that, as the possible impacts of leaving the EU are considered, the importance of a GB focus on disease control is as important as ever.

“The healthier our animals, the more attractive our products. The better our animal welfare, the greater the confidence of consumers in our production systems,” said Nigel Gibbens, Sheila Voas and Christianne Glossop in their joint statement.

“With the UK Government placing antimicrobial resistance at the top of its risk register alongside terrorism and pandemic ’flu, it is heartening to see that the Cattle Health and Welfare Group, in common with other livestock sectors, has grasped the nettle in looking first at how the cattle sector can better capture data on use of antimicrobials.

“Success in controlling endemic disease is one area of considerable importance, and here we can highlight CHAWG’s pivotal role in the development and promotion of national disease control programmes. These include the launch of the BVDFree scheme in England earlier this year, ongoing progress with BVD eradication in Scotland, the development of a Wales BVD scheme, and the Action Johne’s initiative,” said the top vets.

In the report’s conclusion, RSPCA’s head of farm animals, Dr Marc Cooper, said that it is clear many positive initiatives were being pursued within the industry: “Notable amongst these are those associated with dairy cow genetics, eliminating BVD, the national dairy cow welfare strategy and the development of a data hub for the collation of information relating to antimicrobial use.

“Indeed, some of these are starting to realise improvements in key areas, for example, dairy cow longevity is beginning to increase, and cow fertility figures and somatic cell counts appear to be moving in the right direction.

“However, there are still ongoing concerns relating to some important health and welfare issues," said Dr Cooper. "For example, despite the evidence suggesting the annual prevalence levels of cattle lameness are beginning to fall, there still appears to be no centralised database for recording it.”

CHAWG chairman Tim Brigstocke welcomed these comments as encouraging and providing positive direction for future group activities, and reassured that while the report saw a number of advances in highly topical areas, ‘core’ activities were not being ignored.

“Effective farm health planning remains the bedrock of good practice," said Mr Brigstocke. "And while we tend to focus on areas which need improvement, it’s worth mentioning that a delegation from the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission recently visited and were impressed by the coordinated approach taken in this country."