FMD jabs training completed

DEFRA-FUNDED courses, training 150 people to vaccinate animals in the event of another foot-and-mouth outbreak, have been completed.

Over the past month, Genus has run a series of two-day courses for its own staff and private-practice vets to help ensure a vaccinate-to-live policy can be implemented if needed.

In total 44 vets and 112 Genus staff attended the courses, which have cost £400/head.

The courses have been run in conjunction with the Livestock Health and Welfare division of the University of Liverpool based at Leahurst, Cheshire.

In any future outbreak, a three-man team will visit farms where it is thought vaccination could be useful.

The team will be headed by a Genus employee who will liaise with the farmer and be responsible for administering the vaccine.

The vaccination will be an oil-based solution to be administered in the neck, just in front of the shoulder, by intra-muscular injection.

Each animal will be marked with a round ear tag and its passport clearly marked.

In the past farmers have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of a vaccination policy because they claim the vaccine is less than 100% effective.

But Richard Murray, lecturer in Farm Animal Studies at Leahurst, and the course coordinator, said getting 100% coverage was not essential.

“Although 100% vaccination per holding is the objective it is not imperative to achieve it.

“There is a 5% margin of error built into the policy, so it is still worthwhile even if 5% of animals are not vaccinated,” said Dr Murray.

Farmers and vets who took part in the course told FARMERS WEEKLY there remained a number of questions they felt needed answering.

One of these concerned DEFRA‘s ability to source extra handling equipment to ensure a smooth and safe vaccination procedure. 

It is widely recognised that handling facilities on many farms would not be suitable for vaccinating large numbers of animals, so extra resources would have to be provided.