News

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is opening a new School of Veterinary Medicine this year. At present, they are in a stage of curriculum development (first entry 2023) and would like to gain the opinion of the profession as to what graduates need to learn in order to become, and ideally remain, members of the profession. There is a lot of discussion on this topic, so they’d like to have a more objective view, which can then shape the curriculum.

Mild conditions experienced in parts of the UK at the New Year, coupled with a predicted warm end to January, means the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group is launching its Nematodirus Forecast earlier this season.

• The Agricultural Transition Period
  An overview of changes to English agricultural policy 2021-2027
• The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway
• Annual Health and Welfare Review: The First Step of Pathway
• Next step

Informtion from Christine Middlemiss (UK Chief Veterinary Officer) and Gavin Watkins (Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales), updating Veterinarians and Farmers/Owners of sheep and goats (for breeding and production) and their germplasm, of changes to export certification requirements relating to certain endemic diseases, for movements from Great Britain to the EU

While the risk of liver fluke remains low for much of the UK this season, livestock farmers need to keep their guard up again in what is becoming a less predictable parasite challenge. That is the warning from the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) and Control of Cattle Parasites Sustainably (COWS) groups as we head into winter.

We have been made aware that Spectam Scour Halt (Ceva Animal Health) is currently experiencing availability issues, and this is the only licensed oral antibiotic for the prevention of watery mouth in neonatal lambs.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is calling on veterinary teams to appoint an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Champion to encourage open conversations about diversity and keep these important issues high on the agenda in their workplaces.

Nominations have opened for the 2022/23 Junior Vice President role at the British Veterinary Association (BVA), with BVA veterinary surgeon members being invited to nominate themselves for the role.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is highlighting vets’ fears about antibiotic resistance as a new survey reveals that 9 in 10 (92%) vets across the UK are worried about their ability to treat infections in pets in the face of this global threat.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has welcomed findings from the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS) Report 2020 and the RUMA Targets Task Force 2 Report, launched yesterday (8 November) by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA), respectively.

There are estimated to be about 8-10,000 outbreaks of sheep scab in the UK every year with many flocks infested persistently in areas of high scab prevalence. Scab costs the UK sheep industry between £80- £200 million per year (Nixon et al., 2020). With some populations of sheep scab mites in the UK now known to be resistant to the injectable macrocyclic lactones (Sturgess, Osborne et al., 2019), it is imperative that the sheep industry makes a concerted effort to bring this disease under control.

The British Veterinary Association has called for much clearer commitments to animal welfare in international trade after the UK Government set out its response to the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) report.