cows-health-farm-7.html
VikingNews UK 2018-02
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8 vikingnews | november 2018 low use of
antibiotics
w hat are the main duties for the
swedish
agricultural authorities with regard to cow inspections? the
swedish
board of agriculture (sba) collects
data
from different sources such as calving, purchase, trading and culling. the sba also obtains
data
such as treatments reported by veterinaries and farmers on an individual basis. the
data
include all herds that send
data
to the
swedish
cattle
data
base, that also obtains
data
from other sources such as on hoof-trimming, artificial insemination, milk analysis, milk production, slaughter
data
and conformation classification. a livestock cooperative, växa sverige, maintains and manages records from the
swedish
board of agriculture. what is the aim of the cow register in sweden? the records are used to be able to trace animals in the event of out- breaks of animal diseases. and of course the information is used in the evaluation of breeding values for health traits for bulls and cows in the nordic countries. what benefits do farmers get for entering
data
in the cow register? it enables them to compare their herd with national benchmarks and to see trends over time. they can also view statistics and how their herd has developed over time. what is more, all information from the herd is held in the
data
- base including information on each individual cow regarding e.g. milk production. it also provides a basis for advisory services such as calcu- lating feeding rations and i can use it in my daily work advising farmers that i see regularly and that enables me to implement improvement schemes. it is the best management tool on herd level. many farmers also feel proud to contribute and view the registers as quality measures and a tool for anal- ysis purposes. ?we always use a narrow spectrum of
antibiotics
? sofia muñoz is employed by the
swedish
board of agriculture (sba) and she explains that they are not only responsible for border control and official tasks but are also active in both large and small animal practices. ?to ensure that all animals have access to veterinary care even if the owner lives in a remote area and therefore we also ensure animal welfare is safeguarded,? she says while explaining about cow inspections, registration systems, low use of
antibiotics
and protocols for the transportation of cattle for breeding. sofia munõz, district veterinary based on the
swedish
west coast: the use of
antibiotics
is very re- strictively controlled in sweden; can you describe how the process to get
antibiotics
for a farmer works? what are the most common rea- sons a vet prescribes
antibiotics
? in sweden we only use
antibiotics
if a vet determines that the animal has a bacterial infection that its own de- fence system cannot overcome, or not using
antibiotics
would entail unnecessary suffering. a farmer can only get
antibiotics
on prescription from a vet for an in- dividual animal. a couple of years ago, farmers that have particularly healthy ani- mals were permitted to keep certain medications on the farm if an ap- proved vet makes regular visits. the vet then provides preventive coun- selling at one to six-week intervals depending on the herd size and over- all health status. most cases treated with
antibiotics
in cattle relate to mastitis in dairy cat- tle where the most common treatment is penicillin.
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