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| Newsletters | August Newsletter 2015 | Home |
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Last month DEFRA launched their interactive Cattle Tuberculosis map on the internet. Type in a post code or holding number and the screen will centre on that location and show the location of any current outbreaks and show when they started. The idea is that eventually it will reveal what has been happening over the past five years. The map doesn’t look too good for South West Shropshire as our area shows one of the highest numbers of holdings restricted because of tuberculosis, eighty three at the moment. There are higher figures in Hereford and Devon, just a few in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Rough Guide The map gives no indication as to the numbers of animals involved at the different locations, but it is possible to get some idea by the length of time that the farm has been under restrictions. Although you might think of the internet as being the place to look for up to date information that does not apply to this inter active map as the data is up dated only once each month. I would hope that this map would not be used to make purchasing decisions. With few exceptions cattle get TB not because of the way you farm but because of where you are and it is wrong to make purchasing decisions based from a blue spot on a map. That blue spot may just be from a single animal long gone from the farm the rest of the herd may well have been tested three or four times and not shown any reactions. The interactive map can be found at www.ibtb.co.uk. Restriction Notice If you should be unfortunate enough to have a TB reactor in the past we would issue a movement restriction notice which would remain in place until you had two clear tests. This notice was only issued once and cancelled once. With the changes at DEFRA Official Veterinarians are no longer able to issue movement restrictions as soon as you have a reactor the movement restrictions are automatically imposed on the whole herd. We are obliged to give you form TB181 which explains about automatic animal and public health restrictions following the disclosure of a reactor and that a Veterinary Officer from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency will contact you and undertake a disease investigation. As yet the forms have not been updated for the Animal and Plant Health Agency. More Forms Now we have been informed that we are to issue this form at every test that a new reactor is identified. I am not quite sure why as most of the information it contains relates to the start of an outbreak and by now most of you will be well aware of what happens when you are under TB restrictions. No body has been able to explain why it is necessary to issue all of these duplicated forms, but we just do. Also we have to tell you the batch numbers of the tuberculin and the expiry dates to put in your medicines book when, like all of the vaccines you use, they have no implications for the milk or meat that you sell. This is particularly troublesome if we test just part of your herd, say twenty animals that you are selling, as to make sense of it all you would have to write down all of the ear numbers of the animals tested for no real reason. Over Weight Show Dogs Liverpool University has recently taken an interest in over weight dogs and has a department dedicated to helping owners to get their dogs to lose weight. Many dog owners buy the best quality food for their pet and feed the amount that is recommended on the bag. This is only a very rough guide from a company that wants to sell more of its products. Sadly most owners are not able to provide the amount of daily exercise that their pet needs and it is all too easy to give extra calories that are not required. This seems strange to me now that there are several high quality diets especially formulated for dogs with weight problems. All you have to do is feed a measured amount of food each day and if the animal has not been able to achieve the targeted weight loss each month they need to have less next month. Now it has been found by a study of nearly one thousand current and past dogs that have competed successfully at Crufts that twenty six percent of these animals were judged to be overweight. Breed Image This is part of the problem, we are so used to seeing overweight dogs that we just accept it as normal. There is nothing wrong with taking your dog to a local show weight should not be an issue. Once breeders start to progress to competing at national level it is wrong that show judges should reward them for giving too much food. Rules from the kennel club for each breed are quite specific they have to be a certain height and have a certain head shape so why aren’t they disqualified if they are above a set weight? Dog shows are massive events and there is no reason why there could not be classes for obese animals. Breeders would soon get to realise that to get to the top level they will need to get their show dogs to the right weight. Smuggling Puppies If there is a way to make easy money someone will do it. Eighteen months ago the rules controlling the import of dogs into the UK were changed. Under the old system every dog was given a rabies injection, then one month later a blood sample was taken to ensure that it had worked properly. Because of the possibility of infection prior to the injection animals were not allowed to travel for six months from the date of the blood test. Because of this no puppies could be brought into the country until they were ten months of age. The earliest age that the rabies injection can be given is three months. There was lots of concern when the scheme first started that it left us vulnerable to importing disease. Those concerns are still valid. Easy Access Now all of the rules have changed. All that happens now is that dogs have a rabies injection and three weeks later they are free to travel anywhere in Europe. At first many pedigree puppies were brought over and advertised on the internet with no mention that they originate from Eastern Europe. The problem is the great British public is used to buying a ten week old puppy when they are at their cutest rather than a dog that is fifteen weeks of age. This has led to organised criminals bringing young dogs into the country with forged documents because it is a lucrative business and can be more profitable that smuggling drugs. It is not easy to judge the age of a puppy, especially the smaller breeds. At Dover all of the checks are carried out not by the Border Agency, not by the Animal and Plant Health Agency or Trading Standards but by employees of the ferry companies. The Animal and Plant Health Agency do have an office at Dover but it is only manned during office hours from Monday to Friday. It has been noticed that most under age puppies are coming in at the weekends. Meat and Plants Every day now we see pictures on our televisions of migrants who have travelled from Africa and other places then across Europe because they are so desperate to get into our country. Little is reported about the ones that get through and what happens to them. If we are struggling to keep people and unvaccinated puppies out the chances are we are letting in illegal meat and plants as well. All you have to do is to book a ferry that arrives here on a Saturday or a Sunday when the APHA office is closed.
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