BVA President's speech at the annual BVA Scottish Dinner
Edinburgh, 16th June 2005
Your Grace, colleagues and distinguished guests, I bid you a warm welcome on behalf of the British Veterinary Association and its Scottish Divisions to this year’s annual Scottish Dinner here in Edinburgh. It is my pleasure and privilege to be here and it is made even more pleasurable by the fine company around me.
Agriculture has always lived in times of change but we appear to be dealing with times of unprecedented, accelerated change. CAP reform is beginning to be implemented in at least 4 ways within the UK. Imported food appears to be the preferred option of our policy makers. Endemic diseases are still with us and demand our time and money. We live in a global village where the threat from an epizootic disease such as FMD, avian influenza and West Nile Fever is ever present and the threat is considerably greater today than it was 10 years ago. And we live in the UK where farm animal vets are getting fewer and fewer, and older and older – despite a record number of new graduates emerging each year.
The BVA recognises and accepts that today’s vet must meet the needs of the modern farmer by making a significant contribution to the farmer’s business. I believe that our profession is equipped to assist the farmer be successful but we must recognise reality. FMD will be back with us and our actions and plans must reflect that reality! We (Government, farmers & the veterinary profession, in partnership) have three areas of defence:
- Have a programme in place to keep FMD virus out; especially illegal meat importations;
- Have a protocol in place that will detect the disease on the first (and not 51st) premises; and
- Have a programme in place that will ensure effective and efficient eradication of the disease from our farms.
A recent visit to Australia, the Fiji Islands and New Zealand serves to remind me that these three countries expend considerably more effort and money in striving to keep disease out of their countries. And they have been very successful! FMD has never been recorded in Australia, Fiji or New Zealand.
Our UK-Government has worked hard on improving our ability to eradicate disease but we have concerns that our ability to detect FMD on the 1st farm is far short of being adequate. Government and the farming and veterinary professions must address this aspect. Finding FMD on the 51st farm is unacceptable. Our livestock industry demands an effective surveillance system and I fail to see how such can be accomplished without the presence of a vet on a farm. But let’s look specifically at the situation in Scotland.
It has been stated for the past three years that “the veterinary profession in Scotland is entering unchartered waters with regard to farm work – let us hope next year we can report progress rather than decline”. Yes we can report progress. After much debate, consultation and pooling of ideas from many organisations involved with livestock agriculture in Scotland, progress has clearly been made in a number of areas including the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy and the Animal Health and Welfare Bill.
The Single Farm Payment is here and the recent introduction of the second tier as Land Management Contracts, which some suspect will replace the SFP in years to come, has seen a unique opportunity for Scottish beef and sheep farmers to assess animal health and welfare on each farm or croft and take steps to remedy problems identified. Sustainable farming and profitability in future will be dependent on production and any disease problem that interferes with this must be addressed. Profitable farms will ensure a better future for rural veterinary practices and for the welfare of our animals.
The Scottish Executive has launched the novel Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Management Programme which could potentially see all livestock holdings having an annual visit from their identified veterinary practitioner to complete and review a farm health plan and more, SEERAD will pay for part of this service as well as aiding disease identification measures and participation in health initiatives over a 5 year period. The Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) has been commissioned to promote this programme with induction meetings for veterinary practitioners and farmer meetings to explain the possible measures that can be taken. It is to the credit of your Minister, your CVO and their team that such a novel and innovative approach has been adopted. It is to their credit that a vision has become a reality and that the EU Commission has been persuaded to approve the programmes. I am well aware that such persuasion required drive, determination and enthusiasm. Your Minister clearly has all such talents.
At last we are seeing some fruit being borne from the never-ending flow of consultation documents over the past years. The ball is now in the hands of the veterinary profession and our clients to ensure success in what in political terms is a unique approach to Animal Health and Welfare work and through it, to ensure that rural practices are maintained in a profitable state.
It is hoped that common sense will prevail nationally when it comes to the changes in veterinary medicines legislation, since some of the measures being insisted on by the DTI have the potential to see all veterinary charges increase - which would be a disincentive to the Scottish initiative. Moreover these increased charges to cover prescription costs which will be hidden in the consultation fee will affect all sectors including farm and companion animals. There is also a wish in Scotland for vets to have a better and more specific definition of “animals under our care” since this would ensure the correct choice and safer use of medicines. The BVA sees a need to maintain a close link between farm animals, their medicines and their vet. You will have seen the BVA recommendation of a veterinary surgeon’s annual prescription in our advice to the VMD on implementing the new veterinary medicines legislation.
There is still concern in Scotland that the Local Veterinary Inspector review is not complete and anger that there has been no increase in fees for three years even though the costs of Brucella and TB testing as well as salaries have increased. The present Defra fee structure is totally contrary to the recommendations of the Marsh and Competition Commission reviews which stated that vets should charge properly for work undertaken and not exist on the sales of medicines. The introduction of new identification methods for blood samples not only increased the costs but resulted in extra work - something which could have been avoided if the system introduced by SAC for Hi Health cattle testing some years ago had been adopted.
Farmers and vets welcomed the extra measures introduced by Scottish Executive to prevent the introduction of TB into Scottish herds. There is still a feeling that it would be better not to source cattle at all from areas where TB is a problem – cattle are only a good buy if they are free of disease. The existing test is such that an animal testing negative to the test cannot be guaranteed to be free of disease
We must all recognise and accept that the tools available for the control of TB and the control of its spread are rather poor. No one tool will eradicate TB. Pre-movement or post-movement testing of a single animal or a small group of a herd is better than not testing, but a negative result does not mean that the tested animal is uninfected. The sensitivity of the test tells us clearly that a pre-movement test will detect the single, infected animal in two out of every three herds. If we rely solely on a pre-movement test we will transport infected cattle around the country. The pre-movement test has been employed for many years in GB – for cattle imported from N Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In spite of such testing TB breakdowns occur here in Scotland as a consequence of imported, negative testing, Irish cattle!
The recent announcement to re-introduce measures to ensure ease of access to bulls for Highlands and Islands areas through the croft bull scheme was given a cautious welcome. The loss of the Bull Hire Scheme caused fears of cattle depopulation in many of the remote and island areas of north and west Scotland. It is sincerely hoped that there will be an animal health component to this new initiative.
The HIVSS remains in place and has ensured a veterinary service to the Highlands and Islands areas for crofters and those of similar economic status. The continued decline in livestock numbers in the Highlands and Islands has seen fewer visits to animals and therefore the individual cost of each visit has risen, being partly subsidised by other veterinary practice functions. It is hoped that the LVI contracts will be settled and that Brucellosis and TB testing remain part of the remit of these remote practices. There still remains with SEERAD a proposal to improve disease surveillance and promotion of animal health and welfare through recording of the reason for HIVSS visits. This would provide additional data to feed into the government disease surveillance schemes.
We are aware that the BVA in Scotland continues to have excellent working relations with SAC, the National Farmers Union for Scotland, the Moredun Research Institute, Scottish Executive, State Veterinary Service, Quality Meat Scotland, the two University Vet Schools and others involved in animal health and welfare. These links are important when determining future strategy and actions in terms of veterinary disease control and the efficiency of veterinary services throughout Scotland. Joint action by BVA and NFUS has seen a re-think on the bull hiring scheme for crofters and the future transport-of-animals legislation, with QMS in raising the standards for farm assurance in Scotland, with SEERAD and SAC in promoting the animal health and welfare management programme and with SEERAD in ensuring the future of the HIVSS.
BVA members are involved in many disciplines in Scotland and there have been notable successes for SAC in the promotion of the SEERAD Animal Health and Welfare Management Programme, the rapid development of the Premium Cattle Health Scheme to meet demand from cattle breeders, the opening of two new veterinary disease surveillance units at Perth and Dumfries - the latter housing a unique serology laboratory for use in national emergencies such as FMD and in research with the epidemiology work and investigation into Johnes disease, E. coli 0157 in animals and the national disease surveillance service for pigs carried out at slaughter. Members in the Universities have been involved in changes in veterinary education and the Moredun and other institutes in the identification of disease agents and improved methods of disease control and animal breeding.
All in all a more promising year for the farming industry in Scotland. All in all a more promising year for the veterinary profession in Scotland. In terms of animal health & welfare and of food safety, Scotland has clearly demonstrated and utilized its considerable leadership skills. The rest of the UK can learn from Scotland’s initiative and of the partnership approach that exists – Government, the farming profession and the veterinary profession.
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Closing remarks
In conclusion, the agri-food industry continues to face increasingly difficult challenges. Food can be imported from outside the EU, often at below EU-production costs. High standards of animal welfare and food safety are demanded of our farmers whilst the perception is that such demands are not imposed on our rivals.
Notwithstanding these challenges it is right and proper that animals are reared in an environment that ensures proper welfare and health standards. The BVA will continue to strive to work in partnership with farmers and with Government to maintain and enhance the health and welfare of our animals and of consumers of animal products. Whilst we can have different views we do work closely and effectively with the various farming Unions. We are most encouraged by SEERAD’s approach to the AH&WS - an approach that is based on true partnership and one that rightly demands active participation by all the partners. Our future lies in effective partnerships at Government, farming and veterinary levels; and at devolved Assembly, National and European levels.
Little is achieved through conflict; much can be achieved through partnership.
I now call upon all vets to stand and raise their glasses to “our guests”.