Sunday 27 May 2012
Poultry Veterinary
The fast food giant McDonald’s has ditched one of its largest egg suppliers after an undercover investigation by animal rights activists exposed on-farm cruelty. The company has said it will no longer accept eggs from Sparboe Farms, which is the fifth largest egg producer in the United States and which has until now supplied all the eggs u...
Each year ADAS arranges a series of Defra-funded stakeholder workshops on pertinent poultry welfare issues. With the proposed review of evidence in 2015 with a view to banning beak trimming of laying hens in 2016, the focus of the 2012 workshops will be on how to successfully manage non-beak trimmed egg laying pullets in rear to avoid injurious fea...
Two of Merial’s international foot-and-mouth disease antigen banks were called into action during the holiday period. Over 1 million doses were formulated, filled, quality checked and shipped from the U.K. to Zambia and South Korea between Dec 22nd and Dec 30th. Merial’s Vaccine Centre at Pirbright, Surrey has long been the home t...
Animal Health has clarified the rules covering salmonella testing after one BFREPA member contacted the association to say that some producers were still not entirely sure about the deadlines imposed under the regulations . We reported in the March edition of the Ranger that egg producers could face fines and the designation of their eggs as clas...
This article was written specifically for the Ranger magazine by Crowshall Veterinary Services. The Ranger is the monthly magazine for free range egg producers. Skin problems are generally uncommon in commercial free range flocks but can occur and this month’s article aims to give a brief overview of some of the conditions which may be enc...
The Ranger magazine provides a whole host of husbandry and veterinary information to free range egg producers. To receive the Ranger visit www.theranger.co.uk Vaccination plays an essential role in protecting the health of laying flocks in the UK. Pullets are given a comprehensive programme of vaccines during the rearing period. The vaccin...
At the Spring Meeting of the British Veterinary Poultry Association in Harrogate, Claire Knott was elected President for the term 2009-2011. Claire received the BVPA gavel from Paul McMullin, who now becomes Senior Vice-President. The association was also presented with new stand graphics by Intervet/Schering Plough. Alan Pearson was ele...
Bacterial infections can cause major economic and welfare issues in farmed animals and are often controlled through the use of antibiotics. A significant proportion of the antibiotics used in the treatment of animals enter the environment through excretion in faeces and urine and also through spillages during use. The application of animal waste...
The threats posed by rodents are generally well known but current concerns regarding the role of rats and mice in the maintenance and spread of salmonella in laying flocks has increased awareness of the important part that rodents play in the spread of this disease. Project 0Z0325 being undertaken by Defra VLA has identified and confirmed that ...
This article is taken from www.theranger.co.uk The article and content are copyright of Crowshall Veterinary Services. In the past year, we have seen an increasing number of health and production problems in free range flocks associated with heavy worm burdens. When producers see drops in production or increased mortality in a flock, their fi...
As we know, a new year is always a good time to take stock of what we are doing and why we are doing it. The latter part of last year saw discussions about the feasibility of increasing stocking rates for free range laying hens on range, closer to the EU maximum rate of 2500 hens per hectare of range. This was being considered to assist produce...
Since 1st February 2008 - National Control Programme for Laying Flocks Sampling and testing programme at: - day-old and 2 weeks before transfer (for pullet rearers’) - every 15 weeks in lay, commencing between 22-26 weeks of age (for layers). (boot swabs for non-cage flocks, faeces for cage) 2009 Procedure If the most recent test...
As 2008 draws to a close we must now review what has happened with Salmonella monitoring and control on farm, how it has affected industry and what important factors should be consider for 2009. It has now been almost a year since the National Control Programme for Salmonella in layers was implemented by government. Producers should have been te...
Two leading packing companies have prepared schemes to insure egg producers against the threat of salmonella. Noble chief executive Peter Thornton announced at the BFREPA conference that the company would provide its producers with free salmonella insurance from the new year when changes to the national control programme will take effect. Follow...
A farming family from Berwick has finally won the go-ahead for a free range egg unit following a bitter eight month planning battle. Jonathan Watson, who farms in partnership with his uncle, Brian Redhead, had to put plans for the unit on hold following a series of objections by a neighbouring farmer. The neighbour claimed that putting poult...
The NFU-backed legal case brought by 14 farmers claiming damages following last year’s foot and mouth disease outbreak in South East England has been formally launched in the High Court. The claim, which has been brought by 14 livestock farmers whose businesses were affected by the outbreak in Surrey, has been brought against the Institute...
Food standards agencies investigating an outbreak of salmonella in the UK and Ireland have warned food retailers and consumers to be vigilant on food safety. Around 80 cases of Salmonella Agona have been confirmed in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland so far, predominantly in young adults. The disease is reported to have been a contributing fa...
Last month’s ’Ranger Magazine (www.theranger.co.uk)’ took up the contentious issue of Marek’s disease. One of the reasons why the effects can be so shocking for producers is that whilst the virus is latent there are no obvious signs of disease. An infection in a flock may escape detection until suddenly, without warning, mor...
Taken from the Ranger magazine www.theranger.co.uk In previous articles in The Ranger, we have discussed the importance of biosecurity in protecting laying flocks from all the infectious insults around, be they headline grabbing bugs like avian influenza, or the routine bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that are always around. This ar...
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