www.theranger.co.uk
Producers face having to throw thousands of pounds of eggs away if they want to treat their flocks with the antibiotic most commonly used for laying hens.
The situation has come about following the loss of a nil-withdrawal licence for eggs for the in-feed medication Aurofac, which is based on the antibiotic chlortetracycline (CTC). The product now has a four-day withdrawal period for eggs being used for human consumption.
With usual treatment periods ranging from seven to 14 days, plus the four-day withdrawal period after the last treatment, the loss of egg income will run into thousands. For an 8,000 bird flock being treated for 10 days, the value of the discarded eggs could be in excess of Ā£5,000.
On top of this will be the cost of disposing of the eggs through a licensed waste contractor.
"Effectively this is an outright ban on the product," one worried producer told the Ranger. "Nobody can stand those sort of losses yet most producers will occasionally have a need to treat flocks with the product but that option has now gone. It's a major blow for the egg sector."
The news has not come as a total surprise with many in the industry expecting this since authorities in Ireland took similar steps last year.
Although traces of CTC have never been found in eggs on sale at retail level during routine surveillance carried out by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), UK authorities have had to act in response to data supplied to it by the manufacturers of Aurofac. This showed that there was the possibility that residues could exceed those permitted under the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL).
So where does this leave producers requiring treatment for their flocks? It seems unlikely that there will be a reversal in the VMD's decision on Aurofac, for this would involve the manufacturer having to carry out costly trial work and submitting new data based on lower dose rates that may not even prove to be efficacious.
But there is a powdered form of CTC, Aureomycin, which still has a nil-withdrawal licence for eggs and is administered through the drinking water. As with a lot of water soluble products, getting it to dissolve and dose accurately through the water system is not always easy and it has not been popular with producers for that reason. It is also significantly more expensive than Aurofac but now compares favourably if the alternative option is to discard eggs.
The only other licensed antibiotic treatment for laying birdsā€”and one that also does not require eggs to be withheldā€”is Tiamutin. It too is for administration through the water but the product is in liquid form. While recommended for use against Mycoplasmas and also proving effective against some bacterial gut diseases, it does not have the broad-spectrum activity of CTC.
Commenting on the news about Aurofac, Stephen Lister, one of the Ranger vets at Crowshall Veterinary Services, said: "This is very sad news for free range and other egg producers because Aurofac has proved to be a valuable targeted medication for flocks that need treatment for health and welfare reasons. All producers should be talking now with their vets about possible alternatives should there be a need to treat their flocks in the near future."