New vet app launched to support livestock treatment planning

Livestock vets in Wales have been given a new on-farm app designed to speed up treatment planning and support the responsible use of antibiotics.

The Arwain DGC Veterinary Prescribing Champions App has been launched to help vets make clinical decisions during farm visits.

It allows vets to create treatment plans on farm and send clear, farmer-ready advice directly to the practice and client.

The platform has been designed to support vets “at the point of care for consistent, evidence-based decision making”.

Funded by the Welsh Government, the Arwain DGC programme supports farmers and vets in tackling antimicrobial resistance through data-led decisions, new technologies and best practice.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and other microbes become less responsive to medicines, making infections harder to treat.

The app is described as the first of its kind and brings together antimicrobial use guidance, peer collaboration and practical treatment planning in one platform.

Arwain DGC said the aim was to reduce administration, improve efficiency and make treatment advice easier for farmers to follow after consultations.

Dr Amelia Sidwell, veterinary development manager at Arwain DGC, said most livestock veterinary work in Wales takes place away from practice buildings.

“The majority of livestock veterinary work in Wales is conducted in an ambulatory setting - vets travel to farms to provide a service,” she said.

She said relevant guidance on antimicrobial use was often spread across different websites, while many practice management systems did not offer a fully functional mobile platform for on-site clinical recordkeeping.

“Our aim was to provide VPCs with a single, on-farm tool to access clinical guidelines, generate tailored treatment plans, and share clear instructions around best-practice disease treatments with farm clients whilst embedding antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) into decision-making,” she added.

The app includes the Arwain DGC Clinical Guidelines, a series of evidence-based and practice-informed resources produced by and for vets in Wales to support consistent, responsible antimicrobial use.

It also includes antimicrobial stewardship news, VPC webinars for continuing professional development and a chat function to encourage peer collaboration.

Dr Sidwell said the app meant vets could access guidance instantly during consultations without changing platform or relying on memory.

“Their inclusion within the app means VPCs can access this guidance instantly at the point of care, without searching, switching platforms, or relying on memory,” she said.

She said the information could then be built into the vet’s clinical evaluation on farm to help tailor treatment plans to the situation.

“Overall, this helps make consultations faster and more consistent by turning guidance into actionable decisions rather than passing reference material,” she added.

Farmers are expected to benefit from clearer, more structured outputs after on-farm consultations.

Arwain DGC said this could strengthen communication between vets and farmers, reduce ambiguity and make advice easier to implement.

Advice can also be exported from the app as a PDF and attached to practice management systems.

The app was launched at a Veterinary Prescribing Champions forum day in Llandrindod Wells.

Those taking part included Brecon farmer’s son and vet Morley Jones, of Belmont Farm and Equine Vets.

He said the app could become a useful tool for the wider livestock sector.

“Arwain DGC's new veterinary app has the potential to become a genuinely valuable tool for the livestock industry by improving communication, supporting evidence-based decision making, and helping vets and farmers access important information quickly and efficiently!” he said.

Dr Sidwell said the tailored treatment plans could also help embed best-practice protocols and highlight where non-antibiotic interventions may be appropriate for certain diseases.

She said the plans define clear thresholds for action and provide on-farm decision trees which prioritise early, non-antibiotic treatment choices.

They can also serve as benchmarks for progress and be reviewed over time, particularly as part of preventive herd health management.

The launch adds another tool to Wales’ efforts to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use while helping vets and farmers make faster, clearer treatment decisions on farm.