The health of farm animals is a key part of the tension between protecting the health of consumers, taking care of animals, and making money. Human health depends a lot on the health of animals. Keeping animals healthy means taking care of them, and healthy animals are a farmer’s business capital.
Whether it’s an infection, a parasite, a problem with the udder, a problem with metabolism, or a problem with fertility, it all affects how well the animals do and, by extension, how well the farm does financially. Healthy livestock are, and will continue to be, the key to farming success. In addition to their medical knowledge, veterinary surgeons are now being asked for more advice on how to take care of and feed an animal in order to keep it healthy.
Not enough young vets
Veterinary needs are getting more complicated, but there aren’t enough veterinary surgeons to take care of them. Only about 3,500 of the roughly 22,000 veterinary surgeons who work in Germany now take care of farm animals. This includes about 12,000 practise owners and 10,000 salaried vets.
Heiko Farber
Heiko Farber, who is in charge of the Bundesverband Praktizierender Tierärzte, says that there aren’t enough young people who know how to treat sick animals. This is especially true in rural areas (bpt – German Association of Practising Veterinary Surgeons).
There are many different reasons for this. Along with wanting to be close to cities and having a good balance between work and life, the younger generation is also influenced by the fact that working conditions are still sometimes hard and that there aren’t enough ways for veterinary medicine students to be picked. Laws that keep getting stricter and the bureaucracy that comes with them are also making things worse.
If you look at how each country is implementing the EU Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation, you can see that this is true. For example, the latest (first) change to the German Veterinary Medicinal Products Act not only adds more reporting requirements, but it also aims to reduce the number of antibiotic treatments that are needed, even though the use of antibiotics in (livestock) farming has already been cut by more than 60% in the last ten years. This number shows that both veterinarians and people who own animals are very committed to the idea of “one health.” More cuts to treatments that animals need, like antibiotics, could have bad effects on their health and therefore on their protection. The bpt made this point very clear again at the expert hearing of the Bundestag’s Committee on Food and Agriculture on October 17, 2018.
Care for all Americans is in danger
“This is a big problem because it’s not just the search for salaried veterinary surgeons that isn’t always successful. The situation is also made worse by the fact that the practises are getting older and the plans for the next generation are no longer possible. “If this situation stays the same, it will soon be impossible to guarantee veterinary care across the country,” says Farber. “But if there aren’t enough veterinarians, sick or hurt animals can’t get the care they need, and that has to do with animal protection,” he says.
The veterinary profession thinks that the German Federal Government’s plan to make it easier for skilled workers to come to the country (as part of its “skilled workers strategy”) is not enough to stop this trend, which is bad for animal protection in Germany. Instead, the German Working Time Act needs to be changed quickly so that the ever-growing number of salaried veterinary surgeons can be used in more flexible ways. There also needs to be a big cut in bureaucracy so that the shrinking amount of work time can be used to work on animals and improve their health.
Final implementation of the law about taking care of livestock’s health
“Also, it would be better for animal health and, by extension, animal protection, if the few resources available in livestock practises were used to improve veterinary health care for livestock,” says Heiko Farber.
Animal health laws in the EU have already required veterinary inspections of livestock since April 2021. This EU rule has not yet been put into national law, which is unfortunate.
“Fast implementation of livestock health care, which is what the bpt and all veterinary associations want, would have a much faster and longer-lasting effect on the health situation on farms. It would also help reduce the use of drugs more than new reporting requirements, which aren’t sure to help,” says Farber.
Because regular, close-knit inspections of livestock are very important for animal welfare, consumer health, and the legal protection of farmers as food producers. They also help make sure that high-quality foods can be made profitably with healthy animals. This is because integrating livestock health care by the farm vet into the production process allows treatment costs to be cut, veterinary medicine to be used more precisely, and the use of antibiotics to be further optimised at the same time. So, instead of being a cost factor, the work of veterinary surgeons becomes a factor that helps the farmer make more money.
In 2008, the Bundesverband Praktizierender Tierärzte and the German Federal Government and Federal States came up with guidelines for professional animal health care. In 2019, these guidelines were updated. Go to https://bit.ly/3WmW11W to find them.
New ideas to make animals happier and healthier
In addition to the often long-winded regulatory processes, technical innovations can also make sure that animals are cared for in ways that are right for each species, which protects animals better. This is something that is very important to Heiko Farber: “The Animal Welfare Awards given by the bpt and DLG are exactly for this. The new developments and innovations that are shown at EuroTier are chosen based on how well they help animals and how healthy they are.
This year’s three winners are focused on automating the early detection of respiratory diseases in pig sties, keeping teats healthy, and figuring out how dairy cows in cubicles lie down and get up based on their natural behaviour.
“With these impressive new ideas, we can help animals much more quickly than by following rules. “This is One Health at work, in my eyes,” says a happy Farber.
