NBA welcomes announcement of new research into tackling animal diseases in Scotland.

Confirmation that the Scottish Government and BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) have approved much needed research funding into the reduction or eradication of endemic diseases, must be welcomed says the National Beef Association.

However it would like to see as much effort as possible directed into hauling back increased emergence of summer mastitis in beef herds and minimising the economic damage caused by Johne’s Disease and IBR.
“The initiative compliments some work already in progress under Scotland’s animal health and welfare strategy and must be welcomed because the programme will help livestock farmers to introduce improvements in disease control,” said NBA director, Kim Haywood. 

But the NBA, which has suggested for some time that research should be undertaken using collaborative agreements that make best use of resources and budgets on a cross-UK basis, is also keen that results already discovered by researchers undertaking similar projects in other countries should be absorbed into the programmes so that more money is made available for completely fresh studies by the Scottish agencies.

“Farmers are particularly interested in lowering the cost of treatment and there is a great deal of frustration at higher charges in Scotland compared with those paid by livestock owners in other countries who use the same health management regimes,” said Ms Haywood.

“It would be a huge help if this target was absorbed into all the new programmes and also for a real effort to be made to reverse the increased, and costly, incidence of summer mastitis in beef cattle which for twenty years has resisted all efforts to tame it.”

“The rising economic damage caused by Johnes’ Disease could be tackled through the discovery of a reliable diagnostic test, a curb for IBR should be also addressed as a priority, and the increased prevalence of worm resistance in cattle must also be attacked so that cattle industry’s £84 million annual spend on anthelmintics is not further undermined.”

“And the NBA is also hoping that research conducted on Bovine TB will be focussed exclusively on the discovery of a reliable and effective detection tool which will assist current efforts to keep this economically crippling disease well outside Scotland’s borders.”  

For more information contact:
Kim Haywood, NBA director.
Tel 0131 336 1754