ForFarmers has announced that, from next week, it will be able to provide customers with the information they require to upload in-feed medication into their electronic medicine book, eMB-Pigs.
The service will start on April 10 and by linking with eMB, the feed company will support its customers by providing details, with their prior permission, of all medication supplied through its feed into their eMB account. The customer will then able to check and allocate these medicines appropriately to the relevant pig categories and time period.
This will not only saves time customers but, subject to them checking the details, will ensure all medication delivered via ForFarmers feed is captured in their eMB submission, the company said.
Jonathan Farnhill, ForFarmers business unit director, said: “ForFarmers is delighted to be able to demonstrate its commitment to its customers and the UK pig industry on this important topic through aligning with the pig industry eMB tool.
“We recognise the importance of this issue to our customers and will continue to invest in nutrition innovations and work proactively to support producers and veterinarians to be their trusted partner in optimising antimicrobial medicine usage and wider pig nutrition solutions.”
“At a time where reducing antibiotics in the industry is of the upmost importance, a multi-factorial approach working with our customers, veterinarians and the wider pig industry is crucial to achieving the UK industry’s objective.
“Our linking with the eMB tool will not only help our customers more efficiently work with the facts, but it reinforces to the UK Pork Industry that optimising the use of medication is a priority, and ForFarmers are here to support in this challenge”.
Proactive response
The company said its initiative was part of the pig industry’s proactive response to increased concerns over antibiotic usage and the resulting public and political pressure.
An industry task force is currently working with Government to set antibiotic reduction targets, in response to one of the recommendations of the last year’s Government-commissioned O’Neill report into AMR. The eMB-Pigs database is a convenient way to record and quantify usage so producers and their vet can review and optimise their antibiotic use, ForFarmers said.
Additionally, from this autumn entering on to eMB antibiotic data, including antibiotics administered in feed on a quarterly basis will become a Red Tractor scheme requirement
The long-term view is that eMB-Pigs will help individual producers and their vets compare their on-farm usage to anonymised data from other similar units, to help them review their approach to antibiotic use and make management changes to reduce production costs.
ForFarmers also highlighted its ‘Rise to the AMR Challenge’ roadshows held in partnership with AHDB Pork at the beginning of 2017, where producers and vets discussed plans to reduce antibiotic use.