Almost a quarter of the GB finishing herd has already signed-up to the industry-backed electronic medicine book (eMB), which was only launched four weeks ago to help collect accurate on-farm antibiotic usage data.
The National Pig Association (NPA), which sees eMB as the most important strand of the recently launched Pig Industry Antibiotic Stewardship Programme, says the one-in-four response is “outstanding progress” and demonstrates pig-keepers’ commitment to recording and controlling their use of antibiotics.
“The electronic medicine book will allow the industry to capture and collate accurate antibiotic-use data, followed by benchmarking of each farm’s antibiotic use against other farms of a similar type,” said NPA, via its website.
Reporting that, to date, over 140 antibiotic-use returns have been submitted by producers, covering more than 18,000 sows and 660,000 growing/finishing pigs, the Association said that it recognises and shares society’s concerns about the level of antibiotic use in human and livestock medicine.
“The first and most important goal of the Stewardship Programme, therefore, is to collect quantitative and qualitative data on current use of antibiotics in pig husbandry via the electronic medicine book website,” it said.