On-farm use of vaccines trebles as farmers cut use of antibiotics

On-farm usage of preventative vaccines has trebled in the past 10 years, according to global market research specialist GFK.

GFK market analyst Denise Roche said Irish animal health industry leaders welcomed this trend at this week’s annual conference in Killenard, Co Laois, of the Animal and Plant Health Association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of animal medicines.

“A lot of farmers are very much clued into this message, but there are others who still need to read up on it a bit more. We conduct research on this issue every year. Thankfully, more and more farmers are using vaccines to try and prevent illness in their animals, thus drastically reducing the use of antibiotics. Just like humans, when antibiotics are overused animals can become immune to them. This has been linked to the rise in superbugs such as MRSA in hospitals.”