On-farm use of vaccines trebles as farmers cut use of antibiotics
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.”
The figures compiled by GFK, which monitors trends in the sale of animal health products in 3,200 outlets nationwide, show that usage of vaccines to prevent diseases in cattle, sheep, and pigs increased by 17% in the 12 months to July.
This brings the increase in the use of preventative vaccines to 60% since 2009 and over 200% in the past decade. Among the 60 or more industry leaders at the Killenard conference were representatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Irish Medical Board, and leading farm co-ops.
Ms Roche told attendees that preventative vaccines now accounted for the biggest segment of the animal health market.
“We collect data from 13 different sources. We term it ‘census’ data. We miss very little. Farmers are more and more aware of the issue, and they are focused on prevention using vaccines rather than trying to cure the problems afterwards with antibiotics.”
Sales of animal health products in Ireland totalled €147m at wholesale price level in the 12 months to July, an increase of 12.3% on the previous year.
This was made up of an increase of 13.6% in products for cattle, sheep and pigs and an increase of 9.2% in products for companion animals and horses. Cattle, sheep and pig producers accounted for 77% of all animal health products used in Ireland in the past year.
The figures are based on sales in 900 veterinary practices as well as co-op branches, merchants and pharmacies. The share of the animal health market held by veterinary practices continues to increase with vets accounting for 57% of all sales of animal health products last year.
Co-ops and merchants accounted for 26% of sales while pharmacies had a 7% share. Prescription-only medicines accounted for 53% of all animal health products sold during the past year.
APHA chairman Philip Bergin said the continuing upward trend in usage of preventative medicines is a boost to Ireland’s animal health status and can only enhance the country’s image as a producer of quality food.
