EU and national directives requiring that use of veterinary medicines is recorded at the point of use will end the days of scribbling animal ID numbers and drug names into a notebook, according to a company behind a smartphone app called VirtualVet.

Vets need to be excellent data managers to work with farmers in preempting herd health problems and optimising farm output, says one specialist Danish vet.

FarmSkills, launched last week, will provide farmers with practical animal health management skills, with a view to pre-empting problems and maintaining herd performance over the long-term.