Page 8 - Australian Pork Newapaper

APL group assessing UK antimicrobial recording software
ELECTRONIC re- cording systems are helpful for tracking antimicrobial use and comparing use be- tween farms.
The UK pork industry deployed the electronic medicines book to mea- sure and demonstrate significant reduced an- timicrobial usage.
Producers log in to a central database and fill in their eMB each month using farm treat- ment records.
Now this recording system is being tested on some Australian farms to see how it ap- plies.
Log-ins to the UK software have been provided by the UK Agricultural and Hor- ticultural Development Board to some vet- erinarians who form a steering committee advising APL on anti- microbial stewardship policy.
There is some work to do on this but the Australian pork indus- try is at the beginning of being able to demon- strate compliance with a global program on reducing antimicrobial resistance.
The Australian Pork Limited antimicrobial stewardship steering committee comprises veterinarians with a strong commitment
to good antimicrobial practice.
They are drawn from major farming busi- nesses and veterinary practices.
It is chaired by Ross Cutler.
Its members are Anke Woeckel (MSD Animal Health), Regina Fogarty (Rivalea), Barry Lloyd and Bernie Gleeson (SunPork), Peter Scott (Scolexia), Andrew Morris (Riverbend Group) and Hugo Dun- lop (Chris Richards and Associates).
Heather Channon and Lechelle Van Breda represent APL on the steering group.
Australian pork pro- ducers have high global standing when it comes to the antimicrobi- als that are of critical importance to human health.
Neither the fluoroqui- nolones nor the cepha- losporins, both critical- ly important in humans, are registered for use in pigs.
The cephalosporins (Excenel) are used in cattle medicine and have been prescribed by veterinarians in excep- tional cases for pigs in the past.
While that may have been a practice for some as late as 2017, it is no longer so and this medi- cine class is not part of
best practice prescrib- ing.
The fluoroquinolones are not registered for use in any food animal species in Australia.
The challenge is to rationalise the use of the other antimicrobials that carry the animal disease treatment load and only use them when other ways of control- ling disease have failed.
This often means a complete overhaul of pig flow management, batch systems and re- vamping hygiene for a start.
The 60 percent re- duction in the use of antimicrobial medica- tions achieved by the UK pork industry since 2015 is impressive.
It comes with a culture driven by committed UK pork producers and their equally committed veterinarians who want to produce high-quality food while reducing an- timicrobial resistance.
The program was sup- ported by integration of a measurement standard into the UK Red Tractor quality assurance pro- gram.
Analysis of the anti- microbial use data re- veals most pig farmers are low-level users of medications but there is a smaller number of persistent high users. Ross Cutler
Making the FHA work better for farmers
THE Australian Govern- ment recently introduced improvements to the Farm Household Allow- ance that will help more farmers through periods of hardship.
This is the next step in responding to the Inde- pendent Review of the FHA, which will see more than 30,000 farmers able to access this immediate support.
Minister for Agricul- ture Bridget McKenzie said the changes extended farming families’ access to the FHA from three years in their lifetime to four years out of every 10, recognising farmers expe- rience hardships, includ- ing droughts, more than once in their lives.
“Our government has listened to farmers
throughout the independ- ent review and proactively responded to all the rec- ommendations,” Minister McKenzie said.
“The Government has now introduced a Bill to provide drought relief for those who have exhausted their time on FHA.
“The Bill will also al- low farmers to receive the FHA payment four years in every decade; make it easier for more farmers to access the payment by lifting the amount fami- lies can earn off-farm to $100,000 a year; and al- low farmers to count in- come from adjustment against their losses.
“These changes reflect the nature of contempo- rary farming businesses – by recognising the reality that much of the income
earned off-farm goes straight to servicing debt rather than putting food on the table.
“Our farming families don’t need to be worrying about how to pay the bills and feeding their families while they are struggling to feed their livestock and making tough decisions about their long-term fu- ture.
“A one-off drought relief payment of up to $13,000 for a farming family and up to $7500 for an indi- vidual is designed to help people determine whether they will be sustainable, should look at succession options or, in some in- stances, choose to sell.
“For the first time, we’ll link farm enterprises with their directly related busi- nesses and consider in- come and losses together – not just income – a big change in how govern- ment support payments are provided to families.
“Our Government had already made changes to make the FHA quicker and easier to access by reducing paperwork by a third and by temporarily increasing the farm assets threshold to $5 million from July 1, 2019.
“It is all part of the radi- cal simplification of the
FHA application process and key policy settings the Prime Minister announced on September 27.”
These improvements in- clude:
• A simplified assets test;
• A significant redesign of the application process and form, including al- lowing farming couples to apply using the same form; and
• A strengthened case management approach to better support farmers in hardship through periods of financial difficulty.
“We’re bringing these reforms online as quickly as possible, and not wait- ing for the full response before we act,” Minister McKenzie said.
“We’ll continue to listen to farming communities and continue to imple- ment recommendations of the farmer-led Independ- ent Review of the FHA.”
This Bill amends the Farm Household Support Act 2014 and the Farm Household Support Min- ister’s Rule 2014.
The FHA has been sup- porting Australian farm- ers since July 2014.
It has paid more than $365 million to about 12,700 recipients in that time.
Photo: frasercoastchronicle.com.au
Counting down the days to APSA
THE 17th Biennial APSA Conference is less than a month away and the committee is excited to welcome six international guest speakers and four lo- cal experts in the fields of nutrition, genetics, reproduction, technol- ogy and alternative proteins.
With the generous sup- port of principal spon- sors Australian Pork Limited and Australa- sian Pork Research In- stitute Limited and the many diamond, gold, sil- ver, bronze and category
sponsors, we promise to deliver the best APSA Conference yet.
The program begins on Sunday, November 17 with the student work- shop hosted by APL.
This brings together honours and postgradu- ate students working on pork industry research for professional develop- ment and networking.
The pre-conference workshops, hosted by sponsors EW Nutrition, DSM and Phytobiotics, will run from 11am on Sunday and lead into the Dunkin Memorial Lec-
ture at 6pm.
The next two and a
half days promise the latest research outcomes and thinking around key areas of the pork supply chain.
A range of invited pa- pers and submitted ex- tended abstracts will be delivered through oral and poster presentations, with a number of oppor- tunities to network with colleagues and friends.
The Hilton Hotel in Adelaide will host the conference with social functions at the hotel, Adelaide Oval and La
Boca Bar and Grill. Anyone wishing to enjoy some of South Australia’s wines and hospitality is invited to join the post-conference tour to the Adelaide Hills on Wednesday af-
ternoon.
If you haven’t regis-
tered, head to apsa.asn. au/Conference2019/ Registration
The full program can be downloaded from the Registration page.
We look forward to welcoming you to Ad- elaide in a few weeks’ time.
First visa cancellation for serious biosecurity breach
OFFICIALS at Sydney International Airport have used new legislation to cancel a passenger’s visitor visa for the first time because of a serious biosecurity breach.
Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie said the cancellation showed Australia would not tol- erate people putting our
environment, industries, economy and way of life at risk.
“The biosecurity threats our country is facing are real and could be devas- tating for all Australians,” Minister McKenzie said.
“We have significant diseases like African swine fever on our door- stop, and one key pathway for this and other threats to arrive in Australia is by international passengers bringing in risk items.
“The passenger, a 45-year-old woman from Vietnam, had her visitor visa cancelled for failing to declare an extensive cache of food concealed in her luggage, including over 4.5kg of pork.
“In the midst of what is potentially the biggest animal disease event the world has seen, it beggars belief that someone would deliberately attempt to bring pork meat past our border.
“That act could deal a very heavy blow to our $5.3 billion pork industry, as well as the 36,000 jobs that depend on it in rural and regional communities.
“Each of the items seized could pose a direct threat to our $60 billion agricultural industries.
“Australian authorities won’t stand for it.”
The passenger was also found to be carrying gar- lic, fruit, raw eggs and over a kilo each of squid and quail.
“Ensuring strong bor- ders means ensuring a strong biosecurity sys-
tem to protect our inter- national trade reputation as a leading supplier of safe, healthy, high-quality food,” Minister McKenzie said.
“This passenger will now be unable to come back to Australia for three years.
“The punishment must fit the crime and that’s why we introduced this new legislation to cancel visitor visas when a pas- senger commits a signifi- cant biosecurity breach or repeatedly contravenes our biosecurity laws.
“Returning Australians who do the same could face criminal prosecution or civil court action.
“They could be ordered to pay up to $420,000 and be sentenced up to 10 years in jail.
“This government is serious about biosecurity and we will keep working to ensure the measures we have in place safeguard Australia from deadly pests and diseases now and into the future.”
The introduction of visi- tor visa cancellations is in addition to a range of measures in place to sup- port Australia’s airport biosecurity.
In response to the spread of ASF, heightened screen- ing for banned imported pork products has been implemented at the border.
A stronger approach to enforcement is also in place to ensure the issu- ing of infringements re- flects the seriousness of the breach.
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Page 8 – Australian Pork Newspaper, November 2019
www.porknews.com.au