Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 1, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
News & Reports bovine tb
Cheshire livestock market introduces risk-based trading VENDORS planning to sell native beef breeds at Chelford Market in Cheshire next week are being encouraged to voluntarily give information about the TB testing status of their animals as the market launches a risk-based trading scheme. The market is introducing the scheme to give buyers more information about the potential risk of bringing bovine TB into their herds. The initiative follows a recommendation made in a report by the Risk-based Trading Group, a group of industry and government representatives which was set up by Defra and asked to come up with voluntary measures to reduce the risk of farmers buying in infected livestock (VR, May 11, 2013, vol 172, p 488). Under the scheme, vendors selling animals at Chelford Market on November 9 are being invited to fill in a form giving information such as when their animals were last tested for bovine TB, and whether they are from four-yearly or annually tested herds. They are being asked to return the
forms with their catalogue information and the TB details will be entered into the catalogue and displayed on screens at the market. ‘Bovine TB is spreading and is being seen in parts of the country where it has not previously been in evidence,’ said Gwyn Williams, a livestock auctioneer at Chelford Market. ‘The livestock markets welcome any initiative that increases the amount of information out there, and we are willing to work with the industry in any way necessary. The sale on November 9 is catalogued and includes the society show and sale of beef shorthorns, and the Highland Cattle Society winter show and sales, so we are hoping the system will be fairly straightforward to implement.’ He added that, at this stage, all the information would have to be entered manually as there is no central database of TB status in cattle in the UK. The uptake of the scheme would be closely monitored to see how the system could be improved to help both buyers and vendors.
The scheme is also intended to give farmers in one-year testing areas with no history of bovine TB a chance to demonstrate their herd’s status and receive a better price for their animals. Chris Dodds, executive secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers Association, said that the voluntary scheme was a step towards improving the information available to farmers about the TB status of the animals they bought in. ‘The livestock markets have been saying for a long time that we need to improve the levels of information available in terms of disease status, both for the good of the individual farmer and the national herd. These are early days, but we would need to look towards establishing a national database that can be easily accessed and provide a comprehensive risk assessment of the bovine TB status of all animals,’ he said. doi: 10.1136/vr.f6534
408 | Veterinary Record | November 2, 2013
407-411 News part 1.indd 408
30/10/2013 14:07
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 1, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Cheshire livestock market introduces risk-based trading Veterinary Record 2013 173: 408
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6534 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/173/17/408.1
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News & Reports bovine tb
Cheshire livestock market introduces risk-based trading VENDORS planning to sell native beef breeds at Chelford Market in Cheshire next week are being encouraged to voluntarily give information about the TB testing status of their animals as the market launches a risk-based trading scheme. The market is introducing the scheme to give buyers more information about the potential risk of bringing bovine TB into their herds. The initiative follows a recommendation made in a report by the Risk-based Trading Group, a group of industry and government representatives which was set up by Defra and asked to come up with voluntary measures to reduce the risk of farmers buying in infected livestock (VR, May 11, 2013, vol 172, p 488). Under the scheme, vendors selling animals at Chelford Market on November 9 are being invited to fill in a form giving information such as when their animals were last tested for bovine TB, and whether they are from four-yearly or annually tested herds. They are being asked to return the
forms with their catalogue information and the TB details will be entered into the catalogue and displayed on screens at the market. ‘Bovine TB is spreading and is being seen in parts of the country where it has not previously been in evidence,’ said Gwyn Williams, a livestock auctioneer at Chelford Market. ‘The livestock markets welcome any initiative that increases the amount of information out there, and we are willing to work with the industry in any way necessary. The sale on November 9 is catalogued and includes the society show and sale of beef shorthorns, and the Highland Cattle Society winter show and sales, so we are hoping the system will be fairly straightforward to implement.’ He added that, at this stage, all the information would have to be entered manually as there is no central database of TB status in cattle in the UK. The uptake of the scheme would be closely monitored to see how the system could be improved to help both buyers and vendors.
The scheme is also intended to give farmers in one-year testing areas with no history of bovine TB a chance to demonstrate their herd’s status and receive a better price for their animals. Chris Dodds, executive secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers Association, said that the voluntary scheme was a step towards improving the information available to farmers about the TB status of the animals they bought in. ‘The livestock markets have been saying for a long time that we need to improve the levels of information available in terms of disease status, both for the good of the individual farmer and the national herd. These are early days, but we would need to look towards establishing a national database that can be easily accessed and provide a comprehensive risk assessment of the bovine TB status of all animals,’ he said. doi: 10.1136/vr.f6534
408 | Veterinary Record | November 2, 2013
407-411 News part 1.indd 408
30/10/2013 14:07
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 1, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Cheshire livestock market introduces risk-based trading Veterinary Record 2013 173: 408
doi: 10.1136/vr.f6534 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/173/17/408.1
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
