The Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) is encouraging all interested veterinary practices to apply for funding for the installation of software that simplifies the reporting of antibiotic use on farms. The deadline is 31 March, 2022.
Thanks to a research initiative in NI, STrategic AntiMicrobial use in Dairy, Beef and Lamb Production (STAMP), the application to benchmark antibiotic use is now available.
LMC will fund the installation cost of the STAMP AMU Benchmarking Tool. It can be used to report antibiotic usage for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (NIBL FQAS), thereby replacing the need for vets to fill out the existing paper form.
The tool, developed in partnership with the STAMP project partners and Farmvet Systems, is a user-friendly web-based platform that captures and monitors antibiotic prescription use at farm level. With the permissions in place, the tool aggregates existing data sets from vet practices, APHIS or vet entered records in VetIMPRESS to produce AMU reports in a few simple steps; with significant savings made on the time it takes to produce reports manually.
The tool also provides producers with key information that supports decisions to improve animal health and enables vets to have effective discussions with their clients on how best to optimise the use of antibiotics.
Colin Smith, Industry Development Manager at LMC, says, “The application offers a quick and easy way to monitor antibiotic use with minimal data input. The tool’s ease of use for vets is critically important and LMC remains committed to working with the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to streamline the process of granting permissions to draw down information from APHIS for the purposes of STAMP AMU Benchmarking.”
Vets wanting to use the tool should contact Farmvet Systems Ltd. See here.
LSL News.
Vets wanting to use the tool should contact Farmvet Systems Ltd. See here.
LSL News.