The Glanbia Ireland Herd Health Programme

Herd health has always been a clear priority for Glanbia Ireland and is central to successful and profitable farming. Maintaining your herd in excellent health is more than not having sick animals.

Herd health involves a combination of farming practices such as vaccination, nutrition, reducing stress on the animals and reliable biosecurity measures and, when executed well, will result in animals that are highly productive and perform well in the herd. For the past decade, we have operated the bulk tank milk Herd Disease Screening service and the ‘herd health plan’ template forms a cornerstone of our annual ‘Milk Supplier Calendar’, and a key component of the Bord Bia SDAS audit. We are now expanding our herd health services with the GI Herd Health Programme, designed to create a user-friendly annual herd health plan under veterinary guidance and tailored to your herd.

New EU-wide veterinary legislation, introduced in Ireland in January 2022, has transformed the way in which animal treatments are obtained and used on farm. With a strong focus on disease prevention and an aim to overall reduce antibiotic usage, this legislation includes steps to safeguard the efficacy of antibiotics and anthelmintics for the foreseeable future. Since 28th January 2022, antibiotics can only be prescribed by vets for the treatment of diagnosed diseases and prescriptions for antibiotics remain valid for a maximum of 5 days.

Two other significant changes will be introduced in the Irish veterinary medicines legislation from December 1^st 2022:

1. All antiparasitic treatments will require a prescription
2. All veterinary prescriptions will be issued in a digital format through DAFM’s National Veterinary Prescription System (NVPS)

There will be an increasing emphasis on diagnostic data and evidence of disease to allow vets to make well-informed decisions on the most suitable approach to disease management and issue 12-month prescriptions for vaccines and parasite treatments as part of annual herd health plans.

How is the GI Herd Health Programme delivered?

Protecting the herd from common diseases is critical to a farm’s success and a tailored herd health plan that suits your herd is a vital first step in disease prevention. The GI Herd Health Programme includes the four key steps of the herd health cycle applied to your herd and is completed based on best practice standards and veterinary oversight.

What are the benefits of participation in the programme?

The GI Herd Health Programme addresses diseases and parasite-control priority areas based on a vet’s review of the herd’s animal health information. The herd health plan allows you to organize actions such as vaccinations or targeted anthelmintic treatments to help improve animal health, performance and production based on a calendar tailored to your herd.

The annual herd health plan gives participants access to 12-month veterinary prescriptions for vaccines, fluke and worm dosing and fly, tick and lice treatments while at the same time introducing enhanced parasite surveillance and reduction through practical recommendations to achieve sustainable parasite control on the farm.

Participants in the programme are automatically enrolled in the DAFM funded TASAH parasite control programme operated by AHI, making the GI Herd Health Programme available at no cost to farmers.

Glanbia Ireland remains committed to supply farmers with animal health essentials. Year-round availability of these products, including prescription veterinary medicine, is part of that commitment and made possible through 12-month digital prescriptions based on the herd health plan and issued on DAFM’s NVPS.

What are the requirements for participation in the programme?

Animal performance records as well as laboratory reports play a key role in the annual review and create a data driven decision-making process to fine-tune the herd health plan where necessary to achieve optimal herd performance and sustainable disease control on farm.

Requirements for programme participation

• Youngstock faecal sampling: minimum 2 per grazing season.
• Dairy herds: Participation in a routine bulk tank animal disease screening service (eg. GI Herd Disease Screening).
• Beef herds: Health reports from AHI Beef Health Check or abattoir reports.
• Relevant herd performance indicators such as average daily live-weight gain, fertility, milk production and replacement heifer rearing.
• Reports from participation in other (voluntary) national animal health programmes (as part of the GI Herd Health Programme you will be enrolled in the DAFM funded TASAH Parasite Control Programme).

You can view the Herd Health Programme brochure here:

For more information on the Herd Health Programme, please contact your local Glanbia Ireland Representative, branch or visit glanbiaconnect.com

First Published: 21 July 2022