9
QS – Report 2012
Outlook 2013
What benefits can veterinarians draw from the
centralised recording of data on the use of
antibiotics?
Through antibiotics monitoring, comparisons can be
drawn with other vets’ practices and that is of course
of interest for our practice. In addition to this, we
can gather important information for advising the
businesses due to comparisons of farms, regions and
fattening processes.
How do you integrate the monitoring into the
daily routine of your practice?
Several vets work in our practice. This means that
our veterinary assistant has a lot to do until all of the
antibiotics information has been entered into the
database. An interface to our practice software will
make this job easier once the data can be transferred
at the push of a button.
“
Data transfer at the push of a button”
Interview with Dr. Andreas Wilms-Schulze Kump,
practicing veterinarian in Visbeck
Not much has changed in my daily routine since antibiotics
monitoring was introduced. I still only use antibiotics when my
animals are sick and my vet takes care of the data entry. I wonder
how my business will do compared to others. Maybe the results
will help me to optimise health management in my business even
more.
What can poultry producers do to reduce
their use of antibiotics?
You could lecture for hours on this subject and
indeed we do. The breed and quality of the chicks,
for example, have an influence on the use of
antibiotics in production businesses. These two
factors are not the responsibility of the fattening
farm, but depend on the breeder of the parent birds
or the hatchery. Feed can have a special influence
on the quality of the litter with regard to moisture,
for instance. More antibiotics are usually required in
damp stalls than in ones with dry litter.
The farmers themselves can influence the health of
the herd or flock through management. Businesses
and breeding companies issue guidelines on this
which contain valuable recommendations. The floor
should be pre-heated to 30° C, for example, before
the chicks are housed in. The number of businesses
that no longer need any antibiotics is getting bigger
all the time. In our practice, we have been able to
reduce the quantity of antibiotics by roughly 30
percent since 2010.
Rudolf Platen
Pig producer
Dr. Andreas Wilms-Schulze Kump
Veterinarian