Our clients have just received their first AMU Dashboard and summary sheet!
Background
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been on the radar for the past few years. The idea of ‘superbugs’ which can’t be killed by any antibiotic is scary, and so there’s been a lot of attention on minimising this risk. Early in the discussion, the amount of antibiotics used on farms was highlighted.
Globally, around 80% of all antibiotics used are used in agriculture. However, a research paper published in 2016 showed that New Zealand agriculture is in fact the third lowest user of antibiotics globally. Having said all that, the goal of using less antibiotics and focusing more on preventive animal health makes sense from not just an AMR perspective but an economic perspective. Happy, healthy animals produce more and do so more efficiently.
Why a dashboard?
Although New Zealand Agriculture is a low user of antimicrobials, the goal is to reduce the reliance on them even further, to prevent the risk of AMR. We’ve developed this comprehensive dashboard that gives clients a detailed look into their antimicrobial use (AMU).
What does it show?
From the dashboard, clients can see how their overall use has changed over the past four years. They can see what types of antibiotics they are using less or more of, and can benchmark themselves against the rest of our dairy farm clients.
Also, all of the types of antibiotics they are using are shown, along with the contribution they make to the farm's overall AMU. This is alongside their cow numbers (which is part of the calculation).
How is it calculated?
The calculation uses population corrected usage (PCU). This takes the total weight of antibiotics and divides it by the total weight of animals. This means that it is comparable across farms, regions, species, countries. The numbers of cows wintered represents the total weight of animals. We have to take a spot in time and this is the most reliable measure. The antibiotics used are from 1st June to 31st May for each season.
Where can I find out more?
VetSouth has been very active in the AMR and AMU space. We currently have a region-wide project looking at strategies to reduce AMU across all farms. If you would like to be involved with this please contact us.
As part of that project, and in conjunction with our other work, we will be running a series of short farmer seminars and workshops on AMR and AMU over the next few months. Look out for these in your area if you’d like to find out more. We’ll also be presenting a workshop at SIDE in Invercargill this year.
