Mr. Joe O'Flaherty:

Animal Health Ireland, AHI, wishes to thank the Chairman for the invitation to today’s meeting and looks forward to the opportunity to engage with members on various aspects of the work which we are undertaking on behalf of the Irish agrifood sector.

This is the third time AHI has appeared before the joint committee. On the previous occasion, a detailed description of the organisation – its background, remit, structure, financing and programming priorities – were provided to the committee and while we are more than happy to answer questions from members on these and any other aspects of the organisation, this opening statement will concentrate on the major progress that has been made across the range of programmes in which we are involved.

In March 2012, Animal Health Ireland published its strategy for the period 2012 to 2014. The strategy, which was developed following extensive consultation with stakeholders, set out clear strategic priorities for the organisation for the period up to the end of 2014, and identified four priority programmes in which AHI will concentrate its resources over these three years. These are bovine viral diarrhoea, BVD, mastitis-somatic cell count, the CellCheck programme, Johne’s disease and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, IBR. An outline of the progress made in relation to each of these programmes is provided hereafter, and members are invited to inspect the detailed business plans for these programmes, which are available from the AHI website. In addition to the four priority programmes, the strategic plan also committed AHI to undertaking work in the areas of biosecurity, calf health, parasite control and animal health economics. Taking account of the level of resources available to the organisation, the strategy sought to establish clear limits as to the scope of AHI’s activities; a clear decision was taken, for example, to limit our work to the bovine species for the period covered by the plan.

BVD is a disease of considerable economic importance to Irish farmers. A cost-benefit analysis commissioned by AHI placed the losses associated with this infection at €102 million per annum. The objective of the programme is to eradicate BVD from the national cattle herd by the end of 2020. Following the successful completion of a voluntary phase of the programme in 2012, in which some 10,000 farmers participated, the programme entered a compulsory phase on 1 January 2013. The legislative basis of the programme is provided by SI No. 532/2012 (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Order 2012), which was published in Iris Oifigiúil on 28 December, 2012. Some of the key points of this order include: A requirement to test all calves born from 1 January 2013 onwards; a prohibition on sale of calves without a negative BVD result; and a requirement to carry out follow-up testing where persistently infected, PI, animals are identified.

The compulsory phase of the programme is divided into two three-year periods. In the first of these, running from 2013 to 2015, the emphasis is on tissue tag testing of newborn calves, using the modified national identity tag, with follow-up testing by blood sample and tag testing, as required. The second period, running from 2016 to 2018, will see the emphasis switching to monitoring by means of targeted blood and milk sampling. The level of farmer compliance with the programme in 2013 has been generally very good, with BVD test results on the ICBF database for over 97% of all calves registered. As of 3 June, 1,559,978 results had been recorded on the database since 1 January, and the prevalence of positive and inconclusive animals, at 0.73%, is very close to that which had been modelled by AHI prior to the commencement of the programme. AHI does have some concern at the rate at which PI animals are being retained on farms following identification, our data indicating that approximately 50% of these remain alive on the farms in which they were disclosed. The AHI technical working group on BVD is currently examining the potential impact on the programme objectives and timelines of the retention on farms of these highly infectious animals.

High somatic cell counts, SCC, an indicator of mastitis, have a major impact on the profitability of dairy farmers and dairy processors. A recent Teagasc study of the economic impact of mastitis on the profit of Irish dairy farms at five somatic cell count, SCC, thresholds showed a very significant inverse correlation between SCC and net farm profit. On the basis of this research, it can be stated that the average dairy farmer can improve net profitability by at least 1 cent per litre by improving mastitis control to reduce SCC to achievable and sustainable levels. Teagasc has just completed a second phase of the research, which will shortly be published and which will show that mastitis imposes significant additional costs at the processor level.

The CellCheck programme is the national mastitis control programme, which is co-ordinated and facilitated by Animal Health Ireland, and which is being developed and delivered in partnership with industry bodies representing farmers, processors, service providers and the Government. The objective of the programme is to facilitate the achievement and maintenance of a national average bulk milk somatic cell count of 200,000 cells per ml or less by 2020. The various sub-objectives are to: Set goals for improved SCC performance in the national dairy herd; build awareness of the problem among farmers and service providers; establish best practice for the control of mastitis; build the capacity of farmers and service providers to address this problem; and evaluate changes in the performance of the national dairy herd with respect to SCC.

Mastitis is a multi-factorial problem and the CellCheck programme attempts to address this by adopting a multidisciplinary approach, which involves the farmer, veterinary practitioner, milking machine technician, co-op milk quality advisers and Teagasc or other farm adviser. To date, some 240 service providers have been trained to deliver farmer workshops, approximately 40 of which have taken place to date this year. Programme resources which have been developed to date include the CellCheck farm guidelines, the CostCheck economic cost calculator and a detailed milk quality report, which is available to all farmers involved in milk recording.

The objectives of the Johne’s disease programme are threefold. First, to identify a core population of herds that test negative for Johne’s disease and to provide these farmers with the knowledge and professional supports to allow them to increase their confidence of being free of infection over time and to protect their herds from the ongoing risk of introduction of this disease. Second, to provide herds identified by the programme, or otherwise, as being infected, with the knowledge and professional supports to allow them to control and reduce the disease over time and ultimately move to a situation where a high confidence of disease freedom can be achieved. Third, to further underpin the quality of Irish dairy and beef produce in the international marketplace.

Considerable work has been in progress since 2010, by the AHI technical working group for Johne’s disease, under the chairmanship of Professor Simon More of UCD. The programme design developed by the TWG draws on international best practice for the control of the disease and on detailed disease modelling, carried out in conjunction with international consultants. AHI has also convened an implementation group, comprising all relevant stakeholder organisations, to carry forward the work of implementing and refining a control programme. The implementation group is currently examining the feasibility of rolling out a major pilot programme for the control of Johne’s disease, the components of which would be as follows: an information and awareness campaign, aimed at improving the understanding of Johne’s disease among farmers, veterinary practitioners and the industry; a process of initial herd screening for participating herds, based on blood or individual milk samples; a mechanism for capturing the results of testing which has already been undertaken by processor groups and individual farmers and which is aligned with the structured programme; the roll-out of a programme of farm advisory and risk assessment training involving participating farmers and accredited, trained veterinary practitioners; the development of a national database for the management of the disease, which will be hosted by ICBF; the development of the capacity to operate a system of risk-based trading for participating herds; and the establishment of a process of designation for laboratories carrying out testing as part of the programme.

In addition to the economic costs arising from direct farm-level losses, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, IBR, is also important because of the impact which it has on the ability of bulls to enter approved semen collection centres and because of the potential interference with live trade to countries which have approved control programmes in place and which have been granted additional guarantees by the European Commission, entitling them to apply restrictions to the importation of cattle from states which do not have approved control programmes in place. AHI intends to undertake a cost-benefit analysis to establish the rationale or otherwise for the initiation of a national programme for the eradication of IBR.

Subject to a positive outcome of this analysis and a mandate from its stakeholders, AHI would then proceed to establish a national eradication programme in the period from 2015 onwards. In the interim, the technical working group, under the chairmanship of Dr. Michael Gunn, is developing a range of technical resources, gaining a thorough understanding of international best practice, and identifying and seeking to address gaps in research in this area.

AHI considers that it has made significant progress on its mandate in the period since its establishment in 2009. This progress is testament to the strong support it has received from the industry stakeholders and the technical capacity which has been placed at its disposal free of charge by the many members of its technical working groups, which provide the scientific underpinnings for its programmes. The role of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation in providing the database services, fundamental to the operation of our various programmes, is gratefully acknowledged. Our close collaboration with Animal Health and Welfare Northern Ireland has been critical to ensuring that the control and eradication of the major unregulated infectious diseases can be undertaken on an all-island basis.

Many challenges remain to be addressed not just in terms of delivering on the objectives of our programmes, but also in terms of establishing an adequate and sustainable source of funding for an organisation which has moved rapidly into the delivery of major national programmes for economically important diseases of cattle.