Prepare for dry season
Private vets keep honed to protect themselves from zoonotic diseases
Agriculture Victoria veterinary officers and pathologists have recently run a series of animal disease investigation courses for private veterinarians in four locations across Victoria.
The annual courses aim to increase veterinarians skills identify suspect emergency animal diseases and collect the right samples to support laboratory diagnosis.
This is critical to support early detection of an emergency animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease or lumpy skin disease.
These courses are financially supported by the cattle, sheep, goat, and pig compensation funds.
The courses cover a range of topics including disease investigation, field epidemiology, biosecurity, and advanced post-mortem techniques.
Due to the nature of their work, veterinarians are regularly exposed to diseases that can be passed between animals and humans, also known as zoonotic diseases.
During the course, participating veterinarians were set a quiz to create a list of zoonotic diseases of cattle found in Australia.
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is urging farmers and decision makers to prepare for drier conditions as the first seasonal outlook by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) points to reduced farm outputs later this season.
VFF President Emma Germano said despite many farmers being well-placed following years of favourable growing conditions, now was the time prepare for the impact of potential drier months ahead.
“By and large, we’ve had incredibly good farming conditions for the past few years here in Victoria, that has resulted in record harvests and outputs.”
“That can’t last forever and many farmers are already preparing for drier times ahead.
Very quickly, well recognised zoonotic diseases of cattle such as salmonellosis, ringworm, and anthrax were identified.
With a little more effort, over 30 other zoonotic diseases of cattle were identified.
In the second part of the exercise the veterinarians were asked how they could protect themselves from each zoonotic disease agent.
There were a couple of exceptions to the rule, but for the vast majority of zoonotic diseases, protection could be achieved simply through the wearing of protective clothing and gloves and through handwashing with soap following the animal’s handling.
This is a simple take-home message for us all to use when handling livestock to protect ourselves from zoonotic diseases.
It’s a difficult balancing act, with farmers juggling skyrocketing input prices and volatile market conditions”, Ms Germano said.
Ms Germano saidt long-term thinking was needed by decision makers to ensure the industry is equipped to navigate the inevitable change in forecast weather conditions.
“We’ve just gone through horrific floods that exposed some gaping holes in the support government provides to farmers and regional communities. Decision makers need to use past experiences to plan for the future.”
“For drier times, that means prioritising drought preparedness, sustainability, resilience and risk management for farming businesses and communities well ahead of when drought strikes.”
“Farming is cyclical and the best preparation for the tough times is done when the going is good,” she said.