Climate change, both projected and realised, impacts on livestock production – and livestock impacts on climate change, both here in Scotland and globally. Changing weather patterns can affect livestock directly, in terms of heat and cold stress, availability of food and water, and dictates what can be raised where and when. Climatic change also affects the prevalence, seasonality and geographic spread of livestock diseases.
These two organisations represent two extremely valuable sectors of the livestock industry in Scotland, together contributing in excess of £700 million to the Scottish economy annually (Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation & Quality Meat Scotland figures, 2017).
Arboviruses are transmitted by biting insects and cause disease in animals and humans. These viruses are spreading due to increased globalisation, international trade and travel and climate changes. Among these is bluetongue virus (BTV) transmitted by midges and causing fatal disease in sheep. The reasons why BTV (and other arboviruses) are so successful at causing disease are not fully understood. Such understanding is essential for developing new disease control strategies such as vaccines.
SEFARI scientists make a significant contribution to the Scottish Government’s BVD Eradication Scheme. We inform this scheme through our unique and multi-disciplinary approach that uses epidemiological, economic, social science and molecular science to explore the wide-ranging implications of BVD. We also communicate with farmers and their vets to help them identify, understand and eradicate this viral disease. Since 2010, this scheme has increased the number of Scottish breeding holdings with negative BVD status from 72% to 91%.
Leaving the European Union could have major repercussions on a wide range of environmental and land use concerns within Scotland, and across the whole of the UK. Whilst some of these issues may seem complex, it is increasingly recognised that SEFARI contains a wealth of expertise which can contribute to such discussions. Of course our place is not to delve into the politics, but to use our research and expertise to provide an evidence-led platform for discussion.
Microbes (e.g., bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi) can become resistant to clinical or veterinary drugs (antimicrobials) that are used to treat disease. This has major consequences for how microbial diseases are managed and, therefore, how antimicrobial compounds should be used. Measuring antimicrobial usage (AMU) is a way to monitor the amount of medicines/chemicals that enter the food-chain, and the environment and this could help to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
A SEFARI Specialist Advisory Group was established in response to concerns from livestock farmers and agro-ecologists about the adverse environmental impacts of some frontline livestock worming treatments, which reach the environment either in the dung/urine of treated animals or as a result of inappropriate disposal. Information on potential environmental impacts is a prerequisite for approval of veterinary medicines in the UK, but that information is not easy to find or understand.
Sustainability and food security are two terms that are commonly used in relation to the UK agricultural sector. In a changing climate, there is a need to reduce the impact of endemic diseases on livestock health, welfare and productivity. The brown stomach worm, Teladorsagia circumcincta, is the most prevalent livestock roundworm parasite in the UK and has a major economic impact on the sheep industry.
Farming practices are evolving in response to intensification, diversification and climate change. As farm management has changed, pathogens of livestock have also adapted to optimise their reproduction and transmission opportunities. Our work, supported by Animal and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), has focused on the control and biology of the economically important roundworm Nematodirus battus; a gut roundworm which annually threatens the health and welfare of young lambs across the UK. Our research has explored how Nematodirus behaves on commercial sheep farms.