Animal Health

The Importance of Animal Health

An effective animal production system is vital to both producers and livestock industries. Smallholders in developing countries will be loathe to invest in livestock (especially large livestock such as cattle and buffalo) if disease is endemic or access to veterinary assistance and medicine is limited. At a provincial or national level, lack of a functioning animal health system will limit both the usefulness of investments in high quality stock and the ability to export to more mature markets. Developing livestock sectors need a disease identification, monitoring and control system that will allow stock and animal products to pass strict quarantine regulations in developed economies. It will also be necessary for these developing sectors to be able to implement control programs for endemic diseases such as anthrax, Newcastle disease and brucellosis.

ILRIC can provide extensive expertise relating to the development of animal health systems in all livestock environments. There is particular expertise in developing and implementing, at the production and processing tiers of the industry, new technologies directed at improving health and welfare of cattle and enhancing food safety of beef and beef products. ILRIC can provide the following specific expertise:
  • Epidemiology and control of parasitic disease in small ruminants.
  • Research and advice concerning the susceptibility of certain cattle breeds to various diseases.
  • Development of vaccines against commercially significant livestock diseases.
  • Institutional support (policy development, training)
    required for livestock sector development.
  • Research and training in ruminant parasitology.
  • Implementation of disease control projects/programs.
A three year project aimed at developing worm resistant meat sheep in Maharashtra, India has yielded some useful results. The project involved; DNA testing of prolific sheep from 8 countries to deduce the origin of a useful mutation (Booroola - FecB); evaluating the benefits of cross-breeding Deccani and Bannur lambs with Garole and determining the effect of controlling worms in these sheep. The outcome was the development of a breeding program which increased the worm resistance capability of Deccani sheep in Maharashtra.

There are many advantages for international animal health companies to conduct research  and work with ILRIC in Australia. ILRIC can provide:
  • World standard animal health personnel and expertise.
  • A wide variety of climatic zones and production systems.
  • Production systems in Australia that are technically aligned with those in use in Europe and North America, therefore, research findings in Australia can be readily applied elsewhere.
  •  Australia’s efficient and low cost production systems allow significant savings in animal purchasing, housing and management.
  • Favourable exchange rates that make Australia an economically attractive base for research.
  • Freedom from disease means that research in Australia is unaffected by costs and restrictions placed on similar work elsewhere.
  • A favourable regulatory environment for research trials and low compliance costs associated with research trials.

 

LabMagic

Lab_imageLabMagic is a database that provides stakeholders including graziers, veterinarians, rural merchandise resellers and industry representative's access to diagnostic laboratory reports and information. Training notes for animal health courses and other information is also available at LabMagic. Password controlled interactive components include:

* Complete diagnostic test reports
* Graphical capability
* Hyperlinks to fact sheets providing detailed information about common problems
* Access to a wide range of information suitable for self learning
* Automatic emailing of the parasitology results as a text file

This service allows integration of parasite monitoring with decision making on drench selection and other management options. This provides farmers with new tools and techniques to achieve economic, effective and sustainable control of, in particular, internal parasites. Internal parasites are the most important animal health problem faced by the Australian sheep and cattle industries. In the past, limited options for disseminating accurate and timely information have hindered the industries' ability to respond. This new combination of diagnostic services, comprehensive database and real-time access to results through a secure website has placed LabMagic as a strategic player in the campaign against resistance and towards sustainable worm control.

Within LabMagic levels of access are graduated with graziers and property managers able to access only their own data. Rural merchandise resellers, veterinarians and industry representatives are able to access their own client data. All users are able to graphically benchmark and compare their data with average data using several parameters including region, parasite species and time.

Diagnostics and Analysis


ILRIC also has available a comprehensive range of diagnostic services, in particular parasitology (worm monitoring) and gross pathology. Parasite monitoring services are provided to livestock producers in the region, rural merchandisers, Rural Lands Boards, private veterinarians and pharmaceutical companies. The service has full ISO 9001 accreditation and has developed a reputation as a premier source of timely and independent diagnostic and advisory services. ILRIC can also provide analytical expertise, specialising in the detection of low levels of veterinary pharmaceuticals in animal products and tissue residues.
 

Animal Health Extension & QA Services

ILRIC can offer a fully integrated on-farm animal health extension service. The service provides individually tailored animal health programs, calendar workshops, grazing management advice and farm benchmarking for sheep and cattle producers.

BSE Prion

This service is currently expanding its services on offer to include on-farm QA auditing and system development.
An agreement has recently been signed to provide diagnostic services through Elders’ 400 stores Australia wide. Services include co-branded parasite monitoring kits, trace element deficiency detection kits and technical support.

 

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