Animal health and welfare in the livestock industry 2016 to 2024 - Strategy review

Theme 1: Skills and knowledge

Between 2014 and 2021, the Scottish Government and the European Community invested over £1.3 billion in the Scottish Rural Development Programme, to provide 17 schemes, including the Farm Advisory Service, Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund and Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme. The purpose of this support was to ensure that Scotland’s agricultural sector had the appropriate tools and knowledge to make improvements to farm processes including systems design, proactive health planning and targeted biosecurity.

These schemes should assist livestock managers in making adjustments in the face of economic, workforce and other pressures, as well as providing communication and support to the growing number of smallholders and hobby farms.

Strengthening the Farm Advisory Service

Action 1: the Scottish Government will ensure the new Farm Advisory Service promotes advice on all aspects of animal health, welfare and legislative requirement.

Launched in September 2016, Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service (FAS) provides farmers, land managers and crofters, with high quality advice, including:

• a range of low and no cost ideas to help farmers improve biodiversity, manage carbon emissions on their farm and adapt to a changing climate
• business management advice such as benchmarking, using data and resource efficient farming, as well as responding to specific business challenges and developments including COVID-19, post EU Exit trading, cattle electronic identification (EID) and carbon neutral farming

The effectiveness of the FAS has been monitored with annual reports summarising the types, topics and activities that have been conducted. There are two components to the FAS service:

• the One-to-One service delivered by Ricardo Energy and Environment
• the One-to-Many service delivered by SAC Consulting (part of Scotland’s Rural College)

Since its introduction in 2016, the Scottish Government has worked alongside both delivery partners to ensure that the FAS promotes advice on a wide variety of topics including animal health, welfare and legislative requirements.

The prevailing themes and policies for each year are identified through extensive consultation between the FAS, the Scottish Government and key stakeholders, as well as through feedback from previous beneficiaries of the service. As a result of this consultation, animal welfare in particular is well covered on the FAS website, through events and communications. Advice on animal welfare is also regularly provided through the advice line and via email, where service users can receive one-to-one advice from specialist advisers.

A Scottish Government-commissioned evaluation of the One-to-Many service found that during the period 2014 to 2020, SAC Consulting delivered a wide-ranging One-to-Many services that fulfilled their requirements. Benefits included a large number of events, high satisfaction among attendees and increased use of FAS services over the contract period. In a sample of 68 participants asked if they had used information from the One-to-Many service to improve their farming techniques, almost two-in-three (63%) reported that it improved their knowledge of animal health and welfare techniques and resulted in changes on their farm.

In 2019, the Scottish Government also commissioned a report to explore the quality, focus and effectiveness of the FAS One-to-One element. The report found that the service delivered a broad range of benefits, including improved business performance, increased profitability, the creation and restructuring of businesses, creation and safeguarding of employment and various environmental gains. Satisfaction with the service was found to be relatively high, and it was perceived to offer high quality, practical advice.

Within the One-to-One service, animal health and welfare is one of the specialist advice topics that has seen a relatively low demand. However, it is considered during adviser visits to businesses as part of Integrated Land Management Plans (ILMP) and other advisory topics. Feedback from beneficiaries in 2020 indicated that livestock and crop improvements ranked as the fifth most valued benefit (out of 19 options) of an ILMP, and the third highest benefit of specialist advice.

Lesson identified: the Scottish Government’s Animal Health and Welfare Division should continue to input to the objectives, governance and management of Scotland’s Farm Advisory service and its successor, AKIS – the Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation System.

Improving communication effectiveness

Action 2: the Scottish Government will work with partners to review the effectiveness of communications on animal health and welfare and make recommendations as necessary.

Throughout the course of this strategy, a variety of communication channels – including events, publications and social media – have continued to be used to exchange knowledge and strengthen collaboration in support of the Scottish livestock industry. In addition, we regularly work in partnership with key industry bodies to deliver tailored communications on animal health and welfare to specific sectors of the livestock industry.

Digital channels and forums

The animal health and welfare pages of the Scottish Government’s website and its publication section provide accessible information on a wide range of topics.

Since 2016, the use of social media has grown substantially. The Scottish Government's Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate maintains official social media accounts through which updates on animal health and welfare are shared. The ScotGovRural Facebook and YouTube accounts were launched in 2014, followed by the ”X” (formerly Twitter) account in 2015. These platforms are frequently used to share information and key messaging.

Analysis of the Scottish Government’s rural social media accounts shows that posts featuring images or infographics generally perform better than text-only content. Similarly, original content produced by the Scottish Government tends to attract more engagement than shared posts from industry or other government departments. Videos, such as this example on biosecurity, have also received positive engagement, although relatively few have been produced specifically on animal health and welfare.

The Scottish Government’s Animal Health and Welfare General Stakeholder Group provides a valuable forum for discussion between policy makers, researchers and industry stakeholders. The group meets regularly and offers opportunities to identify emerging issues and gathers stakeholders input on the development of new policies and communication strategies.

Lesson identified: where resources allows, the use of videos or graphics should be considered as an effective means of providing information to stakeholders via social media channels.

Research-informed communication

It is vital that government communicates effectively with small-scale, non-commercial keepers of pigs and poultry. To help address this, we commissioned researchers at the EPIC Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks to investigate the biosecurity practices of these groups.

A study aimed at understanding backyard poultry keepers and their attitudes to biosecurity, published in 2018, found that Facebook and internet sources were popular channels for information – though the quality of information was variable. The study also found that there was limited availability of information suited to small-scale keepers from official sources, such as government websites. In response to this, we tailored our communications approach to better target key biosecurity messages to small-scale poultry keepers. This became particularly important during periods of heightened risk of avian influenza and the legal requirement to house birds during the 2016-2017 and 2020-2021 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak seasons. Resources developed specifically for this audience include the small flock keeper’s guide to biosecurity and an avian influenza top tips poster.

Another study focussed on understanding attitudes to biosecurity in small-scale pig keepers, published in 2021, highlighted that many were members of breed societies and Facebook groups, which they identified as their main sources of information regarding animal health and welfare. As a result, we increased the distribution of tailored key biosecurity communications through these channels, including Facebook groups and smallholder events such as the annual Scottish Smallholder Festival, which is Scottish Government attended and supported.

Cleansing and disinfection workshop

In October 2019, we collaborated with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland (NFUS) and the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) to run a cleansing and disinfection workshop for the poultry industry. The purpose of the workshop was to share findings from research looking at avian influenza virus survival and effective cleansing and disinfection after notifiable avian disease outbreaks, with a focus on solutions that support more rapid compliance with national and international standards. The workshop was an effective way of communicating these findings to industry members and other interested parties. In addition, the workshop included a tour of a depopulated poultry unit, offering attendees a practical perspective on the challenges and solutions involved.

Monitor Farm Scotland

The Monitor Farm Scotland project has operated in various forms for over two decades. The programme establishes a network of farms to serve as monitor farms, helping improve the profitability, productivity and sustainability of producers through practical demonstrations, the sharing of best practice and discussion of current issues with other farms in their area.

In May 2020, the Monitor Farm Scotland published a report highlighting the key impacts of the project between 2016 and 2019. In recent years, a range of animal health and welfare topics have been discussed on Monitor Farms including fertility problems, vitamin B12 and mineral deficiency, maedi visna (MV) and fluke infections. For example, campylobacter was identified as a cause of poor fertility on two farms, both of which initiated vaccination programmes to address the issue. One farm also implemented measures, such as condition scoring, culling older cattle and conducting bull fertility checks, while the other farm demonstrated the financial benefit per cow of its intervention against Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) enterprise costings.

In Lochaber, five members of the community group carried out a fluke trial, using testing to inform treatment timing rather than administering routine treatments. The results showed that neither ewes nor lambs required treatment at the usual point in October, reducing costs and reducing the risk of resistance developing.

The wider benefits of the Monitor Farm model are particularly effective for supporting animal health and welfare interventions. A Scottish Government’s review found that 68% of participants who responded had made positive improvements to livestock health as a result of their involvement in the programme. These benefits stem from open discussion of challenges within the community group and the involvement of experts and advisers, such as veterinarians. Wider benefits include dissemination of information through the Monitor Farm website and other channels, including videos, press releases and feature articles in QMS Livestock Plus.

Lesson identified: a broad mix of active and passive communication channels is essential to effectively engage the diverse range of stakeholders involved in animal health and welfare. The Monitor Farm model has proven to be a valuable and effective forum for peer-to-peer learning, discussion, and the dissemination of practical interventions.

Supporting stakeholder-led research

Action 3: the Scottish Government will ensure that the livestock and ancillary industries continue to have regular opportunities to contribute to both the setting of priorities for the research programme and the commissioning of relevant one-off research projects.

Strategic Research Programme and SEFARI outputs

We have maintained long-term strategic investment in research into Scotland’s environment, agriculture, land use, food and rural communities – primarily through the Strategic Research Programme (SRP). The SRP portfolio includes research aimed at addressing animal health and welfare challenges and ensures that robust evidence is at the forefront of shaping our policies.

The SRP is delivered by a consortium of the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes, collectively known as ‘SEFARI’, which operate the ‘SEFARI Gateway’ – a knowledge exchange and impact hub.

Many examples of the outputs from the SRP are described on the SEFARI Gateway website. They include:

• new diagnostic tests for the early detection of sheep scab, and accurate diagnosis of ovine enzootic abortion
• a rapid Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test capable of simultaneously detecting bacteria, viruses and mycoplasma associated with bovine respiratory disease complex (cattle pneumonia) from a single sample
• significant support of Scotland’s industry-led Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) Eradication Scheme
• routine scanning for ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) and routine worm egg counts to inform treatment decisions for gastrointestinal parasites
• a novel vaccine to protect sheep from chlamydial abortion – the most common infectious cause of abortion in sheep
• improved on-farm biosecurity approaches and guidance
• development and application of Qualitative Behavioural Assessment for on-farm welfare assessment

EPIC: rapid response research for policy

We also support the EPIC Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks, which undertakes policy-relevant research into important animal disease threats and provides rapid, call-down scientific analysis and advice to inform policy decision-making during disease outbreaks. EPIC enables scientists to work in partnership with Scottish Government veterinarians, scientists and policy officials, while also engaging with industry stakeholders and the public, to stimulate innovative thinking in support of policy development.

Examples of how EPIC’s research and analysis have informed animal health policy include:

• the development of veterinary risk assessments (VRAs) to support policy decisions on control of exotic notifiable diseases, including:
  • suites of VRAs prepared for potential incursions of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and African swine fever (ASF)
  • VRAs on avian influenza and bluetongue (BTV), which have informed decisions about prevention and control in response to cases in Scotland and the rest of Great Britain
  • VRAs on carcass collection during wild bird mass mortality events and on the impact of housing orders
• the identification of movements of livestock from counties in England at high risk of BTV infection, enabling targeted surveillance in Scotland and reducing the risk of undetected BTV spread in Scotland
• the design and updating of disease models to assess potential control measures for FMD and ASF – such as the impact of control zones size on the ability to trade livestock – and their use in national disease preparedness exercises

Contract Research Fund: targeted studies

A third route within the 2016-2022 research portfolio was a ‘Contract Research Fund’, which supported short-term, focused projects. These included research on the impact of dogs and wild predators attacks on sheep, a study of welfare outcomes for calf exports to Spain, and a review of livestock transport by ferry from the Northern Isles.

Following a consultation in 2020, the Environment, natural resources and agriculture research: strategy 2022 to 2027 was published in March 2021. It outlines the vision, priorities and mechanisms for funding research and emphasises the importance of involving stakeholders early in the co-constructing of research wherever possible. The next cycle of the portfolio of research – including continued work on animal health and welfare through both the SRP 2022-2027 and EPIC – began in April 2022.

Livestock Health Scotland: applied research in practice

We also provided support for the practical testing and application of animal health interventions through Livestock Health Scotland (LHS). This includes initiatives such as a new approach to liver fluke control, trials of a new diagnostic test for sheep scab, and a longitudinal study on the causes of suckler calf losses.

Developing animal disease vaccines

Through the SRP, we have funded long-term research programmes focussed on investigating vaccines for livestock diseases of particular importance to Scotland. The aim is to develop safe, highly effective and optimised novel vaccines targeting endemic diseases that impact productivity and animal welfare. Successful vaccines help reduce the disease burden on livestock. Preventing infection is also a key measure in reducing the use of antibiotics.

The current programme includes research into prototype vaccines against two nematode parasites affecting sheep and cattle. These developments build on the successful creating of Barbervax® – a vaccine developed by scientists at Moredun Research Institute to control barber’s pole worm in the intestinal tract of sheep. Barbervax® was first registered for use and authorised for sale in the UK in 2019. While clinical cases of barber’s pole worm are currently rare, a warming climate may increase their prevalence in the future. Development of novel approaches for vaccines against sheep scab and bovine respiratory diseases are also underway in the programme.

These developments from Scottish Government-funded research complement vaccines for major exotic notifiable diseases, which form part of the toolbox for dealing with outbreaks. We have worked with the UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Welsh Government, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), and key industry representatives to ensure stocks of vaccines for lumpy skin disease (LSD), classical swine fever, FMD and BTV are available if required. We also played an active role in an Avian Influenza Vaccine Task Force, which explored the feasibility of using vaccines for avian influenza. A report is forthcoming; however, early indications suggest that the current legislative framework and potential trade impacts present cost barriers to their use.

Lesson identified: input from a range of stakeholders into research programmes and projects is essential to ensure the practical application of outputs. We should continue to support a clear pathway from strategic research through applied and developmental stages to operational implementation.