Livestock health and welfare strategy 2025 to 2030

Looking forward

Recent disease outbreaks, such as avian influenza and bluetongue, as well as the imminent threat of African swine fever (ASF), lumpy skin disease (LSD) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Europe may have reinforced impetus for change in the livestock sector.

Maintaining and improving animal health, public health, animal welfare and international trade will be vital to Scotland if we are to meet ambitions for business success, trust, confidence and food security commitments. It is also encouraging that there is a demand for continuing improvements from farmers, retailers and the public and to meet environmental targets set in legislation.

The requests for pilot control schemes on endemic disease control, the good uptake of the bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) scheme, the Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) options, the sheep scab pilot in Harris and Lewis, the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) scheme in Moray and the ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) pilot all illustrate that the Scottish industry has an appetite to take forward actions on livestock health and welfare improvements. This bodes well for the future and paves the way for further innovative interventions that will deliver the Vision for Scottish Agriculture.

We will continue to work in partnership with regulatory and enforcement authorities to ensure that Scotland has the best possible animal health and welfare services built on a sound legislative base, a responsive and effective regulatory regime and transparent and effective enforcement.

Several aspects of animal health and welfare policy are little changed since 2004, and for good reasons. While responsibility for strategy, policy and a budget are more clearly demarcated as devolved to Scottish Ministers, Great Britain remains a single epidemiological unit with largely open trade and movement of animals. Therefore close collaboration, equivalent legislation and sharing of best practice are essential for disease prevention and control.

The reasons for intervention set out in the 2004 strategy still hold true. These are:

• to protect human health
• to protect and promote the welfare of animals
• to protect the interests of the wider economy, environment and society and international trade

The second and third of these reasons have developed and altered in the last 20 years, due to increased awareness of the scientific evidence for the environmental benefits and costs of livestock farming and the impacts of farming systems and practices on animal welfare. Our understanding of what constitutes good welfare has also significantly improved.