A special event was held in AFBI Hillsborough on Wednesday 15th November to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the AFBI Cattle Health Scheme (CHS).

The AFBI Cattle Health Scheme is licenced to the UK-wide Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) and is the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland.

Mr Billy Robson OBE, former President of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS), Kilbride Farm Simmental; followed. Mr Robson gave an overview of his experience in dealing with the various challenges of animal disease control over the last 60 years including bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, bleeding calf syndrome and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) in relation to bulls intended for AI.

The last talk of the day was delivered by a guest speaker, veterinary practitioner, past president of the British Cattle Veterinary Association and chair of the CHeCS Technical Committee, Keith Cutler. He delivered a thought provoking presentation where he highlighted the importance of health planning and disease prevention for improving profit from livestock farming.
Following the presentations, those attending visited the AFBI Hillsborough facilities and enjoyed short presentations from AFBI disease surveillance vets on a range of animal health topics including isolation facilities requirements, Johne’s biosecurity including calving hygiene, vaccination protocols, considerations for bulls with potential use as an AI sire, and Neosporosis which has been recently added to the CHeCS programme.
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