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Managing multi-million dollar hazards to our food security
Biosecurity is an insurance policy for primary producers that yields dividends in the long run
From the hand sanitising station at the local supermarket to the omnipresence of signs asking shoppers to “stop the spread” by wearing masks and staying 1.5 metres apart, the past two years of COVID-19 have underscored the significance of biosecurity.
This may explain why, between mid 2021 and mid 2022, an unprecedented 100,000 Australians visited a website dedicated to providing primary producers with up-to-date information about how to protect their crops and livestock.
Aimed specifically at Australian farmers, the Farm Biosecurity Program is designed to be a one-stop biosecurity shop offering resources such as checklist templates, animal health declarations, and biosecurity manuals among other instructional documents.
A complementary smartphone app, an extension of the Farm Biosecurity’s website and toolkit, enables farmers to see updated information in real-time at their fingertips.
Officially launched in 2011, the program was developed jointly by Plant Health Australia (PHA) and Animal Health Australia (AHA), which represent their respective core concerns.
Rob Barwell from AHA, who previously worked as a vet locally and overseas as well as for the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries before joining Australia’s animal health body in 2012, says the genesis of the program stems from protecting Australia’s strong reputation as a biosecure nation.
Apart from COVID-19, other “nasties” making their way to Australian shores in recent times that pose a threat to this world-class reputation include tropical disease Japanese encephalitis, now appearing as far south as regional Victoria. Meanwhile, African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease were both recently found in our near northern neighbours.
All three are a potential danger to Australian agriculture, which the National Farmers’ Federation believes can become a $100 billion industry by the year 2030.
This is up from the industry’s current economic performance of $70-$80 billion revenue annually. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would reduce this figure by $50 billion over ten years, according to recent modelling performed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
The Farm Biosecurity program is an important part of Australia’s emergency animal disease and exotic plant pest preparedness and surveillance systems.
Rob speaks of the importance of understanding and managing the six biosecurity essentials: farm inputs; people, vehicles and equipment; production practices; feral animals and weeds; farm outputs; and, train, plan, and record.
Central Queensland cattle producers Melinee and Rob Leather, who in 2019 won the Farm Biosecurity Producer of the Year award for their advocacy work, say “Good biosecurity practices will protect our people, environment and animals. A biosecurity outbreak will impact on profitability, productivity, and property values.” What’s good for the producer, then, is good for the environment. Rob says the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us all of the importance of human biosecurity – and how important biosecurity practices are to implement at the individual, regional, and national level. “Australia’s biosecurity system is like an insurance policy for producers, property, crops, and animals.”
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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