NBA Winter Magazine_2023_

Industry News
Buying ‘High Health’ stock?
Check, check and check again…
Purchasing new breeding stock is
considered essential on most (but not
all!) beef herds. Improved genetics
is often the intended business gain.
It is an unfortunate fact however that this is
the single biggest risk for introducing a new
disease which can quickly undermine any
potential genetic gain, sometimes before any
new calves are even on the ground.
Purchasing should always be planned, and
the first principle is to be sure you are buying
the very minimum number of animals, from
the minimum number of herds, that your
business absolutely needs.
Purchasing ‘high health’ stock can be a
useful option to allow genetic gains and
reduce some of the associated disease risks,
but buyers need to be aware of the caveats
and limitations of what ‘high health’ really
means. Run through this Check List next time
you are thinking of making a ‘high health’
purchase:
CHECK – Which diseases the buyer has
stated the animal is low risk for. There is no
such thing as ‘high health’ for all diseases,
only for a small number of specific infections.
Johne’s disease is one of the most common
and remember that an animal can never be
‘zero’ risk for Johne’s disease. ALL animals
(regardless of health status) will still require a
quarantine period to observe, test, vaccinate
or treat for possible new diseases. Your
vet can help you design a good quarantine
programme.
CHECK – The sellers true herd status at
the time of sale using the open access
online databases that health schemes run
Tim Geraghty SRUC Veterinary Services is Centre
Manager Aberdeen and Veterinary Investigation Officer
(search for ‘PCHS Members Database’
online). Honest mistakes and genuine
miscommunications between buyers and
sellers are common so never agree to buy an
animal until you have double checked the
herd status for yourself. These databases
give an independently verified status for all
members and are updated daily. It is always
worth asking how many animals the seller has
bought in the last 3-5 years, bearing in mind
that general disease risk will be much higher
if they have bought lots of animals from lots
of other herds.
CHECK – The animals movement history to
make sure that the animal was born on, and
has never left, the herd that is now selling it. If
it was bought in by the seller, or has been off
farm for considerable time, then it will be of a
different (most likely higher) risk status than
the herd certification.
CHECK – The individual animals test results
if the seller is declaring these. Only results
printed onto official CHeCS Sale Cards (see
www.checs.co.uk) give a verified result,
so information from any other source (e.g.
printed in a sale catalogue) should be taken
with a pinch of salt. Remember that being
‘test negative’ does NOT mean being low risk,
particularly for Johne’s disease. Discuss with
your vet to be sure you understand what any
result means for your herd.
CHECK – The animals stated vaccine status
but remember that these are very difficult
to fully validate. Being vaccinated does NOT
mean the animal is low risk for any disease
so discuss the vaccine status with your vet
as part of planning the animals quarantine
period. If you are ‘Accredited Free’ of some
disease (e.g. Lepto or IBR) you may not be
able to purchase a vaccinated animal and
retain your herd status.
CHECK – How the animal will be transported
to your farm. Animals are very susceptible to
new infections when stressed at transport,
and being mixed with others at this time
can undermine even the best health status.
Private, direct individual transport is always
lowest risk. Remember the importance of a
quarantine period on arrival.
For a comprehensive overview of how to
manage disease risks when purchasing
new stock I recommend reading the Animal
Health Ireland leaflet ‘Purchasing Stock:
Reducing Disease Risks’ (freely available
online).
WINTER 2023 | The National Beef Association Magazine 21