SOME 450 folk with an interest in
cattle gathered for three nights and
three days of discussion, debate and
learning at the 2009 congress of the
British Cattle Veterinary Association
(BCVA).
The event was
honoured by the
attendance at the
animal rescue session
of the Princess Royal,
who admitted that she
felt that it was
probably more
important to be at the
parallel session on TB.
Clearly many delegates
begged to disagree, as
the animal rescue
session was well
attended.
Jim Green from the
Hampshire Fire Brigade entertained, if
entertained is the right description, with
videos of actual rescues where there
were very unpredictable outcomes.
He did not hold back in highlighting
the deficiencies of his own service but
the recognition of the role of a cattle or
equine vet, who knows how the
emergency services now operate, was
essential to a safe outcome.
There are from 4,000 to 5,000
animal rescues each year that are
attended by a vet. A list of cattle
practices is being added to the equine
veterinary directory so that the right
person is contacted. An awareness
training DVD is available through
www.beva.org.uk.
Her Royal Highness concluded that
the important aspect for all concerned
was “Don’t panic”, which had been
illustrated by some of the shouting and
screaming heard on the videos.
After the rescue session, the
princess met members of the BCVA
Council and guests in informal groups and made in-depth enquiries on many
topics. HRH stayed longer than
originally planned and her attentiveness
was clearly appreciated.
At the annual general meeting,
following the royal visit, John Blackwell handed
over the presidential
chain of office to
Keith Cutler; John is
now senior vice-
president and John
Fishwick junior vice-
president. Andrew
Praill continues as
hon. secretary and
Declan O’Rourke as
hon. treasurer.
Carl Padgett
received the presidential pin after 14 years on the BCVA Council and is now stepping back from
BCVA and forward to other
involvements within the profession.
The President’s Award was received
by David Bartram for his presentation
of a study of mental health and well-
being of the UK veterinary profession.
Jonathan Statham received the John
Tuckey Award for the best paper by a
practitioner –on health planning and
health management.
No major disease issues
In his summation of the year, Mr
Blackwell indicated, with some apparent
relief, that no major disease issues had
arisen on his watch. Bluetongue did not
become the clinical disease that was
feared, TB continues and the eradication
group was formed at the start of the
year. Issues related to “health and
welfare”, with the targeted reduction of
Government responsibility for disease
control, had occupied many consultative
hours.
Of particular personal involvement were the issues with
medicines, including
the reclassification of
the dispensing
categories.
Appreciation was
shown for the great
deal of hard work put
in by members of
Council throughout
the year.
The revised website
(www.bcva.org.uk) now includes
payment and registration for CPD
online and also purchase of BCVA
merchandise. The clinical club forum on
the site is a successful introduction and
members were urged to have a look.
At the president’s dinner, Professor
Joe Brownlie was presented with
honorary membership of the BCVA in
recognition of his involvement with the
diagnosis and control of disease. This
honour is rarely awarded with only three
or four such awards during the lifetime
of the association.
Commercial support for the
congress continues to grow and a senior
member of the profession was heard
asking: “Which stand has the free
mouse mat in the shape of a cow.” This
was, apparently, for his grandson.
The award for the best stand was
won by the Veterinary Medicines
Directorate, which had panels
highlighting the various aspects of its
work. A set of nine small leaflets are
available from www.vmd.gov.uk, which
practices may wish to have available for
all staff.
Some of the questions highlighted
were: “What is the VMD doing to try to
slow the emergence of resistance?”,
“How to help clients avoid unacceptable
residues”, “How do I become an
SQP?”, “What happens to reports of
adverse events?” – and many other
topics.
The three dinners gave everyone the
opportunity to meet and socialise with
various antics from
an apparently drunk waitress and a health
and safety crew
inspecting the
stability of tables.
Delegates were
encouraged to
celebrate “the dawn
of a new way”, with
a glass of
champagne and
Naxcel truffles
provided by Pfizer,
and the involvement
of the many sponsors enlivened the whole event.
Health improvement service
Herdsure, a cattle health improvement
service, was launched at the congress by
the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. A
comprehensive folder of information is
available for vets and farmers (www.vla.
gov.uk; telephone 01789 750972).
Bovine viral diarrhoea, Johne’s
disease and liver fluke testing and
consultancy, in support of herd health
planning, are available now, with
rhinotracheitis, leptosporosis and
neosporosis to follow.
Annual subscription per disease for
participating farmers is £20 to £30
depending on herd size and the package
is managed with their veterinary
practice. A major requirement for vets
has been identified as a need for
technical support with complex testing
and management programmes, and this
service is expected to offer tangible
benefits for vets and their clients.
The BCVA has combined with
DairyCo to produce a Cattle Purchasing
Disease Checklist. The selling of disease
along with cattle has been a major topic
of consideration for some time and
highlighted at previous conferences. The
checklist is intended to be considered by
the farmer and his veterinary surgeon
before purchase and will be seen as an
integral part of herd health planning.
Thirteen diseases are listed within a
pad of A4 sheets and since this initiative
was launched earlier in the year many
copies have been requested
(www.dairyco.org.uk).
