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The days of vets coming out to a farm and assessing stock could be gone, as a result of the new 30-day guideline which vets have to comply with, Seanie Boyle of Donegal INHFA has said.
The guideline states that a vet must have visited a farm within 30 days in order to issue antibiotics or veterinary care, but Boyle told the Irish Farmers Journal that the rule is crazy.
“It is a countrywide issue. The Veterinary Council have taken on this regulation and it doesn’t seem to be challenged by anyone.
“If I have a sheep here that has sore feet, I know what that animal needs. It’s the same with a calf with scour – I know what it needs.
"If the vet hasn’t been on my farm in the previous 30 days, he’ll have to come out.
“We’re a good hour away from our vet. Vets are going down the road of the small abattoirs in rural Ireland – they all closed down. We’re getting squeezed all the time.
“The general day-to-day visits of vets on assessing stock could be gone. Vets will have to make a choice of what road to go,” he said.
Vet view
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Donegal vet Gerald Roarty said that the 30-day guideline is going to be a problem.
"It's a poorly drafted rule. We are unique here in the distances we travel.
"What we are doing is telling farmers to bring animals to Donegal Animal Hospital in Letterkenny. We are building a new facility so that animals can come in.
"With the guideline, we are doing our best to get to everyone."
Motorway vets will circumvent the rule, it will pay them
Roarty said that no one is challenging the guideline, which was introduced to crackdown on motorway vets, who travel around the country selling farm medicines without having a working relationship with the farmers they are selling to.
"No one is challenging the guideline. Motorway vets will circumvent the rule, it will pay them.
"It would be much easier to have all medicines prescribed to you for animals if the farmer had to nominate the vet and if that vet was close enough to the farmer to provide all emergency services and clinical work."
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