The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has today (Friday, December 16) announced the extension of the parasite control strategy for cattle and sheep farmers into next year.
The measure exists within the Targeted Advisory Service for Animal Health (TASAH) under the 2014-2022 Rural Development Plan, which aims to support farmers in responding to anti-parasitic challenges.
The programme, delivered by Animal Health Ireland (AHI), allows farmers to engage the services of specifically trained vets, who will offer advice on specific parasite control measures in their herd or flock for free.
The TASAH funding provides for a farm visit and veterinary consultation, free of charge to the farmer, to advise on parasite control by a trained veterinary practitioner, to include faecal egg sampling and interpretation.
Farmers will receive individual farm specific parasite control recommendations from the veterinarian visit.
Minister McConalogue said that there has been “a large uptake” for the strategy this year and he expects this to continue into 2023.
‘‘Anti-parasitic resistance is a major challenge to the health of animals in the country and can impact on the profitability of farms.
“The TASAH programme specifically focuses on parasite controls on farms. The development of a structured parasite control plan is critical to addressing the increasing challenge of anti-parasitic resistance,” he said.
Minister McConalogue encouraged all cattle and sheep farmers to register for the programme on the AHI website.
“The measure will assist in identifying non effective treatments, reducing the frequency of treatments where necessary, and increase the capacity for monitoring and testing as part of a health plan.
“This will be a farmer-friendly initiative that will help drive improvements at animal health level as well as farm profitability,” the minister added.