The inaugural agri homeopathy conference, ‘Beyond Chemicals, Homeopathy for Natural Disease Prevention’,’ will take place in the Avalon House Hotel, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny on Thursday, June 5.

Hosted by Whole Health Agriculture (WHAg), a non-profit organisation based in the UK, in partnership with National Organic Skillnet (NOTS), the conference is organised by farmers for farmers, according to its national representative for Ireland, Co. Cork dairy farmer, Pat Aherne.

In-person tickets cost €95 while online/streaming tickets are priced at €45. A range of international and Irish speakers are lined up for the conference.

Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine that is based on the use of highly diluted substances which practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself.

The effectiveness of its use on humans and animals has its sceptics – for instance, the National Health Service in the UK stating that there is no quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any human health condition.

However, Aherne believes the use of homeopathy has been life changing for him.

He began to explore a more unconventional approach to farming when his farm had a major outbreak of mastitis 15 years ago, with 16 cases being treated at one time.

Aherne told Agriland: “I remember one morning going into the parlour and feeling like I was going into a war against nature and that I wasn’t even winning the battle.

“I swore that I would never subject my cows to the same level of antibiotic treatment again. I felt it was unsustainable economically, as well as taking its toll on both man and beast.”

This led him to explore alternatives to antibiotics. He first discovered homeopathy through a homeopathic company in the west of Ireland.

However, it was the Homeopathic Handbook for Dairy Farming by Tineke Verkade – who is originally from The Netherlands before moving to New Zealand – that was the gamechanger for Aherne and made him want to learn more about homeopathy.

Aherne attended a week-long course on homeopathy in the UK, which he has since brought to Ireland.

“The one thing that I would say to any farmer interested in learning about homeopathy is that vets are qualified to diagnose disease and treat it.

“Farmers with homeopathic knowledge assist their animal through the disease of an infection with the help of antibiotics,” Aherne said.

Homeopathy conference

The conference programme includes a morning workshop on the 80/20 approach – preventing 80% of common livestock health problems with 20 key remedies, with Jackie Pearce-Dickens, the CEO of WHAg, UK-based vet Chris Aukland, and New Zealand dairy farmer Tracey Simpson, who uses natural remedies in her approach to calf rearing and farming.

There will also be a presentation using homeopathy for healthier crops and increased yields, featuring Aherne with Charlotte Southall, who is pursuing a PhD to eliminate copper in viticulture, and conducting research into plant health in both the UK and Brazil

In the afternoon, the ‘Irish Farmers’ Forum’ will explore the impact of homeopathy on the farm health and the personal journeys of Irish farmers.

Alongside Aherne, this forum will also feature Lisa Anderson from Rossnowlagh, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal; David and Laura Hannon from Derrypatrick, Drumree, Co. Meath; Katherine Foran, Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford; and Sean Clancy, Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary.

Lisa Anderson is a dairy farmer who completed the WHAg foundation course.

She said that homeopathic remedies are given on their farm to heighten the vital force of their animals and to prevent stress – for example, when going to the mart, tagging, and in cases of heat stroke and windy weather.

Anderson said: “We have had little or no antibiotic use on our farm in the last five years. It’s a big saving on vet bills.”

Suckler to beef farmers, Karen and Mervyn Johnston from Lanesborough, Co. Longford, also found the results from homeopathy had been positive.

Karen said: “Our use of homeopathy on the farm is continuously evolving and we have found it especially beneficial in alleviating stressful periods for cattle such as calving and weaning.”

They plan on increasing their use of homeopathy both on their livestock and the land.

Co Tipperary dairy farmer Sean Clancy said that homeopathy had been invaluable this year on his farm.

According to Clancy: “We have significantly reduced antibiotic use and veterinary intervention. It’s cheap and easy to administer the remedies so it’s convenient for the farmer.

“Personally I have found studying homeopathy endlessly fascinating and addictive. It has opened my mind about alternative healing methods.”

David and Laura Hannon from Co Meath said that doing the WHAg course made them challenge how they approached herd health on their dairy farm in the past.

David Hannon said: “We now focus on keeping the cows healthy and preventing stress periods in calving. Learning homeopathy has helped us reduce antibiotic usage and the cows are healthier overall.

“We don’t do a huge amount of it in the treatment of animals because I find it complicated. We need to go further with it and we do have to reduce antibiotics. We have a large vet bill every year. I’m very happy to look at an alternative,

“One thing the course showed us was that prevention is better than cure. If you can reduce stress, you will have less sick animals.`’

Organic suckler farmer Katherine Foran from Co. Waterford said that as a late entrant to full-time conventional farming, then to organics then also to sucklers, she found homeopathy an invaluable support.

“The WHAg foundation course brings a practical structure and clear pathway of how to include and assess everyday challenges to maximise animal/farm health to the individual farm.

It works in tandem with veterinary care when needed, providing valuable support to both animals and the farmer.”

A spokesperson for the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) confirmed that Chapter 2 of the council’s code of professional conduct deals with competent and appropriate care and provides guidance on complementary therapies.

According to the VCI code, if a veterinary practitioner wishes to use any form of complementary or alternative therapy as part of a treatment plan, or to refer an animal for such therapy, they may only do so in the context of a pre-existing client-patient-practice relationship with the benefit of the threshold of knowledge necessary to enable the delivery of informed clinical care to an animal.

A veterinary practitioner has a responsibility to consider the evidence and be satisfied that, on balance, the therapy is likely to be of benefit to the animal and will not adversely affect its health or welfare.

In addition, the vet has an obligation to monitor the effectiveness of the therapy. If they are carrying out the therapy themselves, they must ensure that they are competent in its use.

If a veterinary practitioner is referring an animal for such therapy, they must ensure that the person to whom they are referring the animal is appropriately qualified.

Homeopathy conference

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Agri-homeopathy event 'by farmers for farmers' heads to Castlecomer