Teagasc and Animal Health Ireland renewed Memorandum of Understanding
Teagasc and Animal Health Ireland signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations today Friday 4 January 2019. The MOU will strengthen the co-operation between the two organisations and increase the level of collaborative research within areas of cooperation. The overall objective is to improve the health status of the national herd, and thereby contribute to productivity, profitability, product quality and animal welfare.
Teagasc and Animal Health Ireland signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations today Friday 4 January 2019
One of the deepest and long standing areas of collaboration between the organisations is the CellCheck mastitis control programme, which has achieved significant progress in reducing the somatic cell counts of Irish dairy herds. A priority for 2019 is to encourage a greater uptake of milk recording by dairy farmers, which will allow the identification of individual cows with high cell counts and will also benefit animal health in several other areas. As well as Teagasc staff participating in the CellCheck technical working group and Implementation Group, and significant on the ground activity by Teagasc advisors, Teagasc makes an annual financial contribution of €45,000 to this important programme.
Two other important collaborative activities between the organisations are the CalfCare events and the Beef HealthCheck meetings. The Calf Care events consist of a series of 12 events across the country dealing with the important factors in rearing healthy calves. These will kick off on Tuesday 8th January with topics including Johnes’s disease and calf welfare. In the Beef HealthCheck programme, the two organisations plan to run 5-6 events covering animal health topics with a special focus on beef animal health in June/July around the country.
According to Teagasc Director, Prof Gerry Boyle; “It is vital that our two organisations collaborate to use our combined resources to maximum effect to bring about improvements in animal health. Healthy animals are happy animals and lead to greater production efficiency and also have a positive effect on the environment.”
David Graham, CEO, Animal Health Ireland said: “The signing of this MOU allows us to further develop and grow the cooperation between our two organisations. Working with Teagasc helps us to develop and deliver evidence-based information and programmes on animal health to Irish farmers and industry in general. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those with whom we work with in Teagasc, including senior management, researchers, specialists and extension staff for their assistance and continued contribution to our work”.
The renewed MOU will run for 5 years. Other areas of collaboration between the organisations are in Biosecurity, Calf Health, Johne’s, disease BVD, IBR, parasite control, and selective dry cow therapy.