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LIVESTOCK MATTERS
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
Parklands
Veterinary Manager
lands top Industry Accolade
Having recently invested in their new state of the art facilities at
Dungannon, Parklands Veterinary Clinic is back in the forefront of the
veterinary/agricultural industry when one of their managers landed
the top accolade in the agricultural industry.
David Mulligan the practice manager of
Parklands is no stranger to success having been
awarded the title of the UK Veterinary Practice
Manager of the year in 2009. At the Over
the Counter 2011 Awards ceremony recently
hosted at the House of Lords, London, David
walked off with the industry’s top award,
winning the Mastermind Award of 2011.
Now in its fifth year the Over the Counter
Awards are designed to recognise and
reward individuals and companies that stand
head and shoulders above their competitors
and who can act as ambassadors for the
industry in driving forward standards of
customer service and advice. The Mastermind
Award category is the industry's top award,
which identifies individuals who act as
mentors in both their knowledge and how
they choose to convey it. As part of this
process each of the candidates for the
award was interviewed to ascertain their
understanding of regulatory and legislative
issues and their understanding of the industry
as a whole.
Having been originally nominated by Philip
Clarke, the Local Merial Animal Health
Territory Manager, for the title of 'SQP of
the year' the judges, having viewed that
nomination, came back to Philip to see if he
would consider allowing David's name to go
forward for their top award. Philip found this
an easy decision to make, as he explains:
‘knowing the commitment that David has to
Parklands Vet Group and to the clients they
service, I was pleased to see that even at the
nomination stage this nomination stood out from
the field.’ On congratulating David after the
event, Philip added ‘despite the fact that this
award draws entrants from throughout the
whole UK agricultural industry, the decision of
the judges recognises the contribution that
Parklands, and David, make to the Northern
Ireland farming industry.’
Ian Stewart MRCVS of Parklands is naturally
delighted that David's hard work and
enthusiasm has been recognised again by the
agricultural and veterinary industry: ‘this is a
fantastic achievement and the practice is proud
to have David working as practice manager.
Parklands strives to provide the ultimate service
to its clients and farm businesses by investing
in facilities, equipment and training of its staff
and farm clients.’
In recognising the contribution that David has
made to the veterinary/agricultural industry in
Northern Ireland over the past year, the judges
highlighted the role David plays organising
training and education for his colleagues, and
also that he had found time to develop and
roll out practical FarmSkills training courses to
farmers from across Northern Ireland on a wide
range of courses, from Cattle Fertility/AI to
Sheep Parasite Control, while still carrying
out his duties as practice manager. These
courses are delivered by the Parklands LANTRA
approved trainers who are a combination of
vets and SQP's.
BBC Countryfile presenter and farmer, Adam
Henson gave the following citation in giving
the award, which was generously sponsored
by Harper Adams University College: ‘David is
an inspiration for the animal health industry, in
his determination to set standards of training,
education and service for the benefit of those
around him. Working in a veterinary practice,
David uses his knowledge to inspire those
around him as to the benefits of expanding
their knowledge. He is actively involved in the
educational and training requirements of his
SQP colleagues as well as his vet’s CPD and
their clients. The judges were impressed with
his desire to champion education and
highlighted the fact that he has written and
delivered specific livestock modules to
farmers across Northern Ireland, which are
LANTRA approved.’
In accepting the award David was quick to
highlight that while on occasions such as this
there may be one name on the award,
without the support of his colleagues it could
not have happened. David says, ‘delivering
practical FarmSkills has been a long journey
for Parklands since we ran our first major
Veterinary Dairy Conference in 2001. But with
the investment of the partners, the development
of ten qualified SQP's and nine LANTRA
Approved Trainers and the cooperation we
have received from within the XLVets group and
bodies such as the RDC and CAFRE, Parklands
has taken a major step forward in providing
practical FarmSkills training for livestock farmers
in Northern Ireland to complement the excellent
educational courses available from CAFRE.
‘There was no doubt that on Monday
night/Tuesday morning of last week when I
was digging channels on the farm to ensure
rising water levels would not enter the farm
buildings, Awards and the early flight to
London was the last thing on my mind.
However, now it is over and the water has
receded there is plenty of time to reflect on the
recognition this Award brings to the practice
and to concentrate on how Parklands can seek
to improve and deliver valuable services to
our clients, for at the end of today without our
farming industry none of these Awards could
be achieved,’ David concludes.
Producers will soon have a way of
demonstrating real pig welfare using
science-based assessment methods.
BPEX is leading a project to develop a
system of assessing welfare by looking at
the pig itself, not just its environment. It
aims to establish benchmarks for real pig
welfare that work across all types of
production systems.
Lameness, tail lesions, body lesions,
hospitalisation and enrichment use were
identified as suitable indicators of finisher
pigs' wellbeing in pilot trials by BPEX and
the University of Bristol. Sows will also
be assessed for body condition score,
shoulder and vulva lesions.
These indicators will provide a starting
point for vets and producers to discuss
whether there are any aspects of the pigs'
environment or management that could be
changed to further improve both welfare
and productivity.
More than 20 pig vets were trained
earlier in the year and are now making
assessments on 180 commercial pig farms.
A total of 360 farm visits will be made to
gather the information required, with more
than half now complete.
Welfare is being evaluated during vets'
routine quarterly farm visits, to build up a
set of anonymous data and start to identify
typical values to benchmark welfare. The
assessments cover finishing pigs in straw
and non-straw systems as well as indoor
and outdoor breeding sow systems.
REAL WELFARE INDICATORS
FOR PIGS...