MSD Animal Health develop new web-based vaccination calendar
Developed by Dr William Minchin, ruminants marketing manager and Sharon Magnier, veterinary advisor, with MSD Animal Health, the facility, which is the first of its kind, is available on the company’s dedicated animal health website www.bovilis.ie.
Dr William Minchin said: “We believe this new facility will be of great assistance to vets and farmers in ensuring the most effective and compliant disease prevention strategies.
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Hide Ad“Many farmers forget to boost with vaccines or use products at inappropriate times for their production system. This web-based tool will ensure they have a permanent reminder of the critical dates for vaccinating against a broad range of cattle and sheep diseases.”
How it works
The new tool is very simple to use. All users are required to do is:
r Enter the farm enterprise information.
r Select the diseases against which protection is required.
r Provide the user’s contact details.
Using a wide range of algorithms that are built into the facility, a customised calendar is then developed.
A text message is sent seven days before each vaccine booster is due.
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Hide AdWhere an email address is given in the contact details, a reminder email is also sent.
The full calendar is also emailed to the user.
This can be printed off and used as a reminder of the critical vaccination dates. There is no cost for the service.
While currently built for vaccines, the intention is to expand the tool for use in parasiticide treatments and routine farm husbandry.
This innovation is part of a comprehensive campaign by MSD Animal Health to highlight the importance of disease prevention in order to enhance productivity in farming while also reducing antibiotic use in food producing animals.
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Hide AdUse of vaccines to prevent disease has increased more than three-fold over the past decade and MSD is the largest supplier of preventative vaccines on the Irish market.
With increasing numbers of farmers moving towards multiple disease prevention protocols, this new online tool will simplify routine vaccination, leading to healthier, more productive animals and more sustainable production systems.