7 Aug 2023
Efforts to reduce antimicrobial resistance in Wales have been boosted by the development of a new app that users say has also helped to improve biosecurity on their lands.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Farmer Dan Pritchard (left) with vet and app developer Ifan Llo.
Vets and farmers in Wales have said a new app is helping them to reduce antibiotic usage while also improving biosecurity standards.
The platform has been developed through the Arwain DGC programme, which seeks to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance, and may now be extended to other areas.
The project saw vets work with farmers over a period of up to a year to first develop and then find ways of improving farms’ biodiversity scores.
Officials said each of the participating farms improved their scores through the process, with 60% of the individual recommendations made being acted on.
Ifan Lloyd, who was one of the vets involved in the app’s development, said: “We had designed a series of questions that would enable the farmer and vet to make an objective assessment by applying a score to each of the risks.
“We are extremely pleased by the level of engagement of the participating veterinary surgeons and their farmer clients.
Plans are now in place for further testing of a revised version of the app, as well as usage in a project focusing on bTB and potentially a wider rollout of the platform.
Dan Pritchard, who was one of the first farmers to take part in the scheme, said it had encouraged changes to biosecurity procedures on his land at Llanrhidian.
He said: “The app definitely helped, as we could sit down and talk through the questions and then format a plan to make the changes.
“I could see the vet’s viewpoint better and gained a better understanding of the reasoning for making the changes, and by working together, we could see the overall picture.
“Also, having a score made it easier to understand and set a goal for what can be done to improve biosecurity. Even those small changes have further reduced our antibiotic use.”
Another participating farmer, Simon Bevan, said the app could also help farmers to keep up with the more stringent requirements being imposed by retailers and farm assurance schemes.
He added: “I think it is a good process, and although we were already pretty clued up on biosecurity, the app helped highlight a couple of things we could improve on.”
